A descendant of a founder of Safeco Corporation and her politically active attorney will announce later this morning that they're suing Senate candidate and former Safeco CEO Mike McGavick for the $28 million he was paid by the company this year.

Emma Schwartzman is the great, great granddaughter of a Safeco founder. She is scheduled to appear at a press conference near Safeco's Seattle headquarters with attorney Knoll Lowney. who successfully challenged in court Tim Eyman's property tax initiative. Lowney and his firm have given political donations to liberal candidates and groups such as Washington Conservation Voters. His law partner, Richard Smith, announced last week he would run for state Supreme Court.

According to a press release sent this morning the "central claim in the suit is that a significant portion of the $28 million McGavick received from Safeco after he resigned as Safeco's CEO resulted from a fraudulent transaction between McGavick and the Board of Directors that breached defendants' fiduciary duties to shareholders. The suit also alleges that the Board of Directors violated federal securities laws by concealing the magnitude and extraordinary nature of the payout."

The Democratic Party and supporters of Sen. Maria Cantwell have already focused on McGavick's pay. The state Democratic Party filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission in April, alleging that McGavick's compensation was an illegal campaign contribution. In June, liberal blogger David Goldstein was searching for Safeco shareholders angry at McGavick's compensation.

McGavick reported pre-tax income of $28 million from Safeco this year even though he left the company in February to run for the Senate. Some of the money, according to his financial-disclosure form filed with the U.S. Senate, came from stock and bonuses, including for work done several years ago. In April an expert in executive salaries told The Times McGavick's pay was not out of line with other executives have gotten in recent years.

The press release says Schwartzman is represented by two prominent Seattle law firms, though only Lowney is mentioned by name.

McGavick's campaign said it would not have a comment until after the press conference.

UPDATE: A website has just gone live on details of the suit. The other attorney is Steve Berman, well-known for his shareholder lawsuits.

The PR firm handling the lawsuit, Soapbox Communications, has done some work for liberal causes in the past, but its current client list tends more toward non-profits and community groups.

UPDATE UPDATE: Mike McGavick has issued a written response to the lawsuit:

"This is a politically motivated character attack. The allies of the incumbent senator have found yet another avenue to continue their daily personal attacks on me. Today's action further demonstrates how far my opposition will go in attacking my character and the character of Safeco, one of the Northwest's great companies.

"These allegations regarding my compensation are without merit and obviously politically inspired. It is sad that my opponents insist on dragging Safeco into the mean-spirited political process."