Herald Editorial Board

• Bob Bolerjack, Opinion Editor
bolerjack@heraldnet.com

• Carol MacPherson, Editorial Writer
cmacpherson@ heraldnet.com

• Allen Funk, Herald Publisher
funk@heraldnet.com

• Kim Heltne, Assistant to the Publisher
heltne@heraldnet.com
Send letters to the editor by e-mail to letters@heraldnet.com, by fax to 425-339-3458 or mail to The Herald - Letters, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206.

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Father guilty of manslaughter in girl's death |
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Snohomish County budget passes, with a caveat |
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Help with heating bills late to arrive this year |
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Nurse seeks help healing hidden wounds of wars |
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Count drags on long after the election's over |
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Groups work to help those in uniform |
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Arlington area man's arrest in alleged burglar'... |
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Nearly 2,000 turn out for Stevens Pass opening day |
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Shelter asks for diaper donations during holida... |
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Safety long a concern for road involved in fata... |
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State budget's $2 billion hole will require dee... |
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County considers building for disaster response... |
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Jury will decide accident or murder in girl's s... |
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Marysville rejects idea of a much later start f... |
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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.
If elected, Ladenburg would no doubt serve well. But McKenna already is. A change isn't warranted.
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