WENATCHEE – After months of saying they did not have to allege fraud, lawyers for Dino Rossi did just that Monday as they began prosecuting the Republican’s case for a new election for governor.
In his opening statement, Republican attorney Dale Foreman painted a picture of a ballot-counting process run amok in King County, citing acts of negligence, misconduct and fraud, including ballot box stuffing and ballot stealing.
“This is not just a case of sloppy. This is a case of election fraud,” Foreman said in the initial skirmish of the legal battle to overturn last November’s contest.
Democratic lawyers returned fire, saying it is too late to claim fraud as a reason to toss out the results and oust Gov. Christine Gregoire from office.
“Fraud is not part of this case, and it never has been,” attorney Kevin Hamilton said. “Obviously, there is some desperation seeping into the petitioners’ case.”
Democrats pushed Chelan Superior Court Judge John Bridges to bar the GOP from claiming fraud because they had not raised the issue in their petition filed in January.
Bridges seemed to agree that the GOP had missed its chance, but he did not absolutely preclude lawyers from presenting evidence of possible fraud.
“The court does not believe there is a fraud causation element to this case, for whatever that’s worth,” Bridges said. “I am not saying that the evidence is not admissible.”
The trial is scheduled to run nine days.
Rossi and Gregoire dueled in the closest race for governor in state history. Three times the 2.9 million ballots cast were counted. Rossi lead after the first count and a machine recount, but Gregoire emerged the winner by 129 votes following a hand recount.
Rossi’s lawyers argued that he would be in office if the totals did not include hundreds of votes cast illegally by felons. Moreover, they say the true outcome cannot be known because of errors and misconduct in King County, where Gregoire collected most of her votes.
Democrats don’t dispute that illegal votes were cast and misconduct occurred, but they say Republicans will not be able to prove that changed the result – the standard needed to nullify Gregoire’s victory.
The historic case and lightning rod for the political parties nationally drew little interest from residents as the 260-seat Chelan County Auditorium was less than half full Monday.
Dennis and Lois Ferguson of Moses Lake showed up.
“We decided if we’re going to complain about it we ought to be here,” Ferguson said, noting he and his wife backed Rossi.
“We have great doubts about the election system in this state,” he said. “Based on what we’ve heard so far there’s reason to have doubt.”
Outside, a sunbaked Brian Thomas of Seattle stood on the steps clutching a pole with a “Re-Vote” sign attached.
“Being a voter I’d like to have confidence in who had the most legal votes,” he said.
Thomas said he was disappointed but not surprised that no one rallied for either candidate.
“I would have liked to see more Wenatchee residents show up,” he said.
In a park across the street, 15-year resident Tom Burns sat on a chaise lounge reading a book aware and uninterested.
“It’s gone on so long,” he said, adding he voted for Gregoire and considers the lawsuit “a last ditch effort” that won’t work.
Republicans think otherwise, unleashing a blistering attack Monday on how King County tracked and counted its ballots.
Returning to the theme of every vote should have a voter, lawyers contend King County counted 875 more absentee ballots than it verified.
Foreman called the situation “chaos” as he outlined “failure after failure” that would be revealed in further detail in testimony today.
He said there was “unbelievable neglect, and we believe outright fraud by King County election officials.”
Foreman alleged that in the two precincts where Gregoire did best, ballot boxes were stuffed; likewise in two precincts where Rossi did well, ballots were lost.
He also said there is a “smoking gun.” It is an October e-mail in which a King County election worker tells a supervisor that the computer system to track the flow of absentee ballots could not produce an accurate accounting of what had been returned.
Hamilton responded that Republicans have no one who has been deposed or is scheduled to testify to allegations of fraud, including ballot stuffing. As for the e-mail, he said that is was nothing more than an bumpy transition to a new computer system.
Repeatedly, Hamilton said the Republicans proof of illegal votes and misconduct “falls woefully short” of the standards needed to force an overturning of the election.
Following opening statements, the trial began its slow slog through the nuts and bolts of the election procedures in which all the warts will be exposed.
Foreman read parts of Secretary of Sam Reed’s deposition including criticism of King County’s mistakes and his belief that the race was so close that it is not possible to say with absolute certainty that the 129-vote margin is the correct result.
Today, the focus will be on what occurred in King County, centering on the deposition of elections director Dean Logan and the testimony of elections superintendent Bill Huennekens.
Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
First-day highlights
* The Republican attorney painted a picture of a ballot-counting process run amok in King County, citing acts of negligence, misconduct and fraud, including ballot box stuffing and ballot stealing.
* Democratic lawyers said it is too late to claim fraud as a reason to toss out the results and oust Gov. Christine Gregoire from office because it was not part of the lawsuit.
* Judge John Bridges seemed to agree the GOP missed its chance but did not preclude lawyers from presenting evidence of possible fraud.
* The trial is scheduled to run nine days. It can be watched live on TVW.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
