Not all election suits resolved

OLYMPIA — The state Supreme Court will consider hearing legal challenges to the 2004 governor's race even though Dino Rossi and the Republican Party won't appeal their case.

Four separate election-contest petitions asking that the November election of Gov. Christine Gregoire be overturned were filed in December and January. They've been on hold while the Supreme Court waited for what was seen as an inevitable appeal of the election lawsuit filed by Rossi, state Republican Party Chairman Chris Vance and other party members.

But when Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges dismissed the Republican lawsuit Monday, Rossi said he wouldn't appeal because of the "political makeup" of the court.

That means the Supreme Court will have to decide whether to dismiss the complaints or set them for a hearing.

"They are now under consideration," said Supreme Court Clerk C.J. Merritt.

The claims were filed directly with the Supreme Court, which is allowed under the state's election-contest law.

Rossi's lawsuit was filed in Chelan County Superior Court, where Republicans thought they'd get a fair hearing on their claims.

The legal challenges at the Supreme Court are the work of individuals with no connection to the Republican Party or to Rossi. And they'll get no encouragement from Rossi.

"Obviously, they are free to do what they want," said Rossi spokeswoman Mary Lane.

The sparse court filings appear to all come from non-attorneys, including a doctor and a construction manager.

The one expansive court file comes from a claim by Michael Goodall, of Seattle. He says Gregoire is unqualified to serve because of a case relating to his son, who Goodall says was abused in a foster home while Gregoire was attorney general.

Legal clerks are reviewing the filings. Any action on the cases had been postponed until July 14. The court could act before that date.

"It probably has the same long shot it ever had," said Daniel P. Stevens, a construction-project manager in Fall City. He filed his complaint Dec. 30, the day Gregoire was certified as governor-elect.

Like all the election contests pending at the Supreme Court, Stevens said, his is a citizen's attempt to overturn the election. "It was one of those things you did out of frustration," he said. "You felt there were questions that needed to be answered."

Stevens said he paid some attention to the two-week trial in Wenatchee.

"I listened to it as I was going to the dump and tried to read up," he said. He said Bridges did "a pretty good job" and that he thought it was a resounding defeat for Republicans.

Stevens said he does not allege fraud and disagreed with the Republican arguments in court that corrupt King County election workers threw the election to Gregoire.

His case is built mostly on a statistical review of the three vote counts in the governor's election. Rossi won the initial count and the first recount, but Gregoire won the final recount by 129 votes. Because of the three different results, Stevens said, "error must be assumed as a certainty."

Dr. Arthur Coday Jr. a Shoreline pediatrician and Republican Party donor, focuses his challenge on the final recount that Democrats paid to have 39 counties conduct by hand. He said that if a recount depends on a private party paying for it, elections are not "free and equal."

His filing also claims that the discovery of uncounted ballots "calls into question the integrity of the state's election process."

He filed a 13-page brief and told the court he could not afford an attorney to press the case for him.

Suzanne Karr of Everett filed an election contest that has faint echoes of the Republican lawsuit. Her allegations include provisional ballots counted without being verified and discrepancies in King County's ballot reconciliation.

David Postman: 360-943-9882