WEA officials recant guilty plea

After shopping for prosecutor, WEA attorneys now want out

OLYMPIA – Attorneys for the Washington Education Association (WEA) will argue a WEA motion in court tomorrow asking permission to recant a guilty plea that led Attorney General Christine Gregoire to file her second lawsuit against the teachers’ union for campaign finance violations.

In a hearing before the state Public Disclosure Commission last September, WEA officials admitted—in written and oral testimony—that the union violated state law by using the dues of as many as 4,194 agency fee payers* to make political contributions and influence elections.

WEA attorneys now claim the law governing agency fees is vague and unconstitutional. They say their attorneys didn’t fully understand it when pleading guilty. But court documents filed by the union in a 1999 case show a clear understanding of that particular section of the law.

"It served their purposes to tell a judge they understood the law in 1999," said Jami Lund, of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, the Olympia-based research organization that sparked the initial investigation into union violations. "Now that the law is back to bite them, they’re determined to find a way around it."

Gregoire’s office opposes the motion to reverse the guilty plea. Assistant Attorney General Steve Reinmuth notes that the WEA "reaped the benefits it openly sought from [admitting guilt], avoiding a citizen suit by the EFF, at the expense of the [AG]." Without the guilty plea, the AG would likely not have taken prosecutorial action, leaving the WEA open to a citizen action lawsuit.

"In addition to manipulating the system and saying they didn’t really mean to plead guilty, WEA attorneys are also asking taxpayers to foot the bill for their legal costs," said Lund. "What an irony!"

Based on an average refund of $205 in 1999 for activities not related to collective bargaining (including political activities), WEA officials collected more than $850,000 that should have been rebated to the 4,194 non-member teachers involved in this case.

* Agency fee payers are teachers who have chosen to opt out of the union, many for political or ideological reasons. These non-member teachers are entitled to a rebate of any dues not spent for collective bargaining and related activities. State law expressly forbids spending their dues for political purposes without written permission.

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