Ex-judges are suing Dino Rossi, a candidate for Governor in Washington state.
In the final days of a heated election, Republican gubernatorial challenger Dino Rossi could be forced to testify under oath about allegations that he illegally coordinated campaign fundraising with a major supporter, the conservative Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW).
The legal showdown was prompted Monday by two former state Supreme Court justices, Faith Ireland and Robert Utter, who support Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire in her re-election campaign against Rossi.
The former judges sued the building-industry group in King County Superior Court, claiming that the BIAW worked too closely with Rossi in developing a multimillion-dollar political-spending effort focused on the governor’s race. The suit seeks to halt the BIAW’s political spending in the last weeks of the campaign.
After three recounts, Rossi lost the 2004 race for Govenor by 133 votes. Latest polls seem to show the race is about even.