Spokane groups sue to keep initiative targeting ‘sanctuary city’ policy off November ballot

Six Spokane organizations have filed a lawsuit to keep an initiative targeting the city’s policy restricting police from questioning someone’s citizenship status off the November ballot.

The lawsuit claims the initiative, sponsored by the political committee Respect Washington, out of Tacoma, lacks a named sponsor, seeks to revise portions of the Spokane Municipal Code that no longer exist and seeks actions that are beyond the ability to request in a ballot initiative. The proposal, which would reverse the City Council’s action codifying a policing policy that prevents officers from questioning a suspect’s immigration status, is scheduled to go before voters in Spokane on Nov. 7.

“These kinds of policies are not unusual. The policies that Ozzie Knezovich has for the sheriff’s office, they’re not dissimilar,” said Rick Eichstaedt, executive director of the Center for Justice, who is representing the six organizations in their lawsuit against Respect Washington.

Attorney Richard M. Stephens, who previously served as policy and research counsel to the Washington House Republican Caucus, has signed on to represent Respect Washington in the legal case. Stephens said he’s provided legal counsel to the political committee before and hadn’t had time to review the Center for Justice complaint, but the group will fight to keep the question on the ballot.

The initiative, launched in 2015 by Spokane resident Jackie Murray, faced opposition from City Hall before it ever reached the ballot. A legal review by the city’s legal team and clerk’s office found that the language of the proposal violated sections of the city code requiring “a true and impartial description of the measure’s essential contents.” The petition originally included a listing of then-City Council members who voted to memorialize the department’s “non-biased policing” policy, what opponents have called a way to grant Spokane “sanctuary city” status.

Murray later withdrew her name as sponsor, prompting some uncertainty as to whether the measure could legally appear before voters. The City Council voted in February 2016 to put the measure on the 2017 ballot on advice from the city’s legal department.

Murray’s departure is one of the reasons the complaint seeks to toss out the initiative, citing a city law requiring a petitioner to file paperwork with the city. Stephens said he knew of no other situation in which a petitioner had withdrawn from the initiative process before it made it to the ballot.

“When somebody collects signatures, you’re expecting them to get them turned in,” Stephens said.

Eichstaedt also noted the initiative calls for revisions to laws that were replaced when the Spokane City Council overhauled its human rights ordinances earlier this year, including adding additional language about what police can and can’t ask for that goes further than what the initiative asks to replace.

“That just demonstrates how flawed this is,” Eichstaedt said.

If lawmakers can change policy in response to any initiative that’s filed in order to avoid a legal challenge, Stephens said, petitioners are in effect “always aiming at a moving target.”

“That issue could create a problem,” Stephens said.

The organizations filing the lawsuit against the initiative are Global Neighborhood, Refugee Connections of Spokane, the Spokane Chinese Association, Asian Pacific Islander Coalition Spokane, Spokane Chinese American Progressives and the Spokane chapter of the National Organization for Women.

No hearing date had been set in the case as of Monday. Eichstaedt said the groups filed in order to receive a legal decision before the Spokane County Auditor’s Office must prepare ballots for the November election.