Busted: Rev. Ken Hutcherson Told He Can’t Collect R-65 Signatures on Public School Property
NOTE: I’ve updated this post from its original form in order to add some new information. FURTHER NOTE: About 24 hours after this post first went up, the Lake Washington School District retracted its letter. Click here for the letter of retraction.
Earlier this week I linked to reports documenting how eastside Rev. Ken Hutcherson had used his Sunday service, which takes place in a rented public school gym, to gather signatures for Tim Eyman’s anti-gay referendum, R-65. I also joined those who were asking whether it’s legal for a religious group to use public school grounds to gather signatures for this kind of referendum.
Well, the Lake Washington School District, which rents the gym to Hutcherson, asked its lawyers the same question and on Tuesday fired off a stern letter telling Hutcherson that if indeed he was collecting signatures for R-65 on school property, then he’s run afoul of the law.
Kathryn Reith, the district’s spokeswoman, told me seven other churches that rent space from the district were sent the same letter on Tuesday. She said it’s too soon to tell what action might be taken against them or against Hutcherson’s Antioch Bible Church if it can be proved that they were collecting signatures on public school property during Referendum Sunday — a state-wide, church-based effort to help Eyman gather the 112,440 signatures he needs by June 6 in order to get R-65 on the November ballot.
“We didn’t know whether any of them did [collect signatures],” Reith told me. “But we thought it was important that we clarify through our attorneys whether [collecting signatures] would be legal.” (She added however, that she had not yet seen these pictures, which allegedly show R-65 signatures being gathered outside Hutcherson’s Sunday service at Lake Washington High School’s gym.)
The letter to the chuches, which cites this state law regulating the use of public facilities in political campaigns, also raises broader questions:
Could opponents of R-65, which would repeal Washington’s new gay civil rights law, go to court (or to state elections officials) and demand that all signatures collected on school grounds be invalidated? And if the Lake Washington School District alone has eight churches renting its facilities, exactly how many school districts state-wide have churches renting facilities from them, and how many of those churches collected R-65 signatures on public school property during Referendum Sunday?
John Vezina, campaign manager for Washington Won’t Discriminate, the group fighting Eyman’s initiative, said his group was considering its response.
“We don’t have any personal knowledge of this,” Vezina told me. “We are making sure that we do everything legally, and it is vital that the other side does as well.”
Hutcherson hasn’t returned my call yet, but here’s an email he apparently sent out to his “Prayer Warriors” earlier today about the issue…
May 24, 2006Dear Prayer Warrior,
Well, as you can read in the letter I just received from the Lake Washington School District, the fight is on!!! We better start praying.
Pastor Hutch
And here’s the letter from the Lake Washington School District Deputy Superintendent:
May 24, 2006Dear Church Leader:
We saw in the news media last week that organizers of Referendum 65, a proposed ballot initiative, have focused on working with churches to get enough signatures to place it on the state ballot. As the leader of a church that holds services on school district property through a building use permit, it’s important that you understand the legal restrictions on activities that take place on public property in order to protect your organization.
In fact, under Washington state law, the facilities of a public agency, i.e., the Lake Washington School District, may not be used directly or indirectly for the purpose of assisting a campaign for election of any person to any office or for the promotion of or opposition to any ballot proposition (RCW 42.17.130). Our attorneys have advised us that collection of signatures on any proposed ballot initiative on school property is a violation of that law, as campaigning for any candidate for elected office would be. Therefore we cannot allow your organization or another organization at your invitation to come onto district property for any efforts that would assist a political campaign of any kind.
While we have worked with political organizations that use our facilities to ensure their understanding of these restrictions, I recognize that we have we may not have made these requirements clear to other users groups. We will be adding this restriction to the building use guidelines so that it is clearly spelled out. Since we do not know if churches that use our schools may be participating in this event, we wanted to bring this concern to the attention of all churches using our facilities. I appreciate your cooperation on this issue, for the protection of both of our organizations. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. Sincerely,Janene Fogard
Deputy Superintendent
"the fight is on!!! we better start praying" Oh sweet Jesus. Im just glad that Hutch got called on it