Referendum 71 foes sue to raise donation limits

Apparently emboldened by recent legal victories — including a case being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court — groups opposed to Washington's domestic-partnership law and working to defeat Referendum 71 are suing again in federal court, this time to lift the state's limits on campaign contributions.

With some major funding in the offing, the Family Policy Institute of Washington, through its newly formed Family political-action committee (PAC), filed suit in U.S. District Court in Tacoma late Wednesday.

Family PAC wants a federal judge to declare unconstitutional the state's public-disclosure laws, which limit to $5,000 contributions from businesses and individuals made within 21 days of the election.

The laws also require campaigns to disclose names and addresses of those who donate more than $25. Those contributing more than $100 must also include their employers' names and addresses, as well as their occupations. The suit seeks to keep all that information from being disclosed.

The group acknowledges that there are substantial contributions the campaign wants to accept but can't because of the limits.

The lawsuit is the latest in a months-long contentious legal back and forth involving Referendum 71, which is asking voters to approve or reject the latest expansion of the domestic-partnership law, granting marriagelike benefits to gay couples and some senior couples.

James Bopp Jr., of Indiana, a conservative federal and state elections-law attorney who is representing Family PAC, is also the attorney for Protect Marriage Washington in that group's lawsuit seeking to block the release of names of people who signed Referendum 71 petitions. It's that case that's now being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bopp said the state's threshold for disclosing the names of donors is among the lowest in the country. "What person in their right mind would vote for or against gay rights based on Joe Blow giving $26 in a campaign involving millions of dollars?" he said.

Bopp said it is the responsibility of the state to determine the level at which voters would begin to care: "$10,000, maybe? ... Certainly not $25 or $100."

The group argues that such restrictions violate the First Amendment rights of donors because they are not "narrowly tailored" to serve a compelling government interest.

Anne Levinson, chairwoman for Washington Families Standing Together, which supports the state's domestic-partnership law, said her group "would have to be included as a party to the suit and will absolutely defend the law."

"This is a new low," Levinson said. "It is yet another example of a very intentional, concerted pattern on the part of these socially conservative groups to eviscerate and skirt state campaign laws. These laws exist to protect the public, not special interest."

The suit comes just over a week after the Oct. 13 cutoff date for making campaign donations of $5,000 or greater and names as defendants Washington's secretary of state, the attorney general and members of the Public Disclosure Commission, which oversees the state's campaign-contributions laws. The suit asks those agencies to purge all records containing personal and employment-related information of all donors.

The attorney general's office was still reviewing the lawsuit Thursday and had no immediate comment.

Matt Barreto, a polling expert and political-science professor at the University of Washington, said that with less than two weeks left before the Nov. 3 election, the legal wrangling may have become a distraction from the real issues of the campaign — whether registered domestic partners are entitled to expanded state benefits.

"And it's not clear that it benefits either side," he said.

Family PAC is seeking a temporary restraining order to lift the donation cap and the requirement to identify those who donate at a certain level — although the suit doesn't specify what that level should be.

The suit asks for an expedited hearing in the hope the campaign can accept the large donations before the Nov. 3 election. A hearing date has not yet been set.

Bopp, who is general counsel for the James Madison Center for Free Speech, said that after the harassment directed at supporters of Proposition 8 last year in California, "no one should have their personal information published on the Internet for making a contribution and certainly not at the irrational levels set by the state of Washington."

Some who donated to Proposition 8, which repealed California's same-sex marriage law last November, reported being harassed by people who found their names on state campaign-disclosure Web sites and were angry over their support.

Some said they lost their jobs after gay-marriage supporters threatened to boycott their places of employments. Some even reported death threats.

The suit has been assigned to Judge Ronald Leighton.

Lornet Turnbull: 206-464-2420 or lturnbull@seattletimes.com