Sound Politics: Friday Court Date

February 15, 2005

Friday Court Date

The next court date in Borders v. King County et al is Friday morning in Wenatchee. [now that King County is dismissed as a party, has the suit been renamed Borders v. et al?].

Attorneys for Dino Rossi and the Democratic Party will be back in Chelan County Superior Court Friday trying to get a judge to clarify important pretrial decisions in the Republican legal challenge to the November election

The Democratic Party is, as usual, providing most of the entertainment, this time asking the judge to impose an absurd, impossible standard in order to set aside the election:

Democrats are looking for the most detailed clarification. Attorneys for the state party filed a 19-page proposed order to Judge John Bridges asking for specific guidelines, including a ruling that Republicans must show which candidate got each alleged illegal vote in the governor's election.

Chris Vance said on Republican Radio this Saturday that he expects Judge Bridges to set a trial date at this hearing, probably for sometime in March.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at February 15, 2005 12:19 PM | Email This

Comments

1. With a secret ballot how exactly would you determine who an illegal vote was cast for? Obviously this is an impossible standard and most a most ridiculous request on the part of the Democrat party.

Posted by: Marc on February 15, 2005 01:09 PM

2. Just wanted to mention we're having an online chat with Secretary of State Sam Reed. Readers can submit questions here:
www.theolympian.com/livechat/prechat2.shtml

Posted by: Chris on February 15, 2005 01:16 PM

3. Marc is right-on.
I can't imagine the Judge requiring some sort of devining of specific secret ballots out of the pot!
Had this been the Judge's intent, he would have dismissed this lawsuit previously as he is smart enough to know that is not possible.
And I doubt that the Judge will want a parade of illegal voters to testify under oath WHO they voted for!!!
Plus, unreconciled ballots (by their nature) we don't have a voter to match the vote not=r do we know which vote is specifically questionable.

This ruling will be extremely important because it may answer the elusive question about what the word APPEARS means. The Dems are saying APPEARS means PROVE FRAUD!! No way!!! It's somewhere well below that nearly impossible standard.

Posted by: Mr. Cynical on February 15, 2005 01:54 PM

4. Stefan--
Apparently torridjoe and carla (2 of your biggest critics...or are they cynics??) have admitted they made an error in their "Discrepancy" analysis. In other words, there was a "discrepancy" in their "discrepancy analysis". They blame it on bad data from Spokane County but have just become aware of that "bad data".
How do you suppose they were alerted to the "new data"?????? Someone must be feeding these bloggers Stefan!!! I guess it's all about "who you know"!! torridjoe & carla are obviously well-connected...them lucky dawgs!!

Posted by: Mr. Cynical on February 15, 2005 02:29 PM

5. Defining the content of a secret ballot appears to violate state and federal law. Seeking such definitely sets a standard for voter intimidation by...ta da... the democratic party. Besides, I would think this judge is intelligent enough to not make law but interpret it and interpret it correctly. Looks like the Ds will lose yet another round. How many have they won so far, I haven't really seen a win on their side, more like Rs 9, Ds 0, ties 2. ??

Posted by: Mark Beyer on February 15, 2005 02:29 PM

6. what is the proposed remedy should the court find for Rossi and order a revote.

this article: http://www.spokesmanreview.com/breaking/story.asp?submitDate=2005215161355

suggests that Gregoire would remain as acting governor until the November election, but I dont see how this would be right, if the court finds that there is 'no winner'.

seems like perhaps the previous governor would be sworn back in... or perhaps the legislature would choose someone?

any ideas?

Posted by: ralph on February 15, 2005 05:00 PM

7. I think the most likely solution would be our Lt. Gov. Brad Owens holding the reins for awhile if the election is set aside.

Posted by: Whidbey Teacher on February 15, 2005 06:49 PM

8. Great!

I'm glad to see this is moving along so quickly!

Judge Bridges would have already made the stipulation if he were going to require the Republicans to prove which candidate the illegal votes went to......He didn't.
The Dems know this and they are scared...This is all they have left!

If the Judge rules that the Republicans only need to show there were more illegal votes in the election than the margin of victory for Gregoire...then the rest of the case is won for Rossi!

The Dems have nothing to stop this.....

I expect to see Berendts crying again on Friday....

Posted by: Deborah on February 15, 2005 09:13 PM

9. Mums the word For The Columbian, media black out as usual no mention of the Friday hearing in Chelan County.

Good luck Dino!!

Posted by: Terry, Clark C on February 17, 2005 08:25 AM