Time of the season

A judge has ordered Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi to give a deposition before Election Day stemming from a lawsuit alleging illegal campaign spending by his biggest contributor, the Building Industry Association of Washington. Citing that public interest demands Rossi answer before, not after, the election is done, King County Superior Court Judge Paris Kallas granted a request for Rossi’s deposition tomorrow at 10 a.m. One can’t ignore the timing and implications of this predicament. Cries of Seattle stealing the election aside, the lawsuit against BIAW alleges Rossi coordinated campaign fundraising with the group so they should be constrained by state limits on direct campaign contributions. The Times reports that limit should be “$2,800, rather than the more than $6 million in independent expenditures it has spent backing Rossi this election cycle.” Read HERE. As we’ve mentioned before, the BIAW aren’t exactly taking notes from our daily tips. If only. In newsletters they’ve compared environmentalists to “Hitler’s Nazi Party” and said the Department of Ecology was “communistic.” The BIAW—the brain trust behind the “We don’t need no stinkin’ Seattle” billboard—brag Rossi voted with them 99% of the time, including blocking significant environmental legislation like regulating greenhouse-gas emissions and strengthening the Growth Management Act. Judge Kallas might score one for the Commie-Nazis, ahem, environmentalists. Sweet.