Longtime civil servant Scott Smith said he faced unrelenting hostility and retaliation after refusing to change his economic forecast last year on the expected price of gas in Washington state. On Tuesday, Smith, the former state economist, filed a lawsuit against his former employer, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), the governor’s office and its budget wing, the Office of Financial Management (OFM). Smith, 64, was the primary WSDOT employee tasked with forecasting fuel consumption, pricing and revenues from gas taxes and fees. After 35 years working as a public sector economist, Smith said his career was ruined for his refusal to lie about how a new state policy, according to his mathematical calculations in early 2023, would jack up prices at the pump by 45 to 50 cents per gallon. READ MORE: https://www.king5.com/article/news/investigations/former-wsdot-economist-pressured-to-lie-about-gas-prices-sues-wsdot-governor-inslee-office/281-ade49dab-0b5c-4cb7-a66d-cc2c33ee11c5