Court protects offender and punishes whistleblower

After being denied a $1,000,000 claim for legal fees against the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, the WEA sought $169,734.67 to pay for the costs of defending one charge in the overall lawsuit. Today the judge awarded the WEA what will likely be less than 5 percent of its original million dollar claim.

But the real story is the chilling effect of the judge’s ruling on whistleblowers for future public disclosure cases.

"Our research uncovered violations so glaring that the WEA was found guilty of the largest campaign finance violations in state history, said Bob Williams, EFF’s president. And one of the central persons behind WEA’s political shenanigans is NEA political operative Kristeen Hanselman. To get socked with paying her legal bill is unconscionable."

In the motion considered today, the WEA claimed $169,734.67 was spent to defend against the charge that political organizer Kristeen Hanselman under-reported her time as an in-kind contribution to the No 173/177 campaign in 1996. So who is Kristeen Hanselman, and why is the judge’s ruling so ominous? Hanselman is the the NEA Political Operative sent to Washington to organize the union’s election campaign activities. She:

• coordinated the initiative campaign to oppose Initiative 177 and 173 and hired and fired key political campaign staff and consultants.
• approved key WEA campaign expenditures.
• received a $2,300 fine from the Public Disclosure Commission for twenty-three monthly reporting violations—hiding the fact that she was a paid employee of the NEA.
• amended her 1996 PDC reports several months prior to the trial which was established to determine if she was guilty of under-reporting campaign work.
• Additionally, the WEA was fined $15,000 because they failed to provide Hanselman’s calendar as ordered by the court.

So why did the judge decide to throw this particular bone to the WEA? We don’t know, and we certainly plan to appeal his decision.

"This is a clear-cut case of retaliation against whistle-blowers, and anyone who dares expose WEA violations" said Williams.

Contact: Marsha Richards, Communications Director, (360) 956-3482

Evergreen Freedom Foundation P.O. Box 552, Olympia, WA 98507 Phone: (360) 956-3482, Fax: (360) 352-1874 Email: effwa@effwa.org