AGO News Releases With Topic: Elections

The Attorney General’s Office today settled a lawsuit against the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties (MBA-K&S) for violating the state’s campaign finance disclosure law.

 OLYMPIA – The Attorney General’s Office today filed a lawsuit in Thurston County Superior Court against Moxie Media and other defendants for multiple alleged violations of the state’s campaign financial disclosure law.

The Attorney General’s Office and the Evergreen Freedom Foundation recently settled an eight-year old lawsuit against the National Education Association (NEA), which alleged the organization illegally used fees paid to it by non-members for political purposes. The suit, filed in Thurston County Superior Court in October 2002, alleged the NEA violated a state law barring unions from using non-member fees for political purposes without permission.

State Attorney General Rob McKenna won his first case before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a unanimous ruling upholding the state’s felon voting laws and rejecting an earlier ruling that applied the federal Voting Rights Act to Washington’s felon disenfranchisement law.

Late yesterday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay of the recent U. S. District Court decision in Family PAC v. McKenna, et al. that found the $5,000 timing restriction on contributions during the 21 days before a general election unconstitutional for ballot measures.   

SEATTLE—In January, a split panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a 2-1 ruling in Farrakhan v. Gregoire, overturning Washington’s felon disenfranchisement law, holding that it violates the federal Voting Rights Act and granting convicted felons in Washington the right to vote from prison and while on community supervision.

In an 8-1 decision today, the US Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Washington’s voter-approved public records law, retaining the public’s ability to obtain copies of petitions signed in favor of placing initiatives and referenda on the ballot. Attorney General Rob McKenna personally argued the case on behalf of the state.

Secretary of State Sam Reed will join Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna in Washington, DC, at the end of the month as McKenna argues his third US Supreme Court case, defending the constitutionality of Washington’s voter-approved public records law.

OLYMPIA–Attorney General Rob McKenna today issued the following statement on the US Supreme Court’s decision to hear Doe v. Reed, a case involving the release of Referendum 71 petitions containing the names and addresses of those who signed the measure. “This case involves a direct attack on public disclosure and transparency in elections. It affects not only all Washington state initiatives and referenda but also has major ramifications for every state with an initiative and referenda process and similar laws regarding public disclosure.

OLYMPIA… The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today reversed and granted an immediate stay of a lower court’s preliminary injunction blocking the release of Referendum 71 petitions containing the names and addresses of those who signed the measure.