Prosecutor Admits He’s Holding His Breath Adams County’s Sandhaus Awaits Supreme Court Ruling

Embattled Adams County Prosecutor David Sandhaus admits he’s holding his breath awaiting a Supreme Court decision that could decide his political future.

Sandhaus, appointed by county commissioners in 1994, faces a recall election prompted by concern over how how he spends money, how he runs his office and whether he works well with other elected officials.

Sandhaus is challenging in court whether there will be a recall, saying it’s part of a trumped-up campaign of distortion and petty attacks aimed at him.

Waiting for that decision, Sandhaus took comfort Monday from a recent courtroom victory against a Ritzville attorney supporting the recall election.

A Spokane hearings officer sided with Sandhaus, denying a labor complaint filed by Dennis Morgan, who has been one of Sandhaus’s most vocal critics.

In a decision last week, State Administrative Law Judge David Hansen said Sandhaus had acted properly last August in firing a secretary in the prosecutor’s office.

Morgan represented the secretary, Norma Tillotson, who had claimed that Sandhaus had fired her in retaliation for her filing a sexual harassment complaint against another employee.

Morgan argued that Hansen should rule to rehire Tillotson and sanction Sandhaus.

Sandhaus said Monday that Tillotson’s complaint was part of continuing efforts by his opponents to “find something or anything they can drag in front of voters.”

Morgan denied there was any connection between Tillotson’s complaint and the recall election.

Morgan is one of three people who signed the original petition last summer to recall Sandhaus.

He later removed his name after the recall group chose to have only the names of elected officials on the formal petition.

An Asotin County judge last fall certified the petition, prompting Sandhaus to request the Supreme Court declare the recall illegal.

Both sides expect the court to rule on the recall within four weeks. They base that belief on how much time state law requires to hold a valid recall election.

Any recall election would have to occur before the primary election, on Sept. 15.

If the court declares the recall invalid, Sandhaus said he still plans to run for re-election this fall.

The Supreme Court is reviewing whether the recall group has provided factual reasons for voters to hold an election, and whether or not Sandhaus acted with intent to cause the county harm.

His opponents insist Sandhaus has overspent prosecution department budgets, has not represented the county in several civil actions and did not post a performance bond in 1996.

The opponents now include former Adams County Auditor Leon Long, Adams County Commissioner Shawn Logan and and Assessor Jerry Crossler.

Sandhaus’s position is that there’s no basis for those claims. “This is just an outright effort to remove me because I’ve done things differently here,” he said Monday.

His major fear is that the Supreme Court will dodge the issues and decide the matter is best resolved through a local election.

“If that happens, that would be the end of my political career in this county,” said Sandhaus.

Contacted Monday, Morgan scoffed at Sandhaus’s statements that Tillotson’s complaint was part of an orchestrated effort to remove him from office.

“The only person making a big issue our of (Tillotson) is him. There’s no connection between it and the election,” Morgan said Monday.

, DataTimes