July 14, 2008 - 1:02pm
State sticks up for top two primary
By Bryan Bissell
Category: LocalTags: Top Two Primary, Sam Reed, Washington State Democratic Party, Washington State Republican Party
Solicitor General Maureen Hart wrote a letter Friday on behalf of Secretary of State Sam Reed to lawyers from the state Democratic and Republican Parties sticking up for the legality of the state's "top two" primary. Earlier in the week Democrat David McDonald and Republican John White wrote to Reed suggesting that a 9th Circuit Court injunction banning the primary was still in place despite the Supreme Court's decision that it was facially legal.
"Wholly aside from the practical impossibility of your suggestion, there is no legal basis for it," Hart said of the lawyers' claim that the state should cease with the top two primary. "The injunction was based entirely upon the District Court's conclusion that I-872 would facially violate the constitutional rights of the plaintiff political parties - a judgment that has been reversed. An injunction must be obeyed until it is ‘reversed by orderly and proper proceedings.'"
Later in the letter, Hart directly addresses David McDonald's assertion that a recent letter from Judge Thomas Zilly suggests that the case is still active.
"Mr. McDonald's letter suggests that the recent order of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals requesting additional briefing on unrelated issues somehow supports the notion that the District Court injunction is still in force. There is no basis for such a contention."
Previously in PolitickerWA.com:
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Attention Republicans: Watch Out!
There is a real dog-fight going on in Republican circles in Spokane right now. Kevin Parker and Melvin Lindauer are running an expensive primary to decide who will take on Rep. Don Barlow (D) in the battle to win the State Legislative seat, 6th District, Position 1.
In trying to make up my mind who I want to support, I decided to do a little google search on both candidates to see if anything interesting would pop up. Low and behold, for full public disclosure, there is some information about Lindauer that could prove damning. If you go to the Washington State Court System website, http://dw.courts.wa.gov (or google the address) and type in Lindauer's name you will see he has been involved in some nasty lawsuits. What's worse, when you enter in his wife Carolyn's name, her name appears in even more! Between the two Lindauer's, they have been involved in 15 damning lawsuits. These range from a contract breach over the acquisition of their business: Optic One Eye Center, to personal injury, to judgement creditor! Also, one of Lindauer's key financial supporters-his brother Damien has also been the defendant in 7 lawsuits! Lindauer is also rumored to have had several high profile medical and business complaints filed against him with the state of Washington.
Lindauer's baggage doesn't bode well for a party trying to distance itself from some of the scandals to hit Republicans nationally. If Lindauer wins the primary, this will spell disaster for any Republican hopes of retaking this seat from Democrats in the Fall. All they will need to do is air out his dirty laundry on repeat and the election is over with Barlow the winner. If Barlow wins again, Dems could conceivably sweep what has always been a Republican stronghold (the 6th District) into a strong Democratic district led by Chris Marr instead.
Attention Spokane Republicans: Watch Out for Lindauer!
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