SEATTLE — The state says Washington’s Republican Party is deadbeat in repaying legal fees associated with a failed challenge to the Top 2 primary system.
In a federal court filing today, the Attorney General’s Office wrote that while the Democratic Party has paid the $37,700 it owes, the Republicans haven’t made a dent on their $55,000 bill. Furthermore, Deputy Solicitor General Jeffrey T. Even says a GOP lawyer told him not to expect payment any time soon.
The Libertarian Party has also failed to pay. It owes $16,300.
The political parties sued to challenge Washington’s Top 2 primary system, by which the top two finishers in a primary advance to the general election. Washington lost in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and paid the parties’ legal fees. But after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the decision of the appeals court, a federal judge in Seattle ordered the parties to repay the state.
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