Court Challenge Filed Opposing Reinstatement of Scott White as Candidate for State Representative in 46th District

Embargo until 3:30 PM Friday, June 20, 2008

Lead Contact: Betty Means, (206) 523-5702

Seven voters in Seattle's 46th Legislative District filed a petition to have the King County Superior Court remove 46th District State Representative candidate Scott White from the ballot this afternoon. The petition alleges that County Elections Division Director Sherril Huff improperly allowed Scott White, a senior County political appointee with ties to the County Executive, to have his candidacy reinstated after White filed a signed form withdrawing his candidacy on Thursday, June 12th.

White faxed his form from the offices of King County Executive Ron Sims after meeting with Kurt Triplett, Sims' Chief of Staff, about his candidacy, according to White's statements. Both the meeting and use of the fax were violations of the laws barring use of county resources and equipment for political campaign purposes.

King County Elections Division apparently accepted the withdrawal and posted that White had "withdrawn" on its website prior to White calling the County Elections Division on Friday to say he had changed his mind.

"There should be just one set of rules applied equally to every candidate, regardless of their political connections," said Betty Means, one of the 46th District voters bringing the challenge. "We need to get to the bottom of whether Scott's political connections allowed him to benefit from a different set of rules than those applied to everyone else."

Triplett partially responded to a public records request filed by White's opponent, Gerry Pollet.  Triplett says White's fax was sent Thursday, June 12, at 4:29 PM - one minute before the minimum time period that state law requires the County to accept candidate withdrawals. The fax log shows the transmission took only 31 seconds. However, Triplett also said their fax clock is three hours off. 

According to Huff, the clock and time log on the fax machine at County Elections Division is also inaccurate.  While the county fax machine showed White's fax was received at 15:35 (3:35pm) on June 12, Huff has determined that it was actually received at 4:35pm.  White has been cited in the press as saying he sent the fax at least ten minutes after the County elections Division says they received it, and told an audience last night that he sent it on Friday.

"This petition is the only way for the public to know what really happened and if a candidate withdrew or not," said Paula King.

"Just last night Scott White, yet again, changed his story on exactly when he used the County Executive's office fax machine to withdraw from this race," said Karen Deyerle. "This is all about the integrity of the elections. We need to have everything done above board and in bright sunshine, not in the back rooms."

The County has said it may take until the end of June to respond to public records requests for records of meetings, emails, or phone calls between White or senior County officials with the Elections Division about White's withdrawal. "State law requires a petition for review to be filed by today.  Because of the delay at King County, it is important to ask the court to determine the facts immediately," said Pollet.

"Scott lists himself as a senior county official in his campaign literature, yet very low-level county official knows they cannot use County equipment and offices for political purposes," said Pat Sumption. "Why did he think he could use the County's office and equipment to discuss his campaign and file political forms?"

"There should be a full ethics investigation into Scott White's use of County resources for his campaign, including campaigning during the day while ostensibly working for us, the taxpayers," said Brian King.

Petitioners and contact information:

Betty Means (206) 523-5702

Karen Deyerle (206)525-0216

Pat Sumption (206) 525-1708

Brian King and Paula King (206) 526-8169

Hans Christenson (206) 517-5785

Gerry Pollet (206)528-0078 (206)819-905 cell.