October 18, 2022

“Smiley’s uncritical embrace of some of the absolute worst the Republican Party has to offer makes it clearer than ever that Smiley does not share our values and is totally unfit to represent Washington state in the U.S. Senate”

(Seattle, WA) – New FEC filings show that MAGA Republican Tiffany Smiley’s campaign is bankrolled by a slew of Republican elites well-known for their homophobic statements and even abusive and criminal behavior (keep reading).

Recently, Smiley has ramped up her appearances on Fox News — appearing with extreme figures including Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson, and Sean Hannity — and increasingly leveraged the right wing hate-for-profit disinformation machine to fundraise for her Senate campaign. Her FEC filing is just the latest proof that, if elected, Smiley would answer to the wishes of MAGA extremists and Republican elites — not the people of Washington state.

YIKES: Smiley will take money from anyone — even criminals, abusers and individuals with a well-known history of homophobic statements. 

  • Doug Hutchison, an actor who infamously married 16-year-old Courtney Stodden when he was 51. Stodden has since accused Hutchison of violent and abusive behavior, of being a pedophile, and has divorced him. 
  • Lou Novak, a businessman who was forced to resign from his position as first vice president for The Rental Housing Association of Puget Sound after making notoriously homophobic remarks to an AIDS-awareness group. “Looks like it’s anal-sex week,” Novak remarked as a group from the Lifelong AIDS Alliance walked though the state House office building. 
  • Larry Feldcamp, a prominent oil and gas lobbyist, worked for a law firm notorious for defending Big Oil; it counted Shell, Mobil, Union Carbide, Huntsman, and Amoco as clients.
  • Sean Fieler, an extremist who donates to national efforts opposing abortion and gay marriage and, more recently, trans rights. Fieler chaired a super PAC that worked to confront “wokeism” and authored an op-ed entitled “How Trump Became the Pro-Life Leader Republicans Always Needed”. He was also quoted in a New York Times article saying it was “not true” that gay relationships lend themselves to monogamy, stability, health and parenting in the same way heterosexual relationships do. 
  • John Amistoso, who is considered a “serial trophy hunter”, paid $100,000 to kill a rare species of goat in Pakistan – a markhor, a type of goat he had already killed three times and is the country’s national animal. Fewer than 6,000 exist in the wild.
  • Ronald Brady, who was sentenced to five years in prison for manslaughter after he provoked a shooting of potential burglars instead of calling law enforcement.
  • Amin Khoury, a wealthy businessman who was charged with bribing his daughter’s way into Georgetown University in connection to the “Varsity Blues” College Admissions Scandal. 

“Smiley’s campaign is shamelessly bankrolled by Republican elites – including criminals, abusers, and brazen homophobes,” said Washington State Democratic Party spokesperson Caitlin Harrington. “Smiley’s uncritical embrace of some of the absolute worst the Republican Party has to offer makes it clearer than ever that Smiley does not share our values and is totally unfit to represent Washington state in the U.S. Senate.”

###