TACOMA, Wash. — Mary Robnett, who up until 2012 was one of Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist’s top lieutenants, is challenging him for the position.
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This comes after Lindquist's office abruptly posted nine text messages on his office's Facebook page, two weeks after Thurston County Superior Court Judge Christopher Lanese ruled the messages qualified as public records, ending a six-year legal debate that cost county taxpayers $623,441.
In a news release announcing her run on Thursday, Robnett said she parted ways with Lindquist in 2012 to join the state Attorney General’s Office. Hired by Rob McKenna (R) and promoted by Bob Ferguson (D), Robnett works as an assistant attorney general in the Sexually Violent Predators unit keeping high-risk sex offenders away from Washington communities.
The release said she was uncomfortable with the “partisan, political way” Lindquist operated and that the morale in the Prosecutor's Office was suffering.
"That's because we have someone in the top job who has burned way too many bridges and crossed too many ethical lines. Not to mention, Mr. Lindquist has wasted so much taxpayer money on a vanity lawsuit to hide his work-related text messages from the public. This is no way to run a professional prosecutor's office," said Robnett.
The lawsuit Robnett refers to was filed by former Pierce County Sheriff's Deputy Glenda Nissen, who says Lindquist tried to sabotage her career because she opposed him politically, the News Tribune reported.
Nissen wanted text messages, which were on Lindquist's personal cellphone, to be released.
Lindquist maintained the messages were not related to public business, and in his Wednesday night Facebook post of the messages, called them "trivial."
Cox Media Group
