From our perspective at The Hammer, it’s getting pretty tough to see how Attorney General Rob McKenna is different from his AG predecessor Christine Gregoire.
As Washington’s Attorney General for 12 years, Gregoire demonstrated time and again her allegiance to big government. Rather than defend citizens from the abuses of out-of-control state agencies, Gregoire consistently sided with those agencies. On the campaign trail, McKenna said he was going to be different. He said the people were going to come before the agencies. He related a folksy tale about his “three wise men,” former Senator Slade Gorton, Attorney General Ken Eikenberry and King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng, who were supposed to be the “source of one guiding principle should he be elected.” Recounted McKenna:
“They each said the same thing to me: ‘Rob, remember that as attorney general, you have to put the people first and then the state agencies.’”
Those campaign promises turned out to be as empty as McKenna’s character. During his tenure as AG, McKenna has been a letdown, rushing to the defense of state agencies (aka “the client”) time and again. In a string of disappointing actions, McKenna has demonstrated he is not the straight-shooting defender of the people he sold himself as—he is just another politician who will say and do anything to further his political career.
The Hammer reported recently that McKenna is asking for an unprecedented $900,000 to settle a dispute between the PDC and BIAW over a $584,000 campaign finance reporting issue.
This comes after news last month that the Attorney General’s office came out with an opinion defending the Department of Ecology’s (DOE) action to shut down exempt wells in Kittitas County, where residents need water and business owners are struggling to stay afloat.
McKenna also appears to be abandoning his much-publicized pet cause of government transparency with his position in the Yousoufian case. As the “chief apologist” for state agencies who ignore public disclosure laws, McKenna once again sided with the government instead of the people. (Hat tip to Liberty Live, the blog of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation).
Like so many politicians, it turns out that McKenna’s promise to protect and defend the people of Washington was just fodder for the campaign trail. In his six years as AG, McKenna is doing as good a job at defending state government agencies’ abusive behavior as Gregoire did.
Keep reading The Hammer for more examples of McKenna’s failure to “put the people first and then the state agencies.”
