Petrelis Files

To make a long story short, Dan Savage himself told me about his recent $2,000 donation to John Kerry's presidential campaign.

Savage is the editor of one of Seattle'a alternative weeklies, The Stranger, and also pens a sex and relationships advise column for dozens of similar publications.

After he mentioned his donation to Kerry, I checked the publicly available Federal Election Commission records at www.tray.com and learned that Savage gave $2,000 to Kerry on June 26.

And Savage isn't the only masthead name from The Stranger to have done so. The publisher, Timothy A. Keck, also contributed $2,000 to Kerry back in June.

At the state level, Savage has given $1,850 to candidates and causes.

According the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission's web site at www.pdc.wa.gov, these are Savage's state level donations:

01/29/04
$250
Cindi Laws (Candidate for local transit agency)

10/09/03
$150
Seattle Districts Now (Voter reform action committee)

10/06/03
$200
James Constantine Dow (King County Council member)

11/05/02
$500
Rise Above It All (Public transit action committee)

10/11/02
$250
James Constantine Dow (King County Council member)

08/17/02
$500
Rise Above It All (Public transit action committee)

The Stranger endorsed Law and Dow's candidacies, and editorialized in favor of initiatives advanced by the political action committees, but the paper failed to note Savage's donations.

Savage's state level giving comes to $1,850, which, when added to his federal donation of $2,000, totals $3,850. Add publisher Keck's $2,000 check to Kerry to that amount, we find that the two men have donated $5,850 to various politicians and campaigns.

While none of the donations from Keck and Savage have been disclosed in The Stranger, and I suspect if readers knew about the contributions, many of them would applaud the giving by them. Heck, I bet quite a few readers would follow their example at the national level and also write checks to elect Kerry president.

Back in April, The Stranger ran a column about the political donations from the owners of its competitor, the Seattle Weekly, to the Bush/Cheney reelection committee. The Stranger's Josh Feit wrote that his publication's bosses, had not donated to either Bush or Kerry. (Source: www.thestranger.com/2004-04-22/city2.html)

Feit was correct, at the time, but now, four months later, that has changed. The publisher and editor of The Stranger have written checks out to Kerry, and the paper has a duty to disclose the donations in print.