The Corrupt "Cadillac-kickback" Judge's Whistleblower
By Doug Schafer
Candidate for Washington State Supreme CourtThe Washington State Bar staff accused whistleblower Doug Schafer of being unethical because in February 1996 when he reported a corrupt Superior Court Judge's dishonesty and $1.5 million fraud upon a rural public hospital, he revealed a boastful comment by his former client (a bank CEO) who had conspired with that corrupt judge and had paid for the judge's Cadillac. That client in 1992 had used Doug's services (forming a corporation) to further his conspiracy with his corrupt lawyer-judge friend.
The State Bar staff disagreed with Doug's position that maintaining integrity in our judicial system is more important than protecting comments of a client who was conspiring with a corrupt judge. The State Bar's vendetta against Doug lasted about eight years. His 5-day State Bar disciplinary hearing in July 2000 was televised statewide on TVW, the public affairs cable television network, as was his one-hour hearing before the State Supreme Court in May 2002. On April 17, 2003, the state supreme court released an opinion authored by Justice Bobbe Bridge declaring, essentially, that protecting clients who conspire with corrupt judges is more important than maintaining integrity in our judicial system. The written opinion's factual, historical, and analytical mistakes suggest that Justice Bridge never actually read and understood the appellate briefs and records filed in the case, which is not surprising since she certified on March 26, 2003, in Seattle Municipal Court on her DUI and Hit & Run charges, that her alchohol abuse was "caused by mental health issues of anxiety and depression for which I need treatment." Click here to read her certified statement, and click here for other background documents on her personal problems. Doug filed a Motion for Reconsideration pointing out the many factual, legal, and judgmental mistakes in Bridge's written opinion, but it also was ignored.
Details of Doug's disciplinary case are posted on his website "To Kill a Messenger--for Reporting a Corrupt Judge" at http://DougSchafer.com, that has grown (perhaps grown too much) since he began it in late 1999. The most informative documents posted there about his disciplinary case are Doug's supreme court Opening and Reply Briefs, his eight Statements of Additional Authorities (#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, and #8), and his Motion for Resonsideration.