OK, I admit it, I'm confused; was Herrera's big deal Washington DC fundraiser by Slade and McMorris a scam?

Liz Mair, Herrera's PR arm, bragged about it in glowing terms as if it were some sort of accomplishment to have the chief string-puller for Herrera, McMorris Rogers and Slade hold this big time fund raiser. You know, the one she ditched us and her job to fly back to DC to attend?

Here's a the scam Mair put out:

McMorris Rodgers, Gorton hosting DC fundraiser for Herrera

February 9th, 2010 12:12 ET

In my inbox this morning is an email announcing that on February 25, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and former Sen. Slade Gorton will be hosting a fundraising breakfast here in DC for Jaime Herrera-- one of the big names competing to succeed Rep. Brian Baird in representing Washington's third district in Congress.

The breakfast will take place on the Hill from 8-9AM. Herrera should walk away from it with a bit of money to line the campaign coffers: Attendees are being asked to cut a check for $250 (if an individual) or $1,000 (if a PAC).

I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see David Castillo knock Herrera for raising money in DC (he's already poked her for seeking support from folks outside the third district). I also fully anticipate the DCCC will blast her for taking PAC contributions (because Democrats never, ever do that).

Personally, I don't think anyone's going to fault Herrera's former boss (McMorris Rodgers), who is of course also from the Evergreen State, for wanting to help her out-- and McMorris Rodgers, like most federal-level elected officials, is in DC on Thursday mornings. Furthermore, I maintain that Slade Gorton's backing is going to be very helpful to Herrera-- as will any money she takes away from this event.

Note the boldfaced sentences.

There's only one thing wrong with all of this:

According to Herrera's FEC's... the ONLY money Herrera got on the 25th of February out of DC... was from McMorris herself.

So... what happened to the fund raiser? Where did all those checks go?

In fact, a quick look at her donor list shows that the only money she's received at all out of the DC area was a total of $2000 or so besides McMorris's cash... but even THAT wasn't on the 25th of February.

So, if her records are to be believed... the trip cost her about as much as she made. Of course, she probably spent a fortune on meals... but, what the hey.

There's really only so many conclusions that can be drawn from the record.

The first, most obvious conclusion is that, like so many others who've met her directly, they've come to find out that she's a paper-thin character of a politician and they weren't going to give her a dime... so, Slade and CMR's urging notwithstanding, they didn't.

Or, the records are "wrong" somehow, and the money was shifted around to reduce her vulnerability to obvious out of state special interest funding.

What else... could it possibly be?