Sound Politics: Rob McKenna at Downtown Seattle Republican Club, 9/19

September 17, 2005

Rob McKenna at Downtown Seattle Republican Club, 9/19

Space still available. This should be a great event. RSVP today!

The special guest speaker at next Monday's (September 19) meeting of the Downtown Seattle Republican Club is Attorney General Rob McKenna. McKenna will give an update on his first 9 months in office, touching on Operation Allied Against Meth, Consumer Protection and Identity Theft and the Open Government Tour. He will also answer your questions.

The event will be held at the College Club, Fifth and Madison in downtown Seattle, starting at 6pm, featuring dinner and the after-dinner talk/audience Q&A with Attorney General McKenna.

The only cost is for dinner at the College Club, which will be $22, all inclusive. This event is likely to sell out, so RSVP required to ensure a seat for dinner.

More details on directions and parking here. RSVP to me at:
theshark .at. usefulwork .dot. com

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at September 17, 2005 09:43 AM | Email This

Comments

1. Be sure to ask McKenna why he has kept 90%+ of the Gregoire appointments in the AG's office. We elect folks like McKenna to turn things over including patronage employees, and yet he has kept almost every single one of the Democrat exempt employees in his office. He should have asked for resignations from all of them a week after he took the oath of office, and here we are nine months later and we see them all in the same positions. What's up?

Ask him during this event for an explanation.

Posted by: Barry Nunn on September 17, 2005 09:27 PM

2. I am going to have to attend one of these functions!

They sound fun!

Posted by: Deborah on September 17, 2005 11:10 PM

3. I anxiously await your summation on this meeting for those of us that cannot attend!

Posted by: cc on September 18, 2005 01:32 PM

4. Barry Nunn:

In fairness to the attorneys and staff who work at the AG's office, the vast majority of the Ken Eikenberry staff were kept by Chris Gregoire when she assumed the office over 12 years ago.

There's a lot that goes on in the AG's office that has nothing to do with politics, and the attorneys who work there are chosen for their legal abilities in the area of law that they are assigned to.

Now, at the management levels - the top folks who aren't really practicing law at all but are running the place, they should have been wholesale kicked to the curb, and I think, by and large, McKenna has replaced those people.

Posted by: Observer on September 18, 2005 02:27 PM

5. With all due respect, Observer hasn't been observing much.

Do you happen to have any stats to back up the assertion that McKenna has gotten rid of most/all of those Gregoire institutional operatives or is it merely your observation, "by and large"?

Most of these division heads have been kept on except for folks like the COS and a handful of other political appointments like Luke Esser -- a good appointment by the way. The vast majority of the D's are still there, in charge and and running the damn place.

Again, we have elections to change policy in government. So far, that hasn't happened in the AG's office.

Oh, and who cares what happened when Eikenberry got defeated twenty years ago (or was it fifteen)? If there ever was an ineffective AG who tried to appease the Oly establishment (call that Democrat) it was good ol' Ken.

Posted by: Barry Nunn on September 18, 2005 08:48 PM

6. Gee, Barry, so much for the idea of a neutral, non-partisan civil service. I'm sure the public will be much better served by throwing in a new bunch of partisan hacks with every new election. Sounds like a grand management strategy to me, big fella....

Posted by: bartelby on September 18, 2005 11:38 PM

7. Dream on Bartel!! We got kicked out of Eden- remember?

Posted by: swatter on September 19, 2005 07:40 AM

8. I belive things may begin to improve in 2006 as several legislators are up for grabs!Remember if you want CG's cronies out of office this is the time to make your wishes known!The only other chance is 2008 we the voters need to take advantage of these opportunities!If we don't we deserve what we get! several good legislators are fighting an uphill battle probably including Rob Mckenna so we need to keep this in mind.

Posted by: Laurie on September 19, 2005 09:04 AM

9. Bartel,
Perhaps you haven't heard the news, but the vast, vast majority of state government employment IS civil service. The very few positions at the top of each state office is reserved for "exempt" appointments, serving at the will of the electeds. These positions are NOT civil service and are intended to allow for changes in governmental policy when elections occur (rather than those periodic revolutions suggested as necessary by Jefferson). Without appointments of exempt employees we would "enjoy" continual government bureaucracy without ever having change. Kinda like the ol Soviet Union. Get it?

As for "non-partisan" you really ought to watch the Wizard of Oz again and memorize the quote, "Toto, we aren't in Kansas any more."

Hardly ANYONE in state government is "non-partisan," civil service or not. Check out the growth in state government employees and state employee union activism during the last twenty years and see how LARGE the bureaucracy has grown -- especially in comparison to population numbers and the private sector economy.

Posted by: Barry Nunn on September 19, 2005 09:58 AM

10. So, Barry. When are you announcing your campaign for public office? Seems like you know everything and have all the solutions to fix all the problems in Olympia's political climate - if only people would listen to you.

Put up instead of sitting behind your keyboard and criticizing others who just don't happen to meet your schedule.

Posted by: jimg on September 19, 2005 10:25 AM

11. jimg,
So no one should have the temerity on this blog to offer suggestions on how to change things in government? Gee, here I thought that was a primary purpose of this site, including Stefan's good work. And the last I checked we still have the 1st Amendment. Do you have a problem with anyone who suggests governmental accountability or what is your problem?

And -- re-read what I wrote -- I didn't say or infer that I had solutions to "all the problems in Olympia." I proposed an appropriate question for our new AG about his non-replacement of Gregoire's political appointees. Gotta problem with that?

Posted by: Barry Nunn on September 19, 2005 12:31 PM