Everett, Wash. Published: Sunday, October 12, 2008
McKenna has earned second term as AG
Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg says he'd make a fine state attorney general, and we agree.
Trouble is, we already have an excellent one in Rob McKenna. Voters would be smart to elect him to a second term.
McKenna, a Republican, has gone far beyond the technical role of the attorney general and worked with lawmakers from both parties to pass a number of important bills in Olympia. As a result, Washington has tougher laws against identity theft, sexual predators, domestic violence and methamphetamine abuse.
A champion of open government, McKenna has worked to strengthen the Public Disclosure Act, and with House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, a Democrat, to pass a reporter shield law that strengthens the news media's ability to expose wrongdoing. McKenna also hired a public-records expert to be a full-time open records ombudsman, helping citizens to obtain records from state agencies and helping agencies comply with such requests.
He says he's planning about a dozen legislative proposals for next year, including more on domestic violence and open government, and an update to the state's lemon law.
McKenna has managed the attorney general's office well, cutting turnover roughly in half and shifting more than $3 million in overhead to consumer protection and law enforcement programs. He also won a $1.7 million funding increase for the office's Consumer Protection Division.
He has operated the office in a scrupulously nonpartisan way. He argued successfully in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in defense of Washington's voter-approved top two primary, which was challenged by the political parties. His office has also sued the state Republican Party for allegedly spending money illegally to advocate for gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi.
Ladenburg, a Democrat, is an experienced attorney and longtime policy leader as well. Before becoming Pierce County executive, he spent 14 years at the county's elected prosecutor, and worked with state lawmakers to write legislation to fight drug dealers and gang violence. He also developed what he says was the nation's first sex-predator notification law.
As a county executive he has earned a reputation throughout the region for being collaborative and getting things done. After serving a term as chairman of the Sound Transit board, his colleagues asked him to serve another.
As attorney general, Ladenburg says he would crack down more aggressively on consumer fraud than McKenna has, and would push to set up forensic labs to investigate identity theft, which he says has become a haven for organized crime.
