OLYMPIA, Wash. (Legal Newsline) – A Thurston County Superior Court judge recently postponed the trial in Washington State’s case against the Grocery Manufacturers Association after GMA produced new evidence on the eve of the trial, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced.
“This attempt to introduce records at the last minute, after resisting our efforts to obtain them earlier in the process, continues GMA’s pattern of trying to hide the ball from the people of Washington,” Ferguson said. “However long it takes, I am committed to holding GMA accountable for its elaborate scheme to shield its members’ contributions from the public.”
The case revolves around GMA’s financing of a 2013 campaign against Initiative 522, an act that would have put labeling requirements on genetically engineered products. The court originally found that GMA violated state campaign finance laws in the way it raised money from the campaign and allegedly shielded members’ contributions from the public.
The court is now deciding whether the violation was intentional and what penalties GMA should face. GMA had previously resisted disclosing certain records, but then allowed the records to come forward on the eve of the new trial. It has been postponed to Aug. 15.