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

The state Attorney General’s Place of work has submitted a bar criticism from a Sequim attorney who has submitted a raft of lawsuits producing baseless promises of popular voter fraud in Washington.
The grievance to the Office environment of Disciplinary Counsel requires goal at attorney Virginia Shogren for a lawsuit against Gov. Jay Inslee that was lately turned down as “frivolous” by the condition Supreme Courtroom.
Shogren represented the Washington Election Integrity Coalition United in the Inslee lawsuit, which alleged prevalent registration of noncitizens. The point out Supreme Courtroom dismissed the lawsuit as without lawful merit and past thirty day period ordered Shogren and the coalition to pay out far more than $28,000 in lawful penalties.
The bar complaint, signed by Solicitor Normal Noah Purcell, accuses Shogren of violating specialist carry out principles when she “advanced frivolous authorized arguments and made allegations of voter fraud with no foundation in actuality.”
The complaint cited statements by Shogren that her customer had identified 50,000 noncitizens registered to vote in the state, without supplying any basis or methodology for those people assertions. A “casual check” of a sample of alleged noncitizens the coalition claimed had voted in 2020 showed the info was “not trustworthy,” Purcell wrote. For case in point, he wrote, just one voter discovered by the group experienced tweeted about getting to be a naturalized citizen in 2019.
“Unfounded and baseless allegations, like those people designed by Ms. Shogren have the predictable effect of undermining the public’s faith in our democratic institutions,” Purcell wrote.
Shogren did not immediately react to a request for comment. She was admitted to the state bar in 2003 and has no other community disciplinary history, according to the bar association’s on-line lawful directory.
The election coalition represented by Shogren has quite a few further lawsuits towards elections officials pending in federal court which make unsubstantiated claims of significant vote fraud. None of the group’s lawsuits throughout the condition has been prosperous — mirroring the predicament nationally for this sort of instances, which echo former President Donald Trump’s wrong promises about the 2020 election.
The group’s leader, Tamborine Borrelli, is running for secretary of state this year, listing her bash affiliation as “America To start with (R).”
The Workplace of Disciplinary Counsel is charged with investigating ethics problems from lawyers in the state. It can recommend punishment ranging from a official warning to suspension or disbarment. Remaining decisions are designed by court docket-appointed hearings officers, with all suspensions and disbarments reviewed by the condition Supreme Courtroom.
The grievance signed by Purcell does not request any distinct punishment, but asks the place of work to “look into this make any difference and choose even further action as you deem suitable.”