Madore misuses city building in county campaign ad

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With about two weeks to go before the primary election, David Madore campaign ads seem to be flooding the airwaves. Most days I see a least two before I’ve eaten breakfast in the morning.

In addition to an independent political action committee that funded about $150,000 in ads in support of the Republican County Council chair candidate, Madore is spending his own campaign donations on television advertising. It’s unclear for the moment based on his Public Disclosure Commission filings just how much he spent or who is producing the ads, though that will likely change as the PDC updates its reports.

Madore’s ads are pretty slick, but there’s one glaring error in them: he uses a City of Vancouver building to make a point about Clark County’s fee waiver program.

“He introduced fee waivers, stimulating a flood of new businesses and jobs,” the narrator says over a sped-up shot of construction at the 101 Building in… downtown Vancouver.

Construction is ongoing at the commercial property at Main Street at West Sixth Street in the heart of downtown Vancouver, and was touted by developers and city leaders as a boon for the downtown area in February. Did I mention it’s in downtown Vancouver?

Clark County’s fee waiver program removes permit and traffic impact fees for developers building in unincorporated Clark County. Not downtown Vancouver. It’s a really good looking ad, but the implied causation between the fee waiver program and construction within city limits is super misleading.

You can visit Madore’s campaign Facebook page by searching for David Madore for County Council Chair to see the ad. Sitting around in your jammies in front of the television seems to work in my experience, too.

Madore is running for the seat against fellow Councilors Tom Mielke and Jeanne Stewart, both of whom are Republicans. Also in the race are Democrat Mike Dalesandro, a Battle Ground City Councilor, and Marc Boldt, a former county commissioner running with no party preference. Ballots are out and election day is Aug. 4.