(The Center Square) – Washington State Supreme Court Justice Colleen Melody met with millionaire’s tax prime sponsor Sen. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, in September while she was a member of the State Attorney General’s Office, according to records obtained by The Center Square.
While the AGO says the meeting was to discuss other legislation, a group that has sued over the millionaire’s tax says the meeting raises issues as to whether Melody should preside over the case, which is expected to reach the state high court.
According to the records, the meeting between Pedersen and AGO staff occurred on Sept. 9 in Seattle. The meeting invitation subject line stated “AGO Legislative Team: Office Hours Meeting with Sen. Pedersen,” but did not mention specific legislation.
Among those invited to the meeting was Melody, who was hired by then-Attorney General Bob Ferguson in 2015 to lead the AGO’s Wing Luke Civil Rights Division.
She served in that role until January, when Gov. Ferguson appointed her to the State Supreme Court.
The Center Square has previously reported that Pedersen worked closely with the AGO to craft his millionaire’s tax for the purpose of getting the State Supreme Court to overturn almost a century of legal rulings declaring income to be property, which under the state constitution prohibits a progressive income tax.
Solicitor General Noah Purcell, who offered the “strongest possible recommendation” on Melody’s behalf for her Supreme Court appointment, helped craft Pedersen’s bill and advised him to insert an emergency clause into his bill to prevent a voter referendum; an effort by Let’s Go Washington to allow a referendum on the bill was recently rejected by the State Supreme Court.
The Center Square reached out to Melody requesting an interview to discuss the Sept. 9 meeting. In an email, she wrote that “because your question is about my work for a former employer, I think your question is best addressed to the Attorney General’s Office.”
The Center Square reached out to the State Attorney General’s Office requesting an interview to discuss the meeting, and was told in an email by Deputy Communications Director Mike Faulk that the meeting concerned Senate Bill 5925, which was passed this session and expanded the AGO’s power to issue investigative civil demands. Pedersen was a cosponsor of that bill.
However, Citizen Action Defense Fund Executive Director Jackson Maynard told The Center Square that “unless they were meeting to talk about how the Seahawks were going to do that season or the weather,” Melody should “strongly consider disqualifying herself. I think it’s really problematic.”
He cited Washington’s Code of Judicial Conduct rules that state, “A judge shall self-disqualify in any proceeding in which the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned,” which includes “acting as a lawyer in the proceeding.”
Another circumstance in which a judge would recuse themselves is if they “served as a lawyer in the matter in controversy, or was associated with a lawyer who participated substantially as a lawyer or a material witness in the matter during such association.”
Maynard said that’s enough to cause concern when the case is heard.
“There’s an old saying a person shouldn’t be a judge in their own case,” Maynard said. “That would effectively what’s happening here if she acted as an attorney.”
Maynard also noted that “Sen. Pedersen is a very important member of the legislature and holds a significant role in the senate, so I don’t think it’s necessarily unusual that he would be meeting with the Attorney General’s Office to discuss potential legislation or other issues.”
“That’s said, again I think the timing is interesting here. Senator Pedersen and Justice Melody and other participants members of that meeting owe it to say what was being discussed in that meeting,” he added.
In response to the AGO’s statement that the meeting discussed SB 5925, Maynard wrote in an email that “if and when a challenge is brought against SB 5925, then the same conflict arises.”
“Any judge who formerly served as counsel on a matter that comes before the court should recuse himself or herself to avoid the appearance of impropriety and partiality,” he said.
The Center Square reached out to Pedersen’s media contact requesting an interview to discuss the meeting but did not receive a response before publication.
