Judge: Rossi to give deposition before election

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi must give a deposition before Election Day as part of a lawsuit alleging illegal campaign spending by his biggest backer, the Building Industry Association of Washington.

King County Superior Court Judge Paris Kallas said the public interest demands that Rossi give his answers before, not after, the election is over, and accordingly granted a request for expedited discovery in the case. Rossi's deposition was scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday.

"Early discovery allows the parties to confirm — or dispel — the allegations before the election," she hand-wrote in the order. "And such prompt investigation furthers the purposes of the Fair Campaign Practices Act... which include 'complete disclosure of all information respecting the financing of political campaigns,' as well as 'full access to public records so as to assure continuing public confidence of fairness of elections.'"

The lawsuit was brought against the BIAW by two former state Supreme Court justices, Faith Ireland and Robert Utter, who are supporting Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire's re-election bid. It alleges that Rossi coordinated campaign fundraising with the BIAW, and therefore the trade group should be constrained by state limits on direct campaign contributions — $2,800, rather than the more than $6 million in independent expenditures it has spent backing Rossi this election cycle.

"There's strong evidence that suggests every dollar being spent by BIAW to influence the governor's race is illegal," said Knoll Lowney, a lawyer for the justices. "It's important because the act says voters have a right to know about political committees' coordination with candidates, and they have a right to know it before the election."

Rossi lawyer Mike Patterson did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Rossi had sought to have his subpoena quashed, or at least to have his deposition delayed until after the election, arguing the subpoena was politically motivated to keep him off the campaign trail in the final days of the race.

The judge rejected that attempt.

"It is precisely because Mr. Rossi seeks public office that he must bear the burden of the contemplated deposition," Kallas wrote.

The Gregoire campaign welcomed the order, with spokeswoman Debra Carnes saying in an e-mail, "The allegations of campaign finance violations in this case are serious, and voters deserve to know all the facts as they are making their voting decisions."

The lawsuit cites phone calls that Rossi made in 2007 to officers of the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties, at a time when the BIAW was seeking contributions from the affiliate group to build its campaign war chest.

Rossi maintains he did nothing wrong. He told reporters the phone calls in question were intended to smooth out a political dispute among his past supporters. The topic involved political spending, he said, but he didn't make any specific mentions of where the affiliate group should spend its dollars.

In a court filing Monday, the BIAW asked Kallas to refuse the justices' request to take depositions before Election Day. It argued that Lowney and his co-counsel, Mike Withey, had known since January about Rossi's contacts with the BIAW-affiliated group, but timed its complaints for maximum press coverage before the election.

Lowney called that argument "silly," saying the BIAW didn't do anything wrong until it began spending money on the campaign in late May. Six weeks after that, the justices and others complained to the attorney general's office, and then they waited a required 45 days before filing the lawsuit.