05:25 PM PST on Thursday, January 20, 2005

From KING5.com Staff and Wire Reports

KING

Chelan County Judge John Bridges

WENATCHEE, Wash. - The judge in the case challenging the Washington governor's election says the case will go forward for now, but not at the expedited rate Republicans wanted.

"The old maxim that justice delayed is justice denied has a corollary: Justice hurried is justice denied," Chelan County Superior court Judge John Bridges said in turning down the request for a faster schedule for discovery of information in the case.

Bridges ruled in favor of Democrats Thursday when he ruled that the "discovery" phase of the case -- the period when both sides are compelled to disclose the relevant documents in a case -- will proceed under a typical 30-day schedule instead of the shorter two-week period requested by Republicans.

The Judge also set Feb. 4 for another hearing on the Democrat's motion to dismiss the case.

In the election contest, Republicans have to prove that the governor's election was so flawed it could have produced the wrong result.

They say they have plenty of such evidence, including thousands of votes that can't be matched to voters, hundreds of unverified provisional ballots and illegal votes from felons, the dead and people who voted twice.

Democratic lawyers argued that it is not enough to show that there were errors in the election, but that correcting those errors would change the outcome. Democratic Central Committee lawyer Kevin Hamilton argued that the Republicans have not yet been able to show that.

The lawsuit names Secretary of State Sam Reed and other state officials and all 39 counties in Washington.

Some county prosecutors told the judge that having to produce the paperwork being requested by both sides is taking all their time and is a devastating expense.

"This is really a serious problem for the smaller counties. Something needs to be done to protect their interests and the interests of taxpayers," said Ferry County Prosecutor James Von Sauer.

The volume of material and motions were already proving taxing to Bridge's courtroom and caseload. The proceedings were moved to a local auditorium to accomodate the attorneys and the Feb. 4 hearing forced him to move some other cases around.

"There's going to be a couple that's not going to get divorced on that Friday that think they are," he said.

The hearing was attended by several dozen lawyers, several dozen reporters and assorted observers, all gathering at a Wenatchee auditorium.

A couple of people outside carried "Rossi Revote" signs and one carried a sign that said "GOP Repent. God hates hypocrisy."