County settlement is $27,690 in 2005 Campaign Reporting case

In a release from the County Prosecutor’s office today, it was announced that a lawsuit brought against San Juan County and the cities of Seattle, Kent and Auburn in 2005 has been settled.  San Juan County contributed $27,690 to the settlement reported Prosecuting Attorney Randall K. Gaylord.

The case was filed in 2005 after County Commissioners Alan Lichter, Kevin Ranker and Rhea Miller asked the prosecutor to join in a lawsuit with the cities to compel a political campaign opposing the gas tax to disclose the names of contributors and amounts of money or in-kind contributions.  Thurston County Judge Chris Wickham ordered the disclosure and the political campaign immediately complied with the order.

A month later, the campaign filed a countersuit against the county and the cities saying that the judge’s order was made in error.  The trial judge dismissed the case in 2005 on a preliminary motion, but the Washington Supreme Court reinstated the countersuit in 2007.

The settlement of the countersuit was a “business decision” made by the risk managers for the cities and county at the end of a formal mediation, said Mr. Gaylord.  “This decision was made to bring doubtful and disputed claims to an end.  The county and cities argued strenuously the enforcement lawsuit was properly filed to bring sunlight to the elections process and we had a motion pending before Judge McPhee that explained why we would prevail.”

“San Juan County contributed about eleven percent of the total settlement price,” said Gaylord. “The countersuit was a drain of time and money and the current County Council desired to focus our attention on other important issues.  The price was well within the amount the county had set aside to defend the case.”