WA Republican Party leader sued for defamationFree

Arthur West is a prolific filer of legal complaints in pursuit of greater government transparency and a fairer political system in Washington.

Typically, he represents himself and targets the structures of power and their occupants.

But Tuesday, the open government activist turned his attention to Jim Walsh, suing the state lawmaker and chair of the Washington State Republican Party for defaming him in social media posts after West’s recent setback in Thurston County Superior Court.

On Aug. 7, Superior Court Judge Chris Lanese denied West’s request to amend or remove a statement set to appear on ballots describing the budgetary consequences of an initiative to repeal Washington’s new income tax on high earners.

Lanese’s ruling led to the cancellation of a separate legal challenge over the wording backed by the Republican Party that was scheduled for later that day.

Walsh took to Facebook, where he lambasted Lanese and insisted West was “tricked” into making “procedural errors” that killed the other case against the investment impact disclosure for Initiative 645, according to West’s complaint.

Those assertions were repeated in a similarly toned post on the state Republican Party’s Facebook page under the headline of “Call to Action” that urged “concerned voters” to file a complaint against Lanese.

West, in his lawsuit, said that second post “repeated and amplified” false claims made by Walsh and added a new “false factual assertion — that Judge Lanese ‘set a trap’ for West that ‘tricked’ West into stating he was also representing Let’s Go Washington’s case — which he was not.’ ”

Let’s Go Washington is the sponsor of the income tax initiative and it was the political committee’s challenge of the disclosure statement content that was canceled.

“These statements are false statements of fact, not opinion or rhetorical hyperbole. West did not in any way state, represent, or imply to the court that he represented Let’s Go Washington’s case, and was not ‘tricked’ into doing so,” West wrote.