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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neeka who wrote (115708)	5/23/2005 7:43:13 PM
From: KLP	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793838

Updated WA Trial Notes 437 PM PST: Election trial dispatches By David Postman Seattle Times chief political reporter Monday, May 23, 2005, 04:37 P.M. Pacific seattletimes.nwsource.com POSTED 4:18 PM Monday First Republican witness takes stand After a very long reading of Sam Reed's deposition, the Republicans' first live witness has taken the stand. Dan Brady is a Republican political consultant and volunteer for the Rossi campaign. For the past three weeks he organized records related to illegal votes and is on the stand only to explain the index of the records that are stored in the basement of the auditorium. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- POSTED 2:26 PM Monday A dramatic reading in court The Republicans are now presenting their case. And it is a little odd to watch. Rather than have Secretary of State Sam Reed testify, Republican lawyers are reading Reed's deposition, taken before the trial. Republican attorney Dale Foreman is sitting in the witness box, playing the role of Reed. Attorney Mark Braden is reading the questions that were asked of Reed. Foreman is doing something of a dramatic reading, with added inflection. Earlier, Bridges and the attorneys discussed whether the entire transcripts had to be read in open court or whether Bridges could read the depositions on his own. He said he will take another deposition home tonight to read. His concern was how to move the trial along at an adequate pace. "I feel like I'm running in quicksand here," the judge said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- POSTED 2:26 PM Monday Bridges' thoughts on fraud claim Judge Bridges has put off deciding whether Republicans' fraud charges can move forward in the trial. But he may be on his way to another decision that splits the difference between Republicans and Democrats — something he's done before. Bridges agreed with Democrats that fraud has not been an official part of the Republicans' claim. But he stopped short of excluding the evidence. That's not unlike what Thomas Ahearne, an attorney for the Secretary of State Sam Reed, said to the judge. He said the debate could be a fight over semantics. The Republicans have raised the issues earlier, Ahearne said, but have not referred to them as fraud. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- POSTED 1:34 PM Monday Arguing over fraud charges Court is back in session. Attorneys for both sides are arguing over Republican claims of fraud in King County. Democratic attorney Kevin Hamilton told Bridges it should not be allowed because the claim was not properly included in the Republicans' earlier filings. Republican attorney Rob Maguire said there was a mention in the original Republican lawsuit. Bridges wants to know more. He told Maguire that Republicans should prepare a written response to Democrats' motion to have the fraud charge excluded. That's due tomorrow. Bridges said he would allow the fraud charge for now "so we can move on." But tomorrow he will rule on whether those key pieces of the Republican claim can continue to be part of this case. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- POSTED 11:52 AM Monday Secretary of State says case will affect future elections Assistant Attorney General Jeff Even, representing Secretary of State Sam Reed in the case, said Reed will not advocate on behalf of either Gregoire or Rossi. But he said the state has broader interests because what Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges does will affect future elections. Bridges adjourned court for lunch. Democratic attorney Jenny Durkan said her side wants to talk about new issues raised by Republicans this morning. But Bridges made it clear he will not spend the afternoon on "housekeeping" issues and procedural motions. "I want to get into this case," he told the attorneys. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- POSTED 11:33 AM Monday Democrats lay out two-part strategy Judge John Bridges has given each side four days to present its case. When Republicans finish later this week, Democrats will move to have the case dismissed, Democratic attorney Kevin Hamilton said. If that's not successful, Democrats will present evidence of errors and illegal votes they say helped Rossi. That, they hope, will offset any evidence Republicans present. Hamilton earlier defended King County's performance in the election, but he said Democrats have found errors there that cost Gregoire votes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- POSTED 11:33 AM Monday Democrats cite illegal votes for Rossi Democrats deposed some of the people Republicans have alleged voted illegally. Attorney Kevin Hamilton said all but one voted for Republican Dino Rossi. And the other voted for Libertarian Ruth Bennett. He gave one example, referred to only by the initials W.S. He said the person was a convicted felon who conceded his voting rights had not been restored. But he said he voted for Rossi. Hamilton said he knows Republicans will claim felons can't be trusted to tell the truth. So he showed on a screen in the courtroom copies of W.S.'s Republican National Committee membership card and a thank you letter from President George W. Bush. W.S. also made two donations to Rossi during the campaign. W.S. lives in a precinct won by Gregoire and by the Republican theory of proportional deduction, his vote would have been counted as a vote for Gregoire, Hamilton said -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- POSTED 10:54 AM Monday Democrats attack fraud allegations Democratic attorney Kevin Hamilton began the Democrats' opening argument by pointing out the shift in emphasis of the Republican case. "The centerpiece of petitioners' claim, at least until today, was that felons illegally voted in this election, tipping the balance in Gov. Gregoire's favor," Hamilton said. He said Republicans are "hedging their bets" by taking a "loose collection of administrative errors'' and calling it fraud. Democrats will try later to exclude the Republicans' allegations of fraud. "Fraud is not part of this case and it never has been," he told Bridges. "Obviously there is some desperation seeping into the petitioner's case." "Every election has irregularities," Hamilton said. "They occur in every county in this state, in every state in this nation. This democracy of ours is not a perfect system and we all recognize that." Hamilton attacked the Republicans' fraud claim by saying the party has not tried to collect hard evidence of the allegations. He said Republicans have not deposed any polling place inspectors or observers about claims of ballot fraud. Nor have they done an independent count of ballots or envelopes in King County to answer questions about discrepancies in the count. He said more lawyers than could fit into the auditorium fanned out across the state to observe the vote. "If someone sneezed they saw it, but not one of them will be called to testify in this trial." Hamilton talks so fast the court reporter had to ask him to slow down. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- POSTED 10:09 AM Monday Foreman turns to felons Approaching 45 minutes into his opening argument, Republican attorney Dale Foreman has turned to felons. He said Republicans will argue that illegal votes by felons should be apportioned by the same percentage the legal vote broke down in any given precincts. He acknowledged it is not a perfect system but is scientifically based. "It is the best way known to man to extrapolate and be fair," he said. And Foreman told Bridges that is his job: "To try to do justice in an imperfect world."