SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — The recall attempt against Spokane County Commissioner Al French has been dismissed by a judge.
Thursday Whitman County Judge Gary Libey, acting for the Spokane County Superior Court, tossed out the petition a month after it was filed. French's attorney, Mark Lamb, said the effort was doomed to fail.
"It's clear law in Washington state you can't have a recall within six months of an election," Lamb said.
The Clean Water Accountability Coalition, which filed the petition on August 26, alleged French violated his oath of office and was guilty of misconduct in handling PFAS contamination at the Spokane International Airport. The petition claimed French intentionally covered up the issue for seven years, allowing residents of the West Plains to be "poisoned" by the chemicals now known to be in the groundwater.
French spoke to KREM 2 saying the allegations and recall effort were a "political ploy" meant to distract and confuse voters ahead of the November election.
The timing of the filing was one reason the petition failed to move forward; Lamb says the judge also found five allegations against French legally insufficient to move forward.
"But not because the facts were not true," said attorney Knoll Lowney, who represented the coalition. "He said, for example, it was appropriate for Al French to be on multiple boards at the same time. And we didn't contest that. So the judge didn't really get it."
Lowney called the dismissal "legal technicalities."
Thursday's hearing also raised questions about the group behind the recall and Lowney's representation.
"We made an issue of the fact in this campaign that the person who is paying the salary or fees of this attorney who filed the recall petition, they haven't disclosed that," Lamb said.
In a copy of the dismissal order provided to KREM 2 by Lamb, Judge Libey has handwritten an order for Lowney to publicly disclose who paid him by October 31. Lamb says progressive group Fuse Washington, which is listed on the group's website as a contributor, paid around $600 which he says was reportedly for building the website.
"You know, this was a 114-page document," Lamb said of the petition, which included several pieces of correspondence and commissioner agendas listed as evidence of French's alleged cover-up. "I can tell you as an attorney you don't prepare a 114-page document for $646 dollars. So clearly there’s information they’re not disclosing as to who's paying for them. I think this close to an election it’s really important we keep dark money out of politics.”
"I'm not sure why the judge put that in his ruling," Lowney said. "We didn't object to that because it's the law anyway. So all of that will be reported, I believe in the next week or so.”
He says the recall was funded by "volunteer donations."
Judge Libey's name became well-known after he was appointed to hear the case of Washington and Oregon State Universities versus the Pac-12 commissioner; he ruled the two remaining schools in the conference would be the sole members of its governing board in late 2023.
Lowney also says this doesn't mark the end of the coalition's fight against French.
"The residents of West Plains are going to continue to pursue this because Al French's misconduct really harmed them," he said, adding the group feels his voters should get a say over what the coalition calls his misconduct of the PFAS situation.
An appeal to the state's Supreme Court will be filed "very soon," Lowney said.
That legally has to be filed within 15 days of Judge Libey's decision; Lowney said the supreme court must issue a ruling within 30 days of the appeal filing. He says the goal is to have all of that done before the November 5 election.