Well the bit below is the judges opening salvo and today's paper says the County Commissioners responded yesterday or so the papers say. The county is broke and add to it they have to pay back a bunch of taxes collected on the Fuller Hill power plant that they lost in court. So they are busy trimming away and they told the judges they had to trim back to. Judges said BS and sued & county said BS and went right back at them.

Boiled down is this. The judges claim is they set their budgets and not the elected county commissioners. This should end up in the State Supreme just as Gregoire's give aways to the tribes is. Rather deep constitutional issue OR not? Got me but it outta be a good one to watch play out!










By Steven Friederich

The Daily World



The Grays Harbor County Superior Court Judges filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to not just overturn recent budget reductions made by the county commissioners, but an order forcing the county to build them a new court room, provide more administrative staff and install adequate security at the historic courthouse.

“The commissioners have been hostile to and have improperly intruded into or attempted to intrude into the management of the Superior Court, violating the Separation of Powers doctrine and exceeding the commissioners’ legislative authority,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit filed by Special Assistant Attorney General Scott Missall in Thurston County Superior Court names the county and the county commissioners as the defendants and asks the court to allow the judges to set an annual budget they deem “reasonably necessary for the proper administration” of the court and Juvenile Detention Center.

Thomas Fitzgerald, a special deputy prosecutor representing the county commissioners, said he hadn’t seen the complaint yet and would be happy to provide a response when it’s finished.

Grays Harbor Superior Court Judge Dave Edwards said the county commissioners had left the judges no choice in filing the lawsuit. Edwards had been personally warning the commissioners for a couple of months that a lawsuit would be coming if they moved forward with plans to cut the court’s budgets.

The Superior Court budget for 2012 has been cut by $59,020 to $645,818. The Juvenile Detention Center, also under the purview of the court, has been cut by $313,052, leaving a budget of just more than $2 million.

“In the ten years between 2002 and the commissioners’ adopted 2012 budget, the commissioners reduced the total budget for the Superior Court by 5 percent,” the lawsuit states, adding that the Juvenile Detention Center has had its personnel reduced by nine people, almost 30 percent of its staff over the past three years.

“In contrast, during that same time period, the budgets for the executive department offices of the Sheriff and Prosecutor were increased by 21 percent and 34 percent, respectively,” the lawsuit states.

The judges say the commissioners have consistently reduced their budgets in violation of the state’s separation of powers doctrine, citing an example in 2009 when the commissioners tried to eliminate the Superior Court’s two court reports and substitute them with recording devices, and in 2010 — and again for the 2012 budget — when the commissioners attempted to direct the court to take furlough days to meet budget reductions.

As a result of the budget cuts, the judges say the county commissioners have caused four violations of the state’s constitution — the unnecessary delay of justice, wrongfully interfering with the rights of criminal defendants to a speedy trial, causing interference to impede the judges’ issuance of timely decisions and unlawfully frustrating the fulfillment of the judges’ duties as a court of original jurisdiction. The lawsuit goes on to state that the county is also in violation of the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, where a criminal defendant has the right to a speedy and public trial.

The lawsuit seeks an order that the county commissioners “do not have the legal authority to and shall not reject, alter or compromise the annual funding for the judicial branch in Grays Harbor County” as determined by the judges. The lawsuit also seeks an order that the county cannot interfere with personnel, administrative support, operational needs and facilities decisions of the Superior Court or the Juvenile Detention Center.

THIRD COURT ROOM

The lawsuit states that when a third Superior Court judge was added to Grays Harbor 18 years ago, the county had agreed to provide a third court room. That never happened. As a result, the Superior Court cannot conduct three jury trials simultaneously and one trial must be interrupted every afternoon to conduct preliminary appearance hearings.

The lawsuit seeks a writ of mandamus requiring the county commissioners “to provide funding for the construction, maintenance and operation of a third courtroom and associated office space for the Superior Court division.”

The lawsuit states that the court only has two administrative employees and two court reporters when the state Administrative Office of the Courts requires at least 6.9 administrative personnel and three court reporters.

“As long ago as 2007, the Superior Court’s caseload would have supported a fourth Superior Court judge, according to AOC’s independent analysis,” the lawsuit states.

SECURITY REQUIRED

The lawsuit also seeks a legal order requiring “proper, secure and safe operation of the courthouse.”

“The (Grays Harbor) Superior Court is the only superior court in Washington state with more than one judge that is totally without courtroom security,” the lawsuit states.

“Anyone can enter the courthouse carrying weapons,” the lawsuit states. “Judicial staff is at risk from and has been forced to quell arguments between litigants in the courthouse. Within the past two years, two attorneys were physically assaulted in the Superior Court; a defendant charged one of the judges in a courtroom; a man came to the courthouse armed with a knife and asking for directions to the office of a judge; and there was inadequate security protection available when a judge received a death threat during a trial.”

Steven Friederich, a Daily World writer, can be reached at (360) 537-3927 or by email at

Rock, meet Hard Place