Ruling Against New County To Be Appealed

Supporters of a new county out for the eastern two-thirds of King County will appeal the dismissal of their court case to force the issue.

The Cedar County Committee had filed a motion for a court order directing Secretary of State Ralph Munro to certify the new county. The group said it had met the requirements of the state constitution to form a new county by gathering signatures from more than 23,000 people - more than half the number of voters in the proposed county who went to the polls in the last general election.

But state Supreme Court Commissioner Jeffrey Crooks last week recommended that the case be dismissed, saying it is not up to the secretary of state to certify new counties. Crooks also ruled the Legislature isn’t obligated to form a new county based simply on the number of signatures collected.

Rhys Sterling, an Issaquah attorney for the Cedar County Committee, said Crooks’ ruling would be appealed.

A panel of five of the nine Supreme Court justices would then hear the appeal, and if at least one justice thinks Crooks’ ruling was wrong, all nine justices would review it, Sterling said.