Three prominent Republicans in this state; the attorney general, the secretary of state and the head of the Washington Coalition for Open Government, are fighting to have the names on the Ref. 71 petitions released. Back when the first request was made in federal court for a temporary injunction to hide the names, attorney general Rob McKenna supposedly did not even show up. But now the coalition of Republicans is fighting on the side of gay-rights interests.
WCOG director Nixon warns that Settle’s decision, which allows for anonymous lawmaking, could have more sweeping ramifications. “This could very easily be interpreted as saying that people [also] have a right to make campaign contributions anonymously,” says Nixon. That path could allow lobbyists to go unnamed, and thus money and entities that influence every piece of legislation would be invisible to the public.
The whole story is in The Stranger.
This is an interesting case, but, has taken our efforts and focus off the prize – Keeping our civil rights – the Approve Ref: 71 campaign effort.
Most court experts believe this case will go the the US Supremes and that will take years.
In an interesting story in the PI, a UW law prof. thinks the judge may have offered a solid opinion. Few of us agree, but, let's keep focused on the real task at hand, defeating the bigots at the ballot box in Nov., 6-7 weeks away.
In victory, we can follow all the twists and turns of this case in the following years.
On to the work in our faces, now, a victory, Approve Ref. 71.