“I don't believe that stating the facts in an election is mudslinging. I regard that as merely informing the voters." Frank LaSalata, Seattle Times, 09/30/2006
HERE ARE THE FACTS REGARDING
MY OPPONENT,
FRANK LaSALATA
· Frank LaSalata has not enforced our drunk driving laws. He did not admit alcohol breath tests into evidence. He lists his decisions as a substitute judge to reject alcohol breath tests as the most important accomplishments of his legal career.
· Frank LaSalata is highly popular with drunk driving and criminal defense lawyers. These same lawyers have also provided the majority of his campaign contributions.
· Frank LaSalata recently moved here from Friday Harbor. He defaulted his mortgage and his home there was sold at foreclosure on August 12, 2005. LaSalata borrowed an additional $405,000 out of his home’s “equity” through refinancings, then stopped making payments and let it go into foreclosure. In April 2005, LaSalata pocketed another $12,000 by “selling” an apparently worthless utility easement to his neighbors – without mortgage company approval.
· Here are the facts regarding LaSalata’s real estate dealings:
· Frank LaSalata purchased his Friday Harbor home for $120,000 on May 1, 1997. LaSalata took out a $90,000 mortgage on May 1, 1997 to finance his home purchase.
· On December 4, 1998, Frank LaSalata refinanced his mortgage with "Seattle Funding Group" for $243,000.00 – an increase of $153,000.00 from the original mortgage debt.
· On April 23, 2001, Frank LaSalata refinanced his mortgage with “Subprime Funders” for $445,000.00 – an increase of $202,000.00 from the previous mortgage debt, and $355,000.00 from the original mortgage debt.
· On March 20, 2003, Frank LaSalata refinanced his mortgage with “Subprime Funders” for $495,000.00 – an increase of $50,000.00 from the previous mortgage debt, and $405,000.00 from the original mortgage debt.
· Frank LaSalata made his last mortgage payment in November 2004, and let his home go into foreclosure. A Notice of Trustee's Sale was recorded on May 4, 2005. Six payments were missed between December 2004 and May 2005, with LaSalata being in default for a total of $23,120.64.
· On April 19, 2005, Frank LaSalata pocketed $12,000 by “selling” an apparently worthless utility easement to his neighbors. LaSalata used a “bargain and sale deed”, in which he falsely represented that his property did not have any mortgages or other encumbrances. Since his mortgage company did not sign off on the utility easement, it was wiped out when the March 2003 mortgage was later foreclosed.
· On August 12, 2005, Frank LaSalata’s Friday Harbor home was sold at foreclosure. His mortgage company was the only bidder at the auction. The mortgage company still has not been able to sell the home to recover the money they lent.
· Frank LaSalata tried to conceal the foreclosure of his Friday Harbor home. He filed as a candidate for judge on July 24, 2006. State law required him to disclose all real estate that he owned at any time during the previous 12 months. LaSalata conveniently omitted the August 12, 2005 foreclosure of his Friday Harbor home from his financial disclosure statement. This form was completed “under penalty of perjury” and filed with the PDC on August 1, 2006.
· Frank LaSalata previously ran for District Court judge in San Juan County in 2002 – and was decisively rejected by the voters. The people up there knew LaSalata extremely well – and decided that he was not qualified to be their judge.
· When Frank LaSalata ran for District Court judge in San Juan County in 2002, he violated the Code of Judicial Conduct. Judicial candidates are not permitted to endorse candidates for partisan offices or other nonjudicial offices. LaSalata illegally endorsed a candidate for San Juan County Auditor when he was running for judge. When this was exposed, LaSalata claimed he didn’t realize what he was signing when he put his name and address on the endorsement letter.
· In 2003, the Washington Court of Appeals found that Frank LaSalata had acted illegally while serving as a substitute judge in San Juan County in 2001. The Court of Appeals found that LaSalata had illegally talked about a pending case with a prosecutor outside of the courtroom and that he had made personally biased and prejudiced remarks against the defendant from the bench while holding court.
· “I have appeared in front of Frank LaSalata as he has pro-temmed in our court numerous times. I found him to be rude and arrogant, not only to defendants and witnesses but to colleagues. When I lodged complaints with the courthouse staff about his lack of judicial demeanor, I was told that my complaint was among numerous complaints they had received. Very sensitive matters are handled in District Court daily. It is imperative that those cases be handled by a judge who not only knows the law but also knows how to keep from re-victimizing people from the bench.” Kara Murphy, Domestic Violence Legal Advocate, cities of Issaquah, Sammamish, Snoqualmie, and Kenmore
· “I am a former court clerk at King County District Court, Redmond. I worked with Frank LaSalata many many times in Redmond and the Seattle division of the court. I would be deeply saddened if he won this election. His temper is an entity to be reckoned with and he is not intelligent when it comes to criminal matters in the court, or protection orders, or traffic laws, which district court deals extensively with. He is insecure on the bench when challenged by intelligent attorneys and gets angry.” Brooke Van Peski, Former King County District Court Clerk
· “I learned that Frank LaSalata defaulted on his mortgage payments in 2005 by about $23,000 and his home was foreclosed. It looks rather irresponsible for someone who got paid $125,000 per year as a judge. He filed a financial disclosure statement when running for office in 2006 in which he was required to list all real estate holdings over the previous year, but did not list the foreclosure (which fell in that time period). The statement is filed under penalty of perjury, which means filing a false statement is a felony.
I e-mailed the Frank LaSalata for judge campaign to ask if this was true, and they responded with what looked like a form letter denouncing his opponent for "personal attacks". If that's the campaign's best response, they shouldn't have bothered. Before, I hadn't made up my mind yet, but after getting that non-response, I'm pretty convinced that the paper trail shows LaSalata filed a false disclosure statement.” Bennett Haselton, Computer Programmer in Bellevue
