Compromise May Keep Legal Help For Poor Alive Lawmakers Offer Funding In Exchange For New Approach

Legal services for the poor may win a reprieve from House Republicans’ budget-cutting ax.

The House budget proposal currently includes no money for the state’s three organizations that offer legal assistance to the poor, including Spokane Legal Services.

However, a Wednesday meeting between lawmakers and legal services representatives may result in a compromise that will keep funding alive, according to House Majority Leader Rep. Dale Foreman, R-Wenatchee.

“I’m relatively optimistic that we are going to be able to work out an agreement,” Foreman said. He said a deal in the works would fund the services in return for an agreement that they refrain from tactics that critics say amount to harassment.

The Senate Democrats’ budget proposal continues to fund the services at their current level, $4.8 million over the next two years.

Republican lawmakers have criticized the legal services for what they say amounts to harassment of farmers and landowners.

Most of the criticism has been aimed at Evergreen Legal Services, which operates in Washington’s rural counties and has won many lawsuits on behalf of migrant farmworkers complaining of discrimination or mistreatment.

But Spokane Legal Services also stands to lose big if the state eliminates its support, according to director Jim Bamberger.

The services also face threats from the U.S. Congress, where some members want to cut federal support. If both sources dry up, Spokane Legal Services would lose 75 percent of its $1.2 million annual budget.

Supporters say cutting those funds would rob poor people of a fair shake in the courts.

“It’s just an outrage,” said Rep. Dennis Dellwo, D-Spokane, an attorney who used to serve on the board of directors for Spokane Legal Services.

“To close the doors to legal services just because your poor is inexcusable,” Dellwo said.

Spokane Legal Services aids 3,500 people a year with the aid of 10 staff attorneys and hundreds of lawyers in Spokane County who donate a portion of their time to help out, Bamberger said.

The office only takes cases the staff believes are winnable, turning away three out of every four potential clients. That selectivity makes for a success rate of more than 90 percent, Bamberger said. Many of the office’s cases involve disputes over evictions or actions by government agencies.

Critics of Evergreen Legal Services say its employees have trespassed on private land and attempted to drum up discontent among farm workers.

“They have even gone to the point where they print brochures soliciting their services,” said Sen. Bob Morton, R-Orient. He called attorneys for the services “ambulance chasers.”

Farm Bureau spokesman Peter Stemberg said farmers have been harassed by Evergreen Legal Services.

“I think that they’ve abused their position,” Stemberg said. “The part that we object to is Evergreen Legal Services, funded by taxpayer dollars, going after citizens in a vindictive way.”

Bamberger said such complaints are unfounded.

“What one finds is that the same allegations are brought forward time and time again,” Bamberger said. “They have all been investigated and they have been found to not be substantiated.”

He said the real reason people object to legal aid for the poor is more selfish.

“We often represent clients against powerful interests, and when we are successful we offend powerful interests.”