WashCOG sues the Washington State Redistricting Commission

Press release
Dec. 9, 2021

Contacts:
George Erb, WashCOG secretary, geoerb@seanet.com
Juli Bunting, WashCOG executive director, info@washingtoncog.org

The Washington Coalition for Open Government today sued the state of Washington and its Redistricting Commission for violating the state Open Public Meetings Act.

The lawsuit argues that in its final meeting on Nov. 15 the Commission engaged in secret negotiations to draft and come to agreement about proposed legislative and congressional district maps. The commissioners’ private actions and their inaction publicly violates the OPMA and should be voided, the suit says.

While conducting the public’s business in an online meeting, the four commission members intentionally avoided negotiating in an open meeting. Had they deliberated in groups of three or four, the law would require commissioners to do their work in public.

Commission members also conducted a series of deadline votes on matters that observers were unable to see. The commission then adjourned quickly without offering any explanations.

The commission had repeatedly touted a public process but flouted the state Open Public Meetings Act and hid its deliberations and decisions from citizens.

“In the end, the commission failed to meet its deadline and to complete its work,” said Mike Fancher, WashCOG president. “That failure is a powerful reminder that bad process leads to bad outcomes.”

“The commission damaged public trust in our system of governing, which always happens when secrecy prevails over transparency,” he said.

Fancher said the Coalition takes no position on the redistricting decisions made by the Commission. Should the Commission’s work be voided, presumably the Washington Supreme Court would make its own redistricting decision.

“Our concern is that the commissioners convened a regular business meeting then conducted business and took action in private, not on the public record. Our purpose is to ensure public participation and transparency, not redistricting or any redistricting outcome,” he said.

The suit lists four commissioners – April Sims, Paul Graves, Brady Piñero Walkinshaw and Joe Fain – as defendants, as well as Sarah Augustine, the commission chair and a non-voting commission member.

The lawsuit says, “Defendants motions and corresponding votes should be deemed void or voided by court order to deter against similar future violations or reliance upon such action as valid when it was not. Individual Commissioners knew that they were violating Washington’s Open Public Meeting Act.”

The lawsuit, which was filed in the Thurston County Superior Court, asks for civil penalties of $500 against each commissioner, pursuant to the OPMA.

Washington’s Open Public Meetings Act requires “All meetings of the governing body of a public agency shall be open and public and all persons shall be permitted to attend any meeting of the governing of a public agency, except as otherwise provided in this chapter.” RCW 42.30.030

WashCOG also has brought its concerns that the Commission disregarded fundamental open government standards and was not transparent to the Commission itself and is asking it to recognize its mistakes publicly via an Administrative Procedure Act Petition for Declaratory Relief.  In WashCOG’s APA petition to the Commission it asks the Commission to correct its actions in several ways, including by completing required training, entering an order promising to be transparent, amending its own rules to prohibit off the record deliberations in the form of caucus meetings, adopting rules that require publication of its proposed Report and Plan prior to voting on it, and otherwise conform its conduct to existing standards.

Under APA standards, the Commission has fifteen days to publish or give notice of the petition to all persons it deems desirable.  Within thirty days, the Commission shall in writing set a specified time no more than ninety days after receipt of the petition by which it will enter a declaratory order or decline to enter the order and state the reasons for its action.

WashCOG President Fancher said, “The Coalition looks forward to the Commission acting on its own to reassure the public that it will not repeat the same errors again.”

The Washington Coalition for Open Government is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded in 2002. We are an independent, broad-based advocate for public records, open meetings and informed citizens.