WA attorney general files bar complaint against Sequim lawyer over ‘frivolous’ election fraud case

The condition Legal professional General’s Business has filed a bar complaint from a Sequim law firm who has submitted a raft of lawsuits making baseless promises of widespread voter fraud in Washington.

The complaint to the Business of Disciplinary Counsel usually takes intention at lawyer Virginia Shogren for a lawsuit versus Gov. Jay Inslee that was a short while ago turned down as “frivolous” by the point out Supreme Courtroom.

Shogren represented the Washington Election Integrity Coalition United in the Inslee lawsuit, which alleged popular registration of noncitizens. The condition Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit as with out lawful merit and previous thirty day period purchased Shogren and the coalition to pay back additional than $28,000 in lawful penalties.

The bar criticism, signed by Solicitor Standard Noah Purcell, accuses Shogren of violating specialist conduct procedures when she “advanced frivolous legal arguments and built allegations of voter fraud with no foundation in truth.”

The criticism cited promises by Shogren that her consumer experienced discovered 50,000 noncitizens registered to vote in the condition, with out delivering any foundation or methodology for those people assertions. A “casual check” of a sample of alleged noncitizens the coalition claimed experienced voted in 2020 confirmed the information was “not dependable,” Purcell wrote. For case in point, he wrote, a single voter identified by the team had tweeted about becoming a naturalized citizen in 2019.

“Unfounded and baseless allegations, like individuals made by Ms. Shogren have the predictable outcome of undermining the public’s religion in our democratic institutions,” Purcell wrote.

Shogren did not straight away answer to a ask for for remark. She was admitted to the point out bar in 2003 and has no other general public disciplinary background, in accordance to the bar association’s on-line authorized listing.

The election coalition represented by Shogren has many added lawsuits versus elections officers pending in federal courtroom which make unsubstantiated claims of substantial vote fraud. None of the group’s lawsuits throughout the condition has been productive — mirroring the situation nationally for this kind of instances, which echo previous President Donald Trump’s bogus claims about the 2020 election.

The group’s leader, Tamborine Borrelli, is working for secretary of condition this 12 months, listing her occasion affiliation as “America Initial (R).”

The Office environment of Disciplinary Counsel is charged with investigating ethics complaints towards lawyers in the state. It can endorse punishment ranging from a official warning to suspension or disbarment. Closing decisions are produced by court-appointed hearings officers, with all suspensions and disbarments reviewed by the state Supreme Court.

The criticism signed by Purcell does not search for any unique punishment, but asks the business office to “look into this make any difference and choose further more action as you deem proper.”