The Washington State Redistricting Commission reached a settlement agreement last week after being sued earlier this year for violating the Public Records Act.
The plaintiff in the case, Arthur West, agreed to a $40,000 settlement on Dec. 8. The Redistricting Commission and the state of Washington were both named as defendants in the lawsuit.
West, an Olympia resident and open government advocate, initially filed his lawsuit against the commission in August for withholding and destroying text messages, a violation under the state PRA.
The penalty was based on a $100 fine imposed each day the access to the records were denied and the records request considered closed by the agency, consistent with state law.
He told McClatchy that two considerations were taken into account for his case.
“The present state of the PRA gives agencies a free pass if records are destroyed prior to a request, as may have been the case with Commissioner (April) Sims destruction, and that since the WSRC was allowed to use legislative caucus staff instead of WSRC employees, the duty to search such third-party employee records is not clearly established in precedent,” West explained.
West said that he believes both of those defects should be taken on by the Legislature this upcoming session. He also said he is still waiting on more public records to be returned from requests he sent to the Legislature.
In court filings signed Dec. 1, the state admitted in Thurston County Superior Court that Commissioner Sims, who was appointed by the House Democratic Caucus to the 2021 Redistricting Commission, deleted texts with colleagues from her personal phone.
According to the state Attorney General’s office, “the burden is on the agency to establish that its denial of inspection is proper or its estimate of time for response is reasonable.”
The state objected to the assertion that any public records were withheld from those who requested them, and denied the assertion that records were destroyed after West filed the public records request, but the state acknowledged that prior to West’s request, “Commissioner Sims deleted from her personal cellular phone text messages between her and (1) Osta Davis; (2) Dominique Myers; and (3) Davis and Myers together.”
Davis was Sims’ Chief of Staff while with the commission, and Myers is the House Democrats’ Chief of Staff. Sims is currently the secretary treasurer of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO.
While the Redistricting Commission also had the ability to hire more staff during the redistricting process, instead they deferred to legislative caucus staff for some of the work. Those messages and texts with caucus staff are not subject to the PRA.
The settlement between West and the state doesn’t mark the end of the WSRC’s legal challenges, however.
The WSRC is also currently being sued by the agency’s former digital media and communications coordinator for withholding and deleting text messages. That lawsuit was filed in November.
Additionally, West pointed out in court documents that a lobbyist for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 1199NW may have secretly lobbied the Redistricting Commission during the redistricting process. That matter is currently under assessment by the Public Disclosure Commission in Washington, and could lead to a further investigation.
The Redistricting Commission meets once every 10 years to redraw legislative and congressional districts, and the Legislature is charged with appointing the four commissioners. In addition to Sims, the other members were Paul Graves, a former state representative from Maple Valley; Joe Fain, a former Republican Senator, and President and CEO of the Bellevue Chamber; and Brady Piñero Walkinshaw, the CEO of Grist, a national environmental media organization. Sarah Augustine, executive director of the Dispute Resolution Center of Yakima and Kittitas Counties, chaired the commission.
In February, the Redistricting Commission admitted to breaking the law when it conducted the redrawing of state districts secretly, and without any public deliberation. The commission came to a settlement agreement by adopting rules that would prevent them from conducting the process behind closed doors in the future.
As for the settlement money, West said his cat, Miss Kitty, “will not be lacking for cat treats or the little cans of the only variety of Fancy Feast she will eat.” He said he will also be using some of the money to help a couple of friends who have big expenses.
“Lawyers make hundreds of thousands of dollars defending and prosecuting PRA cases all the time, and no one seems to remark about that, but let a citizen beat city hall and collect a few thousand dollars and all of the sudden it is a major event,” West added. “This shows the inherent class bias in our country.”
West said it has taken him 20 years to learn how to litigate these “difficult” types of cases and that “virtually no attorneys will litigate one on a contingency.” He said he believes he has well over a dozen published cases at this point.
