I mentioned yesterday that liberal blogger David Goldstein of horsesass.org had solicited Safeco shareholders who might be angry at the amount of money paid to the company's former CEO, Republican Senate candidate Mike McGavick.

I sent an e-mail to Goldstein this morning asking him if his solicitation had played any role in what led up to a lawsuit being filed yesterday against McGavick and the Safeco board. I haven't heard back. But the Seattle Weekly did. George Howland Jr.,reports Goldstein's solicitation came after a discussion with attorney Knoll Lowney, one of two attorneys who filed the suit yesterday.

The attorneys claimed the suit was "non-political and non-partisan."

Howland writes:

Goldstein's involvement will certainly raise the credibility of McGavick's claim that the suit is politically motivated.

Here's what horsesass guest blogger Darrly said about the suit on the blog yesterday:

But not everyone sees this as a political scandal. Take, for example, 27 year old Emma Schwartzman. Today she filed a lawsuit against McGavick over his "excessive" severance package.

To Ms. Schwartzman this is not about politics. Instead, it is about theft. And it's about family honor. Specifically, it's about McGavick stealing from Safeco — a company founded by her great, great grandfather — and its shareholders

And he asked, "Are the charges politically inspired, or contractually inspired?"

I don't know if Darryl knew at the time what Goldstein's role was. But I'll ask him.

UPDATE: Darryl, who normally resides at Hominid Views, says by e-mail he didn't know any more about Goldstein's role than I did when I posted yesterday.

David did not share the story behind that post, nor did he share the outcome with me.

The only communications I've had with him since the story broke was a brief (7 minute) phone call over a lousy connection. The topic of a connection to the plaintiff didn't come up.

If he knew, would it have changed what he wrote?

I'm not sure, since I don't know the story; but, if it was juicy, I may well have posted it on my own blog. Since I am guest blogging on Goldy's blog, I would feel compelled to speak to him first. I mean, blogs make everything seem so urgent, but I think it can wait a few days for an authoritative statement direct from THE Horsesass (so to speak).

Darryl is certainly right about that sense of urgency — an impulse I need to remind myself to avoid at times. When Goldstein returns from vacation maybe we'll hear more about the story behind the story.

UPDATE: I just talked with David Goldstein. He's on vacation at the coast and said he sent me an e-mail earlier, but he has had spotty wireless at best and I never got it.

In any case, Goldstein says that Lowney talked to him about a possible lawsuit against McGavick and Safeco and asked if horsesass could help find a good plaintiff. He said that if he had been in town this week when the story broke he would have reported his role.

Does his involvement, as Howland said, lend credence to the argument that the lawsuit was political?

"Everything I do is political. But that doesn't mean the case doesn't have merit and that doesn't mean it shouldn't be brought until after election. ... I'd love to take more credit for it. I think the only thing you could say is if not for me, they would have had a different plaintiff."

Goldstein does think Schwartzman makes a boffo plaintiff. It was Schwartzman's mother, Ashley Bullitt, who responded to Goldstein's solicitation. He then connected Lowney with Schwartzman.

"I was more than happy to be involved," Goldstein said. Goldstein keeps up a steady attack on McGavick on his blog. He has been a strong Cantwell supporter and helped lead the charge against anti-war critics in the Democratic party that were unhappy with the senator. But he says his involvement in the McGavick lawsuit does not mean that the Cantwell campaign or the Democratic Party played any role.

"I can tell you I have no more connection to the Cantwell campaign than you do," he said. By way of showing his relationship to the campaign, Goldstein told me that when he got his radio gig at KIRO, one of the first things he did was call Cantwell's people and tell them "it would help me keep this job" if he could get Cantwell on the air. It took six weeks or so, he said, and then she came on only for a few minutes to talk about the decision to hire her former opponent, Mark Wilson. He said sometimes he'll send an e-mail to Cantwell's campaign consultant or a staffer and "usually they don't respond."

"When someone uncovers the paycheck to me from the Cantwell campaign or the Democratic Party they can come after me. Somebody should be paying me. My God, they owe me."

Lowney has a political background himself. So the involvement of Goldstein doesn't tell us a whole lot more about the motivation for the suit. It does give a glimpse into a chain of events that I think readers of the McGavick story should know.

It's important for Goldstein to disclose his role. He has a foot in the established media now with his Sunday night show on KIRO, and I know at times at least he tries to reach Republicans to get their side of things for horsesass. Appearing to be more a player than chronicler or cheerleader for the Democrats could make that more difficult.