BREAKING: Retired justices intend to sue Dino Rossi over his role in Buildergate

Two retired State Supreme Court justices are filing suit against Dino Rossi and the Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW), Washington State's most powerful right wing lobby, for willfully violating public disclosure laws in their effort to build a massive war chest to take down Governor Chris Gregoire, according to a press release just issued minutes ago by the plaintiffs.

Documents released last week by Smith & Lowney PLLC, which represents retired Justices Faith Ireland and Robert Utter, directly link Dino Rossi to the Buildergate fundraising scandal. Rossi's campaign has downplayed the evidence, claiming that Dino wasn't a candidate at the time the BIAW was trying to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars from local affiliates without reporting the money.

The goal of the suit is to expose the full extent of Buildergate and Rossi's involvement in it, since Rossi won't talk about what happened voluntarily:

The suit seeks discovery authority to determine Rossi’s precise role in the BIAW fundraising, and seeks to have these answers before the election. The lawsuit seeks to enjoin further illegal expenditures between now and the election.

The Justices claim that Rossi’s participation in the BIAW’s fundraising efforts resulted in several serious violations of the State Fair Campaign Practices Act (RCW 42.17). Under this Act, a candidate cannot coordinate with a political committee to raise funds in support of his or her campaign. By doing so, the committee becomes ineligible to make “independent expenditures” and is limited to spending $2,800 on the candidate’s race.

And what of Rossi's "I wasn't a candidate then" defense?

Rossi has argued that he had not publicly declared his candidacy when he assisted the BIAW in raising money for the association’s elections war chest. But the law stipulates that a person becomes a candidate when he helps a political committee to amass funds to support his candidacy.

The evidence in the case suggests Rossi knew funds were being raised to support his bid for governor and that he helped raise the money by making phone calls and other personal contacts to potential donors while solicitations were pending.

In Dino Rossi's world, he might not be a candidate until the moment he decides he is, but state law says otherwise, as the justices have explained. The minute a prospective candidate starts raising money, they instantly become a candidate in the eyes of the public disclosure law whether they like it or not.

The suit against the BIAW will proceed immediately, according to Smith & Lowney. The plaintiffs cannot actually add Dino Rossi as a defendant until fifty five days have elapsed. But they have made it very clear they intend to sue Rossi as well.

We'll have more on this breaking news later today. Stay tuned...