# Former Gov-Candidade Culp drops fraud claims due to possible sanctions **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 16, 2021, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-gov-candidade-culp-drops-fraud-claims-due-to-possible-sanctions/930693 "2021-01-16T20:43:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Olfatbut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a183cd/32.png) [@Olfatbut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olfatbut)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-gov-candidade-culp-drops-fraud-claims-due-to-possible-sanctions/930693/1 "2021-01-16T20:43:31Z")
> **[Former gubernatorial candidate Loren Culp drops election fraud lawsuit after...](https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/former-gubernatorial-candidate-loren-culp-drops-election-fraud-lawsuit-after-washington-state-threatens-legal-sanctions/)** > > Former GOP gubernatorial candidate Loren Culp has dropped his lawsuit against the state claiming fraud in the November election that he lost to Gov. Jay Inslee. State attorneys called the claim "frivolous.'' Culp was the R candidate for Washington State Governor and lost by a lot. He took up the ‘fraud’ storyline with great enthusiasm, but when threatened with legal penalties for filing baseless claims in court the case was promptly withdrawn. Curious why this didn’t happen more. My random guess is the cases filed by Rudy-G et al. did a better job dancing around the edges, preferring inert claims over baseless ones and going for a hail-Mary in the court of public opinion. Does WA have some special rule about filing baseless claims? In an attempt to appear scholarly, I read the wikipedia page on frivolous litigation. In one case (Pearson v Chung), a judge sued a dry-cleaning business $67M for losing his pants. (Maybe they were his only pair?) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-gov-candidade-culp-drops-fraud-claims-due-to-possible-sanctions/930693/2 "2021-01-16T20:45:23Z")
> [@Olfatbut](#): > > I read the wikipedia page on frivolous litigation. In one case (Pearson v Chung), a judge sued a dry-cleaning business $67M for losing his pants. (Maybe they were his only pair?) - What did he wear to court, then? ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-gov-candidade-culp-drops-fraud-claims-due-to-possible-sanctions/930693/3 "2021-01-16T20:49:00Z")
> [@Olfatbut](#): > > Does WA have some special rule about filing baseless claims? No, it’s pretty much the same in every state. We have a good AG, though. btw, there was a comment to that article (I know, always avoid the comments) that I honestly can’t tell if it’s real or parody > I’m pretty sure the entire legal system is part of a state-wide conspiracy to steal the governor’s seat. Aided and abetted by every news organization in the state as well as the Republican Kim Wyman, they are employing high tech cheating devices developed by Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates to help them steal the election and establish a new communist world order. The frightening thing is that we would have never found out about it except that they assassinated a diplomat at Benghazi who had stumbled on to the plot and managed to warn Lauren Cult before he died. This was all brought about by the Clintons, who have stepped into the shadows and are now free to help the deep state traitors on a state-by-state level. Our country is being stolen from us by literally everybody except for the followers of Donald Trump… eta: It has to be parody. “Lauren Cult” isn’t a typo. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-gov-candidade-culp-drops-fraud-claims-due-to-possible-sanctions/930693/4 "2021-01-16T20:54:05Z")
> [@Olfatbut](#): > > Curious why this didn’t happen more. My random guess is the cases filed by Rudy-G et al. did a better job dancing around the edges, preferring inert claims over baseless ones and going for a hail-Mary in the court of public opinion. It’s simple, they never claimed fraud in court. If they did they’d probably have gotten in trouble too. > **[In Court, Trump's Lawyers Aren't Claiming 'Massive' Fraud](https://time.com/5914377/donald-trump-no-evidence-fraud/)** > > While the President and his lawyers make histrionic claims in public, the campaign's legal filings are narrow in scope What the Trump legal team did is both morally repugnant and clever. They claimed rampant fraud when speaking to the public, whipping up their base with lies and nurturing the ignorance about a stolen election. They also claim that they are going to court to prove their case, and then everything will be fine again! Once in court, they are very careful to assure the court that there are no accusations of fraud and instead nitpick something about the election process, which the court then dismisses. They then go back to the public and explain that even though the case dismissed, the evidence of fraud was never even examined in court (because no claims were made and no evidence was submitted) and it furthers the myth of this rampant fraud being covered up by a left-wing conspiracy. Culp is a small time politician and not nearly as savvy. He actually tried to argue fraud in court, and got burned. ---
**Author:** ![Olfatbut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a183cd/32.png) [@Olfatbut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olfatbut)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-gov-candidade-culp-drops-fraud-claims-due-to-possible-sanctions/930693/5 "2021-01-16T21:31:42Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > eta: It has to be parody. “Lauren Cult” isn’t a typo. lol I am not so sure. The golden rule of parody is to be sufficiently absurd that reasonable people can identify it. It’s quite difficult to be sufficiently absurd at this point. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2021, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-gov-candidade-culp-drops-fraud-claims-due-to-possible-sanctions/930693/6 "2021-01-17T00:43:09Z")
> [@Olfatbut](#): > > In one case (Pearson v Chung), a judge sued a dry-cleaning business $67M for losing his pants. (Maybe they were his only pair?) Or maybe he left his bit coin recovery password on a piece of paper in one of the pockets?