WA Redistricting Commission to pay fines, legal costs

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Washington’s redistricting commission will pay fines and legal costs of more than $137,000 to settle two lawsuits filed by government transparency watchdogs after last year’s redistricting talks ended in a display of chaos and deception. The redistricting commission’s four members and nonpartisan chair will each pay $500 fines and undergo training in the open-meetings law. The Seattle Times reports the commission also agreed to pay $120,000 to cover the legal costs of the Washington Coalition for Open Government and another $15,000 for the legal costs of transparency activist Arthur West. Under a proposed consent decree announced Wednesday, the Commission also admitted that its members violated the state’s Open Public Meetings Act