A Washington police chief called on a Democrat-aligned Super PAC to stop using his picture in a campaign ad for Washington Rep. Kim Schrier, who is running in a key swing district.
Shield PAC, affiliated with the Third Way think tank, sent mailers in support of Schrier across Washington’s Eighth District, The Seattle Times reported Tuesday. The advertisements included a picture of Schrier standing with Covington, Washington, police chief Adam Easterbrook, with the quoted caption, “Representative Schrier listened to our issues and desires to improve public safety in our community.” Easterbrook has not endorsed Schrier, however, and the picture was taken from a May release issued by Schrier’s office.
“I am not OK with that. I don’t want to be involved with the politics either way. I was drug into something I shouldn’t be a part of,” Easterbrook told The Seattle Times.
The city of Covington added that Schrier’s office asked Easterbrook for the quote and the photograph when she met with local officials in May, but that neither Easterbrook nor the city approved its use in campaign materials.
“We have reached out to the third party responsible and told them to immediately stop using the photo and quote as they do not have permission to do so,” the city said in a statement.
NEW: Covington Police Chief Adam Easterbrook was surprised — not pleasantly — when his photo showed up recently in political mailers backing U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier’s reelection campaign.@Jim_Brunner: https://t.co/SHFRPryd1R
— The Seattle Times (@seattletimes) October 18, 2022
Schrier, whose campaign was not involved in the ad’s creation, has sought to burnish her pro-police credentials by highlighting her support for increasing funding for local departments. Despite those votes, Schrier has previously suggested that police departments are systemically racist.
“While George Floyd’s murderer was held accountable for his actions, the fight for racial justice isn’t over. We must work to reform systems that unfairly target Black people and people of color,” she tweeted after police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering Floyd. (RELATED: House Democrats Block Resolution Opposing Defunding The Police, Calls For Justice For George Floyd)
Schrier is running against Republican Matt Larkin in a district evenly split between Democrats and the GOP, according to FiveThirtyEight. Schrier won the district by 3.6 points in 2020, and President Joe Biden won it by 6.5. Larkin is a participant in the National Republican Congressional Committee’s Young Guns program, and the national campaign arm is targeting Schrier for defeat.
Shield PAC is removing Easterbrook from its advertising, although it is claiming no wrongdoing in initially including him.
“It’s important to note, however, that we got the photo and the quote from the Congresswoman’s website, so we were using things that were in the public domain,” a spokesman told The Seattle Times.