OLYMPIA — A lawsuit alleging illegal campaign spending is a political ruse meant to keep Republican candidate Dino Rossi off the campaign trail in the crucial final weeks of a hotly contested governor’s race, Rossi argued Monday.
In court papers, Rossi asked a King County Superior Court judge to halt efforts to compel his testimony about allegations that he illegally coordinated fundraising with a major supporter, the Building Industry Association of Washington.
Election Day is Nov. 4, and absentee ballots in Washington’s mostly vote-by-mail election must be sent to voters by Friday. If forced to testify, Rossi could give a deposition Oct. 20.
Rossi is running neck-and-neck with Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire. Gregoire defeated Rossi for governor in 2004 by just 133 votes, after three ballot counts and a failed Republican court challenge.
In Monday’s court filing, Rossi said forcing his testimony before next month’s election “is a politically motivated effort to guarantee Mr. Rossi’s unavailability to his campaign, to improperly employ the court system for political gain, and to unfairly sway voter sentiment in favor of Governor Gregoire.”
The legal showdown was set in motion last week by two former state Supreme Court justices, Faith Ireland and Robert Utter, who have donated money to Gregoire’s re-election campaign.
The former justices sued the building industry group claiming that it worked too closely with Rossi in developing a multimillion-dollar political spending effort for the governor’s race.
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