Washington State: judge rejects Demo motion to dismiss GOP suit
The Seattle Times reports: Judge John Bridges rejected the Democrats' call yesterday to dismiss the governor's election lawsuit at the halfway point of the first Washington trial to overturn a statewide election.
Bridges said it would be a disservice to Republicans if he stopped the case. He said both sides deserve "a full and complete analysis, not only of the court's finding of facts but as to the court's conclusions of law."
The trial will determine whether Democrat Christine Gregoire or Republican Dino Rossi truly won the November election. But Bridges said it is about issues bigger than the candidates or the political parties. ...
Through five days of trial, Bridges has shown himself to be skeptical of key pieces of the Republican case. And while at each step he has allowed disputed evidence to be entered and witnesses to appear, Republicans yesterday tried shifting the legal basis for their lawsuit and saying they want Bridges to reverse himself on a key decision about burden of proof.
Republicans say it should be enough to show the election count was flawed to the point that the true winner of the governor's race is unknown. Bridges disagrees, saying Republicans need enough evidence to show that Rossi is the true winner — which is the decision he made at a pretrial hearing and then repeated in a clarification from the bench at a hearing May 2. -- The Seattle Times: Politics: Judge won't dismiss lawsuit