Sound Politics: Democrat field for Proscuting Attorney remains open

June 01, 2007

Democrat field for Proscuting Attorney remains open

According to today's P-I, King County Councilman Bob Ferguson hasn't decided whether to enter the race for Prosecuting Attorney after all:

[Republican Dan] Satterberg's strength would be that he is regarded as a non-partisan professional in Maleng's mold.

Ferguson has some potentially embarrassing problems that could provide fodder for Republican campaign attacks:

He has failed to file monthly campaign finance reports with the Public Disclosure Commission since early 2006, even though he has raised and spent money since then for his 2009 re-election campaign.
...
At the moment, Ferguson is legally ineligible to be the county's chief lawyer. Like many attorneys working in fields other than law practice, the councilman is on "inactive" status with the State Bar Association. Active membership is required for an attorney to practice law.

Depending on how this statute is interpreted, Ferguson's eligibility to run might depend on re-activating his bar membership by next Friday's filing deadline.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at June 01, 2007 10:21 AM | Email This

Comments

1. It does say, "has been admitted", which is past tense. It has no requirement relating to current standing, so it could very well be interpreted in a way that would have Ferguson in the clear.

But then, if our laws were crystal clear, why would we need lawyers?

Posted by: SouthernRoots on June 1, 2007 01:16 PM

2. State ex rel. Willis v. Monfort, 93 Wash. 4, 159 P. 889 (1916) involved a suspended lawyer who wanted to run for Superior Court judge. The language in Article IV, Section 17 of the Washington Constitution to be qualified for judge is basically identical to RCW 36.27.010 for being qualified as prosecuting attorney -- the judge section requires one to "have been admitted to practice in the courts" and the prosecutor statute requires that one "has been admitted as an attorney".

The lawyer in question had been admitted to practice law, but was suspended at the time he filed for office and could not currently practice. He argued that since he had been admitted in the past, that he should be allowed to run for office. The state Supreme Court rejected his arguments and found them to be absurd. They said that someone had to be currently eligible to practice law when filing for judge, as opposed to someone who used to be eligible in the past.

This requirement is even more important for prosecuting attorney. In theory, a judge doesn't have to be eligible to practice law in order to actually perform the duties of a judge. However, it is impossible for a prosecuting attorney to perform any of the statutory duties of his office, unless he is admitted to practice law. And it would be unethical for his attorney assistants to be directed in their duties by a boss who was not admitted to practice law.

RCW 29A.20.021 requires that a candidate be legally qualified to hold the office in question at the time they file their declaration of candidacy. While Ferguson can probably get his law license back in a few weeks, I doubt that he can do so by close of business on Friday, June 8, 2007.

Such are the downsides of a lawyer politician electing to save a few bucks on bar dues by taking inactive status. You can plan ahead for regularly scheduled elections, and get your bar license back in time. But if a prosecuting attorney or judge drops dead all of a sudden, and a special election filing period suddenly appears in the next week or two -- you are SOL, as in Simply Out of Luck.

Posted by: Richard Pope on June 1, 2007 01:50 PM

3. Again, Mr. Pope, you said a "few" bucks to keep the license up-to-date.

So again, why would anyone allow their hard-earned livelihood's simple license requirement to expire? Especially a politician.

Posted by: swatter on June 1, 2007 02:10 PM

4. Yah, my hunch would be that most professionals do that when they move careers. Why pay the additional 279 bucks when you are not actually practicing. It would be like keeping your car fully insured when you aren't driving it.

I am not yet a lawyer, but a quick glance at the webpage makes it seem like reactivation simply involves a phone call.

Posted by: Giffy on June 1, 2007 04:15 PM

5. The Court in 1976 reaffirmed Willis saying
" The statutory requirements imposed by RCW 36.16.030 and 36.27.010 are that a candidate for the office of prosecuting attorney must be: (1) a person entitled to practice law in this state (see State ex rel. Willis v. Monfort, supra); (2) a qualified elector of the county in which he seeks the office (RCW 36.27.010) and (3) a qualified voter of the county in which he seeks the office (RCW 36.16.030)."
State ex rel. Bickford v. Jacobson 16 Wash.App. 473, 558 P.2d 292

Posted by: Giffy on June 1, 2007 04:41 PM

6. Swatter -- you should ask that one of Rick White. He managed to get SUSPENDED, rather than merely requesting inactive status in the first place. As for Bob Ferguson, it was more likely a matter of having a $279 per year reduction in WSBA dues. Rob McKenna did the same thing for several years while on the King County Council. If you are inactive less than five years out of the last ten years, you don't have to retake the bar exam to get reinstated. However, McKenna knew a year in advance that he was going to run for Attorney General, and had plenty of time to take Continuing Legal Education courses and get reinstated. Ferguson only had a week's lead time, and probably can't take enough CLE courses between now and next Friday. He needs 39 hours more, according to what he told the Seattle P-I (which is a credible estimate).

Posted by: Richard Pope on June 1, 2007 05:34 PM

7. Its really too bad because I think he would be a great candidate. So is Satterberg. I think it would be a great campaign with two highly qualified candidates. Both seem like they would run a positive and issue based campaign and both are men of integrity. Even as a solid Dem I would not have a whole lot of problem voting for Satterberg as I voted happily for Maleng.

Posted by: Giffy on June 1, 2007 11:37 PM

8. Gary Locke was a full-time public servant for 11 years, starting with his election as King County Executive in 1993 until his second term as Governor ended in 2004. Locke never once let his law license lapse during this period of time -- he paid his full WSBA dues every single year, and took all the continuing legal education courses that were required.

Posted by: Richard Pope on June 2, 2007 01:36 AM

9. Re: Gary Locke's Law License
So what? And who cares?

Posted by: T Gething on June 2, 2007 12:13 PM

10. Giffy, glad you asked.

Notice over the weekend that Sandy Berger voluntarily gave up his attorney license (and he is a practicing attorney) rather than face questions on what he stole from the Clinton files regarding what they knew and when regarding the terrorism files that he stole from security by stuffing the files down his drawers.

Giffy, you should never give up your license or put it on hold. Especially a politician who probably has a short shelf life. Giffy, $300/year may seem like a lot of money to you and me, but not to a six digit money earner.

Posted by: swatter on June 4, 2007 08:36 AM

11.
I attended the Republican caucus on Mercer Island as a PCO for Kent East Hill this weekend and had the opportunity to hear Satterberg speak and got vote for his nomination.

I came away thinking there could not be a better successor than Satterberg for the position.

Posted by: John Bailo on June 4, 2007 08:50 AM