King County Superior Court Judge Paris Kallas ruled this morning that, contrary to what the state Attorney General’s office–and attorneys from the BIAW and Dino Rossi–asserted, she does have jurisdiction over a lawsuit against the BIAW. She declined to throw out the case. Judge Kallas put off until Monday a ruling on whether or not Dino Rossi himself will be deposed on a hurry-up schedule in the case.It was a mixed verdict for Rossi, who is hoping to not have to testify before the election. He claims that the lawsuit, filed by a pair of former state Supreme Court Justices, and alleging that he helped the BIAW with political fundraising on his behalf, is just a political stunt. The AG’s office, led by Republican Rob McKenna, also chimed in last week with a letter, stating its view that the lawsuit in King County court wasn’t valid because the complaints it contained hadn’t been sent to the AG’s office first. State law requires that the AG be given written notice of possible campaign-finance violations, and has 55 days to take enforcement action before a citizen can file suit on their own.That letter clearly didn’t sit well with Judge Kallas, who said she gave it “no weight” and called it a statement of “subjective intent, which is not appropriate.” The liberal group Fuse has filed a complaint with the State Auditor over McKenna’s submission of that letter.In an impressive finding for the public’s right to know, and against the legalisms behind which Rossi and McKenna wanted to hide, Judge Kallas wrote that the rules on citizen campaign-finance complaints are meant to be “liberally construed.” And she found that the allegations against Rossi and the BIAW that are contained in the current suit had been included in a July complaint letter submitted to the AG by the same two former judges. Therefore, she found, the required 55 days had passed, and the judges were free to file their suit.Judge Kallas didn’t immediately rule on whether or not Rossi will have to immediately testify in the case. She reversed a previous Commissioner’s ruling granting the plaintiffs an expedited schedule for discovery, saying that attorneys for the BIAW and Rossi hadn’t been present for the hearing at which that motion was made. Plaintiffs’ attorney Knoll Lowney then asked her if she would entertain the same motion now, and she seemed quite open to doing so. But the BIAW’s attorney said he wanted time to write up his opposition. She gave him until Monday morning, which suggests she recognizes the importance of moving fast on the case. Rossi is currently scheduled to be deposed next Wednesday.