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The Republican Governors Association apparently wasn't fazed by the group of prosecutors and law enforcement types who denounced their attack ads yesterday.
The group, led by Pierce County deputy prosecutor Mark Lindquist, said the ads accusing Gov. Chris Gregoire of losing track of 1,300 sex offenders are false and misleading, and are aimed at scaring people. They called on gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi to ask the RGA to pull the ads (if you haven't seen one, they're avaialbe at www.onherwatch.com) from the air.
Not only is the RGA not pulling its TV ads, but now it's mailing fliers to voters with the names and faces of six sex offenders they say are "lost."
At least one Pierce County man is on the list: Leon Robert Harshman.
I checked The News Tribune archives and found that we last wrote about Harshman on Dec. 25, 2007. He was one of three sex offenders mentioned in an article under the headline "Sex felons register in Pierce County." Here's an excerpt of what we published:
Leon R. Harshman
Age: 46.
Description: 5 feet 11 inches tall, 200 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes.
Where registered to live: Transient in Tacoma.
Criminal history: Convicted in 1988 of second-degree rape in Pierce County after he sexually assaulted a woman he knew.
Sex offender treatment: Participated in the treatment program while in prison.
Other information: Because he's homeless, Harshman must check in with the Sheriff's Department every week until he finds a fixed address.
For more information: Call Tacoma police detective Fuller at 253-591-5989.
According to the RGA press release, the other names on the flier are:
• Sean Allen Sills, convicted of child rape
• Robert Earl Hicks, convicted of rape
• Gerald Schilling, convicted of child rape
• Gary Duane Prater, convicted of child molestation
• Vernon Helzer, convicted of child rape
"By losing track of 1,300 convicted sex offenders, Chris Gregoire has created a nightmare for Washington families," RGA spokesman Chris Schrimpf said in the release.
COMMENTS:
But that doesn't necessarily mean he's currently missing, even if his name is on the State Patrol's missing list, according to Don Pierce, executive director of WASPC.
Pierce said the list is not up-to-date and includes people who are in jail, moved out of state or died.
He also said police are making progress tracking down the offenders who do go missing.
Jason
And I would think Don Pierce could serve us all better if the energy was put into cross-checking the list against the dead, the incarcerated, or whatever- the moved out of state does not make me feel at ease- instead of excusing a failure to track.
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