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Rantz: ‘Egregious’ scandal already plagues Bob Ferguson for governor
campaign
May 7, 2023, 6:30 PM

Bob Ferguson governor...
WA Attorney General Bob Ferguson (KIRO 7)

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BY JASON RANTZ
The Jason Rantz Show, 3pm-7pm on KTTH
Democrat Attorney General Bob Ferguson starts his campaign for governor
in scandal. Due to shady practices, his office and the Department of
Social and Health Services (DSHS) owe well over $200,000 in fines for
purposefully withholding documents in a lawsuit. The judge overseeing
the case called the conduct “egregious.” And given the buck stops with
Ferguson, he is directly responsible for the actions in his office.

A developmentally disabled adult, through her guardian, sued the state
for negligence. She alleges that DSHS failed to adequately investigate
allegations of abuse and neglect in the adult home she was placed.
Ferguson’s office represents DSHS.

King County Superior Court judge Michael Ryan found Ferguson’s office,
during discovery, was over a year late in producing documents to the
plaintiff. The documents in question, which could help the plaintiff,
were discovered within hours of the initial search in December 2021, but
were not provided to Ferguson’s office until June 2022. That’s when DSHS
says Ferguson’s office asked for them.

But they weren’t turned over to the plaintiff until December 2022, and
now the state admits there are over 100,000 more documents it withheld.

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Bob Ferguson runs scandalous office
A witness testified that this kind of “legal shenanigans with discovery
deadlines” are “not uncommon” with Ferguson’s office. The court was not
given a reason for the tardiness. Perhaps Bob Ferguson was busy devising
his campaign strategy for governor. Or, he realized that a “Bob Ferguson
for Governor” campaign ad would be marred by an email he didn’t turn
over. It shows a DSHS employee appearing to mock the developmentally
disabled plaintiff.

The judge determined there was “no reasonable justification or excuse,”
in a scathing sanction against Ferguson’s office.

“It is undisputed that these documents were responsive to plaintiff’s
discovery requests, yet no one at DSHS or the AGO made any attempt to
ensure that its discovery obligations were timely complied with. The
Court is at a complete loss to understand how a large State agency, and
the largest law firm in the State, could be so cavalier with respect to
their discovery obligations and how such a large amount of responsive
material could be overlooked and simply ignored for six months,” the
judge concluded.

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Judge Ryan says Ferguson’s office lacks “identifiable protocols” to take
the “discovery obligations in this case seriously.” He slammed
Ferguson’s office, arguing the “lack of processes and procedures by the
State’s largest law firm is very concerning to the Court because it
evinces a reckless approach to discovery and case management.”

But what’s especially damning, Ferguson employs a team that moved for a
summary judgment on all the plaintiff’s claims to “prevent” a deposition
that would have addressed discovery concerns.

The judge chastised Ferguson’s team for falsely implying to the
plaintiff that there was no evidence to support a claim of a discovery
violation. He called the claim “obviously false and the truth could have
been easily ascertained.”

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Ferguson’s office won’t take blame
If Bob Ferguson becomes governor, he’ll certainly come to the office
with the same stubborn characteristic as Jay Inslee: not wanting to be
blamed for egregious conduct.

Judge Ryan noted that “rather than take responsibility… the AGO
[Attorney General’s Office] instead tries to point the finger at
plaintiff and her counsel.” He also noted that Ferguson’s office alleged
the plaintiff wasn’t forthcoming with her discovery, even though the
office didn’t issue any discovery requests to her.

“The Court is not impressed with this argument… the AGO went so far as
to accuse plaintiff’s counsel of judge-shopping even though it knows
that the only reason this motion is before this Court and not the prior
judge assigned to this case is because of timing issues related to the
resolution of this motion,” the judge writes. “What these arguments
demonstrate to the Court is that the AGO does not understand, or simply
refuses to acknowledge, the gravity of its discovery violations or its
basic obligations under the discovery rules.”

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Judge finds against Ferguson’s office
The judge strongly rebuked Ferguson’s office for their “egregious”
misconduct. This should reflect poorly on the “Bob Ferguson for
Governor” campaign. Judge Ryan noted that withholding clearly relevant
discovery documents “substantially prejudiced the plaintiff in preparing
for trial” because she did not inform depositions, a response to a
summary judgment motion, etc., without all the facts.

“A year of litigation has been lost without the plaintiff’s ability to
use these documents in shaping future discovery requests and in making
strategic decisions as to how it wants to present its case,” the judge
wrote.

Judge Ryan called Ferguson’s office out for their violations: they are
“egregious, serious, without excuse and the result of willful disregard
for discovery obligations by both DSHS and the AGO. Punitive sanctions
are warranted.”

Both Ferguson’s office and DSHS were ordered to pay $200,000 in fines
and cover all attorney fees and costs for the plaintiff associated with
relevant aspects of the trial. Additionally, thanks to Ferguson’s
incompetence, the state must pay for a Special Master to review
discovery requests. The taxpayer-funded fines and price tag will soon
increase, too. Ferguson’s office admits it wrongfully withheld over
100,000 more documents during the discovery process.

Bob Ferguson is to blame
While Bob Ferguson is all in with his campaign for governor, he’s
directly to blame and should be held accountable. His office, through a
spokesperson, tried to deflect responsibility by claiming Ferguson’s
office is too large for better oversight. But if Ferguson can take
credit for any positive result of his office, he should take the blame
for the negative.

“For context, our office has more than 30 different legal divisions
handling criminal and civil matters across the state and in the federal
system. At any given time, we are handling approximately 20,000 active
cases,” a spokesperson told the Seattle Times.

The Attorney General’s office is too large to handle, but Bob Ferguson
wants to become governor of Washington. It’s not so much that the office
is too large. Ferguson has been running for governor since he became the
Attorney General. He’s leveled strategic lawsuits against political
adversaries and in favor of left-wing causes. He did this to use them
during his inevitable campaign. But this is one case that should also
come up on the campaign trail.

Ferguson, like other far-left Democrats, claim they will move mountains
to achieve equity goals and be inclusive of all people. But when it
comes to developmentally disabled adults who alleged abuse and neglect?
Ferguson is disinterested. This is especially relevant when moderate
Democrat State Senator Mark Mullet (D-Issaquah) may enter the race. He’s
an alternative to Ferguson that Democrats and Republicans can reasonably
get behind.

Listen to the Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3:00 p.m. –
7:00 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to
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Check back frequently for more news and analysis.