Everyone wants to know: who’s posting these signs? They appeared on local streets in the last few days.

They seem to be a reference to the Master Builders Association’s support of county executive candidate Pat McCarthy. Earlier this month fellow exec candidate Calvin Goings accused the MBA of trying to buy the executive’s office through independent spending on her behalf. According to its latest campaign report, the group (through the committee Better Pierce County) has spent more than $85,000 to support McCarthy.

Of course, McCarthy can’t “return” the independent expenditure bucks, which she didn’t receive. And McCarthy says the attacks against her are hypocritical in light of donations from the building industry her opponents have received.

Speculation about the signs has been rampant. They feature no attribution, like “paid for by …” The Shawn Bunney, Calvin Goings and Mike Lonergan camps deny any involvement. Anyone want to confess?

For the record, I checked with the Public Disclosure Commission. Signs that are smaller than 8 feet by 4 feet are not required to state who’s behind them.

In today’s article about campaign contributions to county executive candidates, I reported the Master Builders Association of Tacoma-Pierce County has spent nearly $49,000 on an independent campaign to support Pat McCarthy. That’s an old figure.

According to a report filed Monday with the state Public Disclosure Commission, the MBA and its allies (through a committee called Better Pierce County) have spent more than $85,000 for McCarthy.

Thanks to John Wyble of the Calvin Goings campaign for pointing it out. We’re running a correction in tomorrow’s paper.

Update: Some folks have asked where I got the $85,000 figure. Here's a copy of the latest C6 report from Better Pierce County. It shows the cumulative total spent on McCarthy: $85,287.15.

Over on our Lights & Sirens blog, Ian Demsky has this gem:

Came across this interesting tidbit among my prison mail today.

A McNeil Island inmate writes:

Tonight we roared when Obama sent my $5 donation back saying, "We accept no money from prisoners!"

Update: After a commenter said he suspected the story might be a hoax, we contacted a spokesman with the local Obama campaign and asked whether they accepted donations from inmates.

After that e-mail last Wednesday, spokesman Joshua Field said he'd look into it. By Friday afternoon we still hadn't received an answer and e-mailed him again. It's now Monday afternoon and we're still waiting.

Auditor Pat McCarthy has taken her name off voter surveys that will be distributed at Pierce County polling places next Tuesday.

McCarthy said today that she took the action last week after her fellow county executive candidates and state Republican Party Chairman Luke Esser complained she had violated the sanctity of the ballot and perhaps given herself an unfair advantage by distributing the survey in mail ballots. State law bars officeholders from using public resources to promote their campaigns.

McCarthy, a Democrat and one of four candidates for county executive, argued the survey (here’s a copy) on ranked choice voting is part of her normal duties as auditor, and state officials said they saw nothing illegal about it.

But after people started complaining, she had her staff cut off the tops of the surveys that will be distributed at the polls, removing her name. McCarthy said the move didn't cost taxpayers anything.

McCarthy said she took the action before County Council Chairman Terry Lee yesterday sent her a letter requesting that she refrain from distributing surveys at the that contained her name.

In the letter, Lee, a Republican, cited a County Council budget proviso that prohibits the auditor’s office from using the name, image or likeness of any Pierce County official on ranked choice voting education materials. McCarthy claims she didn't violate the proviso because she paid for the survey out of another pot of money. Lee disagreed.

“While the distribution of an RCV survey with the general election ballots may very well be an usual and ordinary function of the auditor’s office, it is my position that the deliberate inclusion of your name and signature on the survey constitutes a clear violation of the spirit and intent of the budget proviso,” Lee wrote.

You can download a copy of Lee’s letter here.

Update: Last week Nick Handy of the Secretary of State's office praised McCarthy for a 2004 survey similar to the one now in question. He also said it was within McCarthy's prerogative to conduct the new survey.

On Wednesday, communications director Dave Ammons clarified the office's position. He said Handy and Secretary of State Sam Reed aren't saying there's nothing wrong with McCarthy's actions. He said they're just saying there's no state law to prohibit it.

Ammons said neither Reed nor Handy contacted McCarthy about the survey. He added:

When this first broke, Sam requested hard copies of the materials, including the stuffer she did in the 2004 pick-a-party primary ballot packet. After reviewing the materials, his comment was that he hadn't signed materials inside the voting packets when he was county auditor, but that she hadn't broken any laws that he knew of. So any criticism from him or Handy was implicit only. They are fully aware, of course, of the campaign that is underway for County Executive and really wanted to be circumspect about the situation. In this instance, it really is for the voters to weigh.