Democratic Caucus Official Escapes Criminal Charges

Criminal charges probably won’t be filed against the former staff director of the House Democratic caucus, despite his admission he deleted computer files to thwart an investigation into illegal campaigning, investigators said.

A perjury charge can’t be brought because Terry Thompson was not under oath when he told the Public Disclosure Commission he had no personal knowledge of efforts to cleanse legislative offices of evidence of illegal campaigning, Washington State Patrol Sgt. Harry Brink said.

And charges of theft and destroying evidence can’t be brought against him because the statute of limitations had run out two years later when he gave a deposition in a civil lawsuit involving another staffer, Brink said.

In July 1994, Thompson testified in the deposition that he deleted computer files and removed campaign brochures from his office when he learned of the PDC investigation.

The deposition was part of a lawsuit brought by Chuck Coach, a former staffer who claimed he was fired by House Democratic leaders because he no longer was willing to work on political campaigns on state time with state resources. The state paid Coach $400,000 to settle.