Judge rules that BIAW-Rossi lawsuit can proceed

A lawsuit alleging improper campaign coordination between Dino Rossi and the Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW) can proceed, a King County Superior Court judge ruled Friday, rejecting the builders' argument the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.

Judge Paris Kallas left open until Monday the question of whether Rossi would have to testify under oath before the election about his role in BIAW fundraising. Rossi is running for governor against current Gov. Christine Gregoire.

Kallas said Rossi, a Republican, was improperly subpoenaed to testify by lawyers seeking to depose him before the election. That deprived him of rights "at the heart of due process," she said.

Kallas asked lawyers to submit written arguments on Monday on the issue of deposing Rossi before the election. She is expected to rule on that Monday.

Attorneys who filed the lawsuit for two former state Supreme Court justices who support Gregoire's re-election campaign argued the public needs to know before the election if Rossi coordinated his campaign with the BIAW, which has spent almost $7 million backing him.

"The fact the judge gave (lawyers) until Monday morning says she's taking the issue very seriously and will rule on it," attorney Mike Withey said.

Rossi's lawyer said Rossi will cooperate with a state Public Disclosure Commission investigation of improper coordination and he has answered reporters' questions, denying he did anything illegal.

"But he doesn't want a politically charged lawsuit to be the arena in which he gives sworn testimony," Mike Patterson said. Rossi is not a defendant in the lawsuit, which seeks to halt the BIAW's political spending in the last weeks of the campaign.

The BIAW's lawyer, Harry Korrell said the risk was too great that something Rossi said under oath could be twisted and used as "political theater" to "ambush" Rossi with an October surprise.

"Everything that happens in this case is fodder for a news release" by Knoll Lowney, one of the lawyers for the justices, Korrell said.

The justices' lawyers say if the truth of Rossi's role in BIAW fundraising is not learned until after the election, then campaign laws requiring timely disclosure of contributions would be irrelevant.

"A lot of people are concerned this would be creating a loophole that will swallow the rules," Lowney said.

Kallas dismissed the significance of a letter from the Attorney General's Office written Oct. 9 to parties in the lawsuit saying Lowney hadn't properly raised the issue of illegal campaign coordination. The builders' used that letter to argue the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.

"I give no weight to that letter," Kallas said, calling it "subjective" and "not appropriate."

Liberal activist Aaron Ostrom filed an ethics complaint this week asserting that Attorney General Rob McKenna assisted the Rossi campaign when his office sent the letter.

A spokeswoman for the Attorney General's Office insisted the letter was not sent for political purposes. Janelle Guthrie said that while McKenna was apprised of the letter, he did not order it, draft it, edit it or see it before it went out. Guthrie stressed that the AG's office asked the disclosure commission to investigate Lowney's campaign coordination charge.

Bob Young: 206-464-2174 or byoung@seattletimes.com