HeraldNet: BIAW rejects settlement, will battle on in 2008 election case



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The Petri Dish

October 8, 2009

BIAW rejects settlement, will battle on in 2008 election case

Posted at 10:39 am by Jerry Cornfield

The Olympian's Brad Shannon details on his blog and in a front page story how the Building Industry Association of Washington intends to defend itself against allegations stemming from the 2008 gubernatorial contest.

From the story:

A lawsuit over allegedly illegal campaign-finance activities by the Building Industry Association of Washington is headed into a long court battle.

State lawyers offered to settle their lawsuit against the association over campaign-finance violations from 2008, provided that builders paid fines and state costs of $900,000.

The offer, which expired last month, would have been the second-largest such sanction in state history, just shy of one dealing with the Washington Education Association. The BIAW rejected it, calling the offer “nothing more than extortion.”

The BIAW countered with an offer to pay $10,000 and continues to deny it broke state law or that its Member Services Corp. should be considered a political committee. Builders also hired Washington, D.C.-based campaign-finance lawyer Cleta Mitchell as they prepare for a trial that's scheduled to start Jan. 11.

At issue is $582,000 collected by the Member Services Corp. in 2007 for use by the builders' political committee to promote Dino Rossi's campaign for governor in 2008. The money came from local builder groups that agreed to set aside a portion of their insurance premium refunds from the state “Retro” program that the BIAW manages for members.

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