i:\doc\web\99\07\wealaw.txt Date sent: Tue, 04 May 1999 22:36:05 -0400 To: arthurhu@halcyon.com From: Cindy Omlin Subject: WEA Lawsuits Copies to: lmstuter@icehouse.net Arthur, Here are some press releases about WEA dropping their suit against me. I was fortunate in that National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation covered my hefty legal expenses. This really points to the need for an end to compulsory unionism and the need for anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuits against public participation) legislation that covers unions. We need to be going to the legislature, speaking with friendly journalists, etc. to bring an end to this abuse. What is your plan? Can I (and others) help? Cindy =========================== For Immediate Release WEA Union Drops Vindictive Lawsuit Against Teachers From: Cindy Omlin, Defendant (509) 466-5349 Barbara Amidon, Defendant (360) 438-2193 The Washington Education Association (WEA) has dropped the frivolous lawsuit it brought against us in February 1998 in order to punish, intimidate and harass us into silence for informing teachers about their rights not to fund union politics with their mandatory dues. (See National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation news release below.) To our credit, in a hearing on WEA's motion to compel us to produce our mailing list, Judge Daniel J. Berschauer noted that we were just using the same freedom of speech and association rights that the union has utilized for years! Due to the serious threat of further teacher harassment, Judge Berschauer denied WEA's motion to obtain our mailing list. We published a newsletter called the "WEA Challenger Network News" to inform teachers and expose union political activity and spending of dues not connected to collective bargaining and contract maintenance. In addition, we documented illegal transfers of funds between WEA and WEA-PAC as well as WEA's violations of the law requiring written permission of teachers before the union takes political contributions from their paychecks. This information ultimately led to Attorney General Christine Gregoire's lawsuit against the WEA. NRTWLDF spared no expense in coming to our aid to defend our free speech rights. NRTWLDF engaged the services of Mr. Harry Korrell, an attorney in the Seattle office of the highly respected law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP. Davis Wright Tremaine is well known for its labor and first amendment work. Soon after being served with the WEA's summons in February 1998, we offered to change the name of our newsletter as part of early settlement negotiations. However, the union wanted provisions that would have forced us to stop publishing any criticism of the union and which would have forced us to stop telling people about their right to object to union political spending. We would not agree to anything that would restrict our free speech rights to inform teachers of the truth so our discussions ended. A most telling fact about this action is that despite years of publication, with not one peep from the union about our use of the letters "WEA" in our newsletter name, the WEA has never charged that the information we published was false. We believe that this settlement completely vindicates us after more than a year of intimidation! We stood against a powerful union for truth and integrity. Even though we believe that WEA would have lost this abusive suit, due to the costs of litigation and the desire to put the suit behind us, we chose to settle out of court. Teachers should be outraged that their hard-earned union dues are being spent to harass fellow teachers whose only desire is to steer WEA into an accountable and honest relationship with their members. Additional Contacts: Stefan Gleason/Joseph Hillock, NRTWLDF (800) 336-3600 Harry Korrell, Attorney, Davis, Wright, Tremaine, LLP (206) 628-7680 #### ========================== For Release: April 26, 1999 Contact: Joseph Hillock or Stefan Gleason Headline: WEA Union Drops Vindictive Lawsuit Against Teacher Support Group Subhead: Foundation stops union’s year-long attempt to intimidate teachers into silence OLYMPIA, Wash. (April 26) – National Right to Work attorneys today announced that the Washington Education Association (WEA) union is dropping its vicious, year-long campaign to punish two teachers who simply informed Washington teachers about their constitutional rights. The settlement agreement signed today forces WEA union officials to withdraw their frivolous lawsuit against the teachers group in return for the group’s promise to no longer use the "WEA Challengers" masthead in the group’s name – a moot point since the teachers had not published the newsletter or used the acronym for more than a year. Middle school counselor Barbara Amidon of Olympia and Spokane-area speech language pathologist Cindy Omlin founded a plaintiff support group known as the "WEA Challengers Network" to spread information to teachers involved in the Foundation’s statewide class-action suit Leer v. WEA, which stopped the WEA’s program of illegally using teachers’ compulsory dues for political purposes. "These two brave educators simply informed teachers of their rights," said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation, which provided free legal aid to Omlin and Amidon. "Because they dared to speak out, the union sued them." To spread information, the group published a newsletter that accurately reported information concerning the WEA union’s siphoning of teachers’ dues to pay for the union’s pet political projects (projects with no possible connection to collective bargaining). The newsletter informed teachers of their constitutional rights to reclaim the portion of their compulsory dues used for non-bargaining activities and about the Foundation’s work to protect those rights. Last February, Omlin and Amidon received a summons informing them that the WEA teacher union had filed suit against them in Thurston County Superior Court. The claims included "trademark infringement" for using the labor union’s acronym in their newsletter’s masthead. Other allegations in the WEA complaint included "tortious interference" with "business expectancy" and "unfair competition." "It was very clear from the start that these charges were nothing more than an attempt by the union brass to silence, punish, and make examples of Cindy Omlin and Barbara Amidon," said Gleason. The teachers had used the "WEA Challengers" masthead for years, without a whisper of protest from WEA union officials until teachers statewide filed the Leer case against the WEA. In fact, union officials had received copies of the newsletter for years without ever objecting to the name. The National Right to Work Foundation immediately provided free legal aid to Omlin and Amidon. With that aid, the teachers defended against the suit and also filed counterclaims because of the retaliatory and frivolous nature of the union’s suit. During discovery, union lawyers demanded that the teachers forfeit a copy of the membership and mailing lists of the "WEA Challenger Network." Omlin and Amidon refused to turn over the names of their members for fear that they also would become targets of the union. After hearing the teachers’ pleas, the judge blocked the union’s attempt to obtain the list, stating that the demand for the list violated the members First Amendment right of free and private association. "The union’s reason for trying to obtain the membership list was clearly two-fold," said Gleason. "They wanted to intimidate teachers into silence, and they also wanted to frighten possible new supporters away." After defeating the attempts to get the lists, the teachers sought internal union documents and testimony of high-ranking WEA officials in connection with the teachers’ counterclaims. Soon afterward, WEA officials began negotiating today’s settlement. "What started as a vindictive strike against these two teachers began to turn against the union and quickly turned into a situation where the union had much more to lose than gain from proceeding with its case," said Gleason. Recognizing that their case was collapsing around them, the union abandoned their lawsuit and agreed to drop the charges against Omlin and Amidon. The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, is assisting thousands of employees in over 400 cases nationwide. Its web site is at www.nrtw.org. (Call the Foundation for interviews.) ### ===================================== PRESS RELEASE The Evergreen Freedom Foundation April 28, 1999 WEA drops lawsuit against teachers who first sparked investigation of union's illegal political activities Think tank’s lawsuit proceeds to trial on Monday OLYMPIA - The Washington Education Association has dropped its suit against two teachers who helped spark an investigation of unprecedented elections-law violations against the union. "We are pleased that the union has finally backed down from its campaign of intimidation and harassment against these teachers. The Washington Education Association has reached the long-overdue conclusion that First Amendment rights belong to teachers and not just the union brass," said Bob Williams, president of Evergreen Freedom Foundation, an Olympia-based public policy group whose lawsuit against the WEA begins Monday, May 3, in Thurston County Superior Court. "These teachers simply wanted the same thing we are seeking in our lawsuit: respect for the First Amendment rights of political choice that belong to those teachers and everyone else. You cannot have a democracy when elections are bought with forced political donations." The WEA filed suit against middle-school counselor Barbara Amidon of Olympia and Spokane-area speech pathologist Cindy Omlin — who together organized a teacher support group called the WEA Challenger Network — after the two criticized the union’s spending of dues money on politics. The suit alleged Amidon and Omlin had infringed on the WEA’s trademark and engaged in "tortious interference" with union contracts. Amidon and Omlin documented illegal transfers from the WEA’s general dues fund to the WEA’s political action committee (WEA-PAC). Their work, along with an investigation by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, led the Washington State Attorney General to fine the WEA $430,000 for violating campaign-finance laws which bar the use of payroll deductions for politics. It remains the largest set of campaign-finance violations in state history. The union agreed on Monday to drop its suit against Amidon and Omlin, who have in turn agreed to not use the name "WEA." The case’s presiding judge, Daniel J. Berschauer of Thurston County Superior Court, noted that Amidon and Omlin were simply practicing the same First Amendment rights and freedom of association privilege that the union has utilized for years. Interestingly, the union’s settlement comes less than a week before the WEA stands trial for serious charges of election-law violations in Thurston County Superior Court. Scheduled to begin Monday, the case—brought by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation and Teachers for a Responsible Union (who are acting on behalf of the State of Washington)—seeks to prove that the WEA is a political action committee. If proven, the union will be compelled to report its political expenditures as required under state law. "Our lawsuit on behalf of the state of Washington is not only about protecting teachers’ free-speech rights, it is also about protecting the ballot box for every Washington state resident," EFF’s Williams said. "The public has a right to know who is funding politics in this state. That is why we have campaign-finance laws that require mandatory reporting of donations. Just because the WEA is a union does not make it exempt." http://www.effwa.org/pressreleases/99-4-28.htm