Rantz: The Bob Ferguson for Governor campaign is scamming you

The Bob Ferguson for Governor campaign is trying to scam supporters into giving him donations. It deserves to be strongly condemned.

Ferguson keeps soliciting donations to his “exploratory campaign” as he pretends to be considering a run for governor. He’s running, and his campaign is already official. He wants you to think he’s running an exploratory committee, which is a common announcement for presidential announcements. Except, in the Washington state campaign finance system, there’s no such thing as an exploratory committee. Exploratory campaign? It’s a made-up term.

“In Washington state and local races, you are either a candidate or you’re not,” a spokeswoman for the state Public Disclosure Commission previously told Crosscut.

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Bob Ferguson for Governor campaign is already official

Bob Ferguson isn’t thinking about running for governor. He is running. So why pretend he’s undecided with an “exploratory campaign”? It’s a scheme to pull money out of possible supporters and then unveil his “official” campaign announcement to claim he has broad base support based on his fake exploratory campaign.

Ferguson is playing a psychological trick because he knows most people have likely heard of exploratory committees. He wants his supporters to think that if they prove their support with a donation, it will convince him to run. They think their donation, large or small, will play a role in his decision. But it’s a decision he’s already made.

In a few weeks, Ferguson will then point to his exploratory committee success and proudly declare that the people were clear! They want him to run. After all, look at how well his Bob Ferguson for Governor exploratory campaign performed. 

It’s as transparent as it is cringe-worthy. It’s also unnecessary — he already has Democrat voter support. So why the need to try to scam people into donations? He’s doing it for the theatrics and media outlets shouldn’t play along. 

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