Democratic House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler won't be endorsing Democratic AG contender and Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg this year.
Two takeaways:
1) Current Attorney General Rob McKenna's work with Kessler while in office demonstrates his ability to work with Democrats in what should be a relatively non-partisan job. Such an trait, demonstrated over several years in office, has the capacity to mute enthusiasm in the upper ranks of the opposition party to take him out.
2) Having occasion to interact with a representative slice of what one could call the centrist Establishment crowd in Puget Sound, I can attest Ladenburg just doesn't have a strong reputation with that slice of the opinion leader community. A decent fellow, but he likewise appears to have rubbed a lot of people the wrong way over time on an assortment of issues. These are people he should otherwise be winning over in a race against McKenna since they are not default Republican votes, and more importantly, not default Republican voices come election season.
Posted by Eric Earling at May 22, 2008 09:42 PM | Email ThisFor example, Ken Eikenberry won re-election by 25 points in 1988 for Attorney General as a Republican, even though the GOP nominee for Governor Bob Williams was being trounced by a similar margin in his race.
Your analysis on John Ladenburg may be astute. Resume-wise, he is a LOT more qualified than McKenna for the job. Even with Rob McKenna being there for four years. The public records thing will cost Ladenburg many votes that he needs -- MANY LIBERALS LIKE OPEN PUBLIC RECORDS TOO!
Regardless, unless McKenna screws something up really bad or takes a position that is wildly unpopular, he will probably get another term come November. If Dan Satterberg can pull it off in King County, McKenna should be able to pull it off statewide as well.
Posted by: Richard Pope on May 22, 2008 10:38 PMLaw School:
McKenna: University of Chicago, one of the nation's top 5 law schools
Ladenburg: Gonzaga University, one of the state's top 5 law schools
Advantage McKenna
Private Practice:
McKenna: worked at Perkins Coie, the biggest law office in Seattle
Ladenburg: worked at his own firm, defending violent criminals
Advantage McKenna
Gangs and Meth:
McKenna: introduced comprehensive legislation to tackle Washington's gangs and drugs problem from multiple fronts
Ladenburg: built a golf course while Pierce County was home to the most meth labs and most identified gangs of any county in the state
Advantage McKenna
Supreme Court:
McKenna: 2 victories, by 9-0 and 7-2 margins, and no losses
Ladenburg: may have visited the building once
Advantage McKenna
Attorney General Campaigns
McKenna: won his first AG race with more votes than any Republican in state history
Ladenburg: placed third in the primary in his first AG race with 16% of the vote
Advantage McKenna
Currently, UofC is ranked #7 in the nation.
But that's close enough. Essentially, other then Yale, and maybe Harvard, if you're in the top 10, your tied.
Posted by: cliff on May 23, 2008 06:30 AMI suspect that is true Mr Pope, however one is still left to poner if that includes you. Are you a liberal or conservative this week? Democrat or Republican?
Posted by: pbj on May 23, 2008 12:17 PMPrivate Practice: McKenna, 6 years as an associate, never tried a case, never even saw a case tried. Never offered a partnership or ownership. No experience in business at all.
Ladenburg: 12 years in private practice, trying some the toughest cases in the State, including death penalty cases. Successful businessman. Then 14 years as Prosecutor (you forgot, I guess). 14 years trying cases, again some of the toughest in the State, including death penalty cases. Oh, and guess what? Never lost a single trial in 14 years as Prosecutor.
McKenna: 6 years as associate in back office
Ladenburg: 26 years as one of the best trial lawyers in the State.
Executive Position:
McKenna: 3 years at A.G. leading the State to the become the second worst in the nation in consumer fraud and ninth worst in Identity Theft! A record of complete failure.
Ladenburg: 7 years as Executive leading the second largest County in the State, and the only large County to get seven straight perfect audits from the State Auditor. Ladenburg?s golf course is hosting the US Open in 2015, bringing more than $100 million dollars into the State economy. Ladenburg recognized with several national awards for environmental and transportation leadership. Ladenburg was given the KING County Municipal League public official of the year award.
Gangs and Meth.
McKenna introduced some laws and did nothing.
Ladenburg held the first Meth summit in the State way back in 1998, the created the State?s first Meth Task Force, driving down the number of Meth Labs in Pierce County by 70%. Ladenburg was a founder of Safe Streets, a anti-gang neighborhood watch that cut the gang membership in Pierce County in half! Action, not talk.
Supreme Court: McKenna rides in on the briefs of his deputies and takes all the credit.
Ladenburg admitted to the US Supreme Court in 1981, while McKenna is in grade school?
Ladenburg's resume and background are so much better and impressive than McKenna is it obvious to anyone.
You forgot to mention the other mentionable on Ladenburg's resume, the PDC complaint against him for violating RCW 42.17.130".
Posted by: pbj on May 23, 2008 02:27 PMThe Hoquiam Democrat is concerned that Ladenburg has been outspoken about legislation she and McKenna championed this year to force local governments to record their executive sessions. The recordings would only be provided to a judge if questions arise that the government bodies are violating the state's open public meetings law.
The bill went down in flames, a result of intense lobbying by local government officials.
Ladenburg told The Columbian of Vancouver earlier this week the measure "would not be a priority for me."
For one thing, he said, it would be too expensive to implement, because a simple tape recorder cannot distinguish among voices. "The superior courts tried it, but it didn't work," he told The Columbian. "The technology required is akin to studio technology."
If an audio tape is going to be used as evidence, he said, "You'd better know who said it and when."
Hearing those comments, Kessler said there are easier ways to know who said what rather than using expensive recording devices such as using depositions, sworn statements and simply asking someone, "Is that your voice?"
So Ladenburg is one liberal who is against opne records and the public knowing what goes on in their government. Perhaps if Ladenburg had his way, we wouldn't be able to even ask about the pdc complaint filed against him.
Martsmarn, you are an expert as not giving all the facts in the case. We have all seen how crooks get off on technicalities. This also appears to be the case the Ladenburg, the candidate who abhors the public knowing what elected officials do behind closed doors.
The independent reader can view all the facts of the case at the PDC website here.
The complaint was not dimissed because the PDC found that Ladenburg hadn't violated the law. The complaint was dismissed because at the time he committed the crime, the law was being appealed.
From the final complaint disposition letter:
PDC staff believes there is evidence that John Ladenburg, Pierce County Executive, used
resources and facilities of Pierce County to promote passage of Pierce County Proposition #1
on the 2003 general election ballot in violation of RCW 42.17.130, by publishing and
distributing two postcards that were not a fair and objective presentation of the facts, and that
were targeted to registered voters. However, because this action occurred during a time the
injunction was in effect and when no guidance was available from PDC staff, we will not be
taking enforcement action in this instance. Mr. Ladenburg will be cautioned that PDC staff
believes his actions violated RCW 42.17.130, and that if he engages in similar actions in the
future, enforcement action will likely be taken.
You can spin it all you want but the fact is that the Democrat Democrat House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler will not endorse her own party's candidate. Very telling. In fact Kessler says she only refrained from from endorsing McKenna in deference to the Democrat party.
- The consumer protection division recovered $13 million for Washington residents through litigation, complaint mediation, and our Lemon Law program.
Contrast with Ladenburg, executive member of the Sound Transit Board. Sounder commuter rail was to cost $650 million ($539 million in 1995$). Sound Transit's current, projected cost is $1.23 billion, an 89 percent cost overrun, so far.
Ladenburg isn't some penny anty tax waster like Gregoire's small time $10 million gaffe as AG, no, he a big time tax waster.
Got any evidence to back up your claims, or do you just make wild statements?
Unlike you, I provide the links to the evidence so the independent reader can verify the facts for themselves.
That fact is that in this article it points out:
"The Hoquiam Democrat is concerned that Ladenburg has been outspoken about legislation she and McKenna championed this year to force local governments to record their executive sessions. The recordings would only be provided to a judge if questions arise that the government bodies are violating the state's open public meetings law.
The bill went down in flames, a result of intense lobbying by local government officials.
Ladenburg told The Columbian of Vancouver earlier this week the measure "would not be a priority for me.""
As for your repeated claims that Washington State is the worst state in the nation for consumer fraud, got any actual evidence or did you just make that up?
"...like our ranking as almost the worst state in the nation for consumer fraud..."
However Martsman refuses to offer any evidence to back up this wild claim. Perhaps that could be because it simply isn't true.
The Federal Trade Commission is the government agency that keeps fraud statistics. Martsman didn't want the independent reader to have the links to the data because it disproves what he has been claiming.
According to their 2004 report , Washington State was number 8 in the list of states with the most identity theft victims per 100,000 people. The state with the most identity theft victims per 100,000 people was Arizona.
In their 2007 report , Washington State was ranked number 13 in the nation which means that under AG Rob McKenna, the number of identity theft victims actually went down. Such a decrease in identity theft victims doesn't merely occur by happenstance. As Attorney General for Washington, Rob McKenna combined vigorous law enforcement with innovative consumer education programs such as his Guard It! Washington campaign .
The bottom line is this. While his opponent has been heading an agency (Sound Transit) that misrepresents itself, costs consumers more than what they were told, Rob McKenna has been a tireless advocate for the consumer, combining vigorous law enforcement with innovative consumer education campaigns. He has returned millions of dollars to the pockets of consumers.
Posted by: pbj on May 24, 2008 10:39 AM
From the article:
"Some on the County Council questioned Ladenburg's judgment in buying the Hythiam stock.
Councilman Calvin Goings, D-Puyallup, said last week the executive showed "incredibly poor judgment."
Council Chairman Terry Lee, R-Gig Harbor, said Ladenburg's stock appeared to be "small potatoes" and said he considered buying Hythiam stock himself. But he added: "It felt like a conflict to me, to be in a role of benefitting and approving (county) appropriations" for Prometa.
Prometa is a treatment program that uses generic drugs to reduce cravings in addicts. A county report released Oct. 23 found little evidence that Prometa is as effective as Hythiam claims."
I urge the independent reader to follow the link and make up their own minds.
We will see lots of hit and run liberals like martsmarn that refuse to provide any evidence to back up their wild claims.
Posted by: pbj on May 24, 2008 11:09 AMI live in Pierce County, I would rate Ladenburg's effectiveness as mixed. He hasn't been bad as County Executive, but not outstanding either. If I remember right, he wasn't really challenged by a strong contender in the last race.
I do like McKenna, and since I am an independent, McKenna is an easy Republican candidate to vote for. I do believe he has done a good job at the AG office.
So, for me, McKenna has my vote to lose, and the race for Ladenburg's seat is a toss-up for me. The County Auditor, Pat McCarthy is running for Ladenburg's seat, so she will have name recognition. Also running, on the Democrat side is Calvin Goings, Pierce County Councilmember and former State Senator, and on the Republican side, is Shawn Bunney, also a current Pierce County Councilmember and RTID Chairman. With the election being Ranked Choice, it should be interesting to see how this election turns out, since Goings had the early momentum, but with McCarthy in the race, will the two of them knock one or the other out in the primary. My current ranking of the three would be: Goings (1), Bunney (2), and McCarthy (3).
Posted by: tc on May 27, 2008 10:29 AM