Lawyers argue for Ceis testimony

Lawyers for the city of Seattle argued in a motion filed Wednesday that Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis should be allowed to testify today during the final day of the federal trial over whether Sonics owners can break the team's KeyArena lease.

The city's lawyers want Ceis to testify that he had no prior knowledge of the so-called "Poisoned Well" plan to financially bleed Sonics owner Clay Bennett into selling the team.

Attorneys for Bennett had moved earlier this week to block Ceis as a witness, arguing he had refused to answer certain questions about the plan during his April 28 deposition.

But the city's response on Wednesday pointed out that Ceis, in fact, had answered numerous questions about what he knew of the plan.

Hoping to prove that point, the city filed previously confidential portions of Ceis' deposition.

In one previously secret excerpt, Sonics attorney Paul Taylor showed Ceis a copy of the "Poisoned Well" plan — a PowerPoint document written by former Safeco CEO Mike McGavick to detail a strategy by which civic leaders could save the Sonics.

The plan, in part, called for "a pincer movement: increasing the Oklahomans costs in an unpleasant environment." The hope was to force Bennett to sell the team to a group of local investors led by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Bennett wants to move the team to Oklahoma City.

Ceis told Taylor he had "no recollection of seeing this document before."

Taylor noted that there appeared to be "approximately 75 drafts" of the plan turned up in discovery by the team's attorneys. He asked Ceis whether he'd seen another version of the PowerPoint.

"I don't remember ever seeing any document that resembled this document," Ceis said.

Seattle's attorneys hope to call Ceis this morning before moving on to closing arguments before U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman.

Jim Brunner: 206-515-5628 or jbrunner@seattletimes.com