The tort complaint filed by Police Strategies CEO Bob Scales in July was initially filed with the Office of Risk Management, which was then assigned to the AGO’s Tort Claims Division. AGO’s contract with Pacifica Law Group was signed Aug. 18 between Pekelis and AGO Assistant Attorney General Kristen Mitchell.

In an email to The Center Square, Scales argued that “not only is this an inappropriate and possibly illegal way to handle my tort claim, it gives Pacifica Law Group a blank check to start billing taxpayers for state to review the document and prepare for litigation that may never happen.”

Pekelis is the principal attorney at Pacifica Law Group. He who served as Washington State Assistant Attorney General from 2018-2021. One of the legal group partner is Nick Brown, who was elected attorney general by Washington voters during the November election; Ferguson will take over as governor in January after defeating Republican Dave Reichert.

Scales accused the AGO and Washington State University of racketeering stemming from a police use-of-force database project authorized by the state Legislature in 2021. SB 5259 assigned oversight of the project to the AGO, which was directed to undertake in a competitive bidding process where higher education institutions were invited to bid for the contract.

Scales alleges that AGO and WSU employees colluded to ensure that the university, an AGO client that has a division office on campus, would receive the contract. Scales’ Police Strategies was a potential drop with Seattle University, which chose not to submit a bid. In the end, WSU was the only institution to bid on the project.

As part of his ongoing conflict with the AGO and WSU, Scales filed complaints against employees of both entities. Complaints against the AGO were referred to the State Board of Ethics, staffed and led by members of the AGO, which found no wrongdoing. Complaints against WSU employees were informally dismissed by WSU President Eric Schulz, who has no official role in handling ethics complaints, before Provost Chair Elizabeth Chilton contacted Scales and said she would investigate the matter.