Today's Seattle Times has a profile of the four major candidates for Attorney General: Democrats Deborah Senn and Mark Sidran; Republicans Rob McKenna and Mike Vaska.
Deborah Senn promises to try to lower gas prices. Mark Sidran vows to get tougher on identity theft. Rob McKenna talks tort reform. Michael Vaska promotes his experience as a litigator — and that he doesn't have any as a politician.Deborah Senn is the most entertaining of the four candidates. What exactly will she do to lower gas prices? Will there be price controls and rationing? The article doesn't say. Senn's major qualification for the AG job is that she was the state's elected Insurance Commissioner for 8 years. But the article avoids mentioning that her tenure was a disaster, that resulted in:
Accreditation by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners was withdrawn in 1999, while Senn held the office, after a NAIC audit found fault with staffing levels, training, exam procedurees, timeliness and management oversight,Now that's the sort of competence we need in the Attorney General's office! If Deborah Senn sounds good to you, you can join her at her upcoming campaign fundraiser screening of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911.
The best candidate and leading fundraiser of the four is Republican Rob McKenna, a King County Councilmember, whom the Times describes as
McKenna, who lives in Bellevue, has spent much of his time on the County Council pushing lower property taxes and railing against what he sees as wasteful government spending. He has been a relentless critic of Sound Transit's light-rail plan.Sounds good to me. His primary opponent, on the other hand:
Vaska, as a volunteer, helped seek federal funds for Sound Transit. His support of regional funding for transportation led him to oppose Tim Eyman's initiatives and take part in several debates with him.In other words, a man who rails for wasteful government spending!
In an apparent display of bias against McKenna, the Times article includes an extended quote attacking McKenna that appeared in a Vaska campaign letter written by former Republican Governor Dan Evans. The article does not include a single quote from any other third party that criticizes any of the other candidates. Hmmm.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at June 23, 2004 10:44 AMThanks, Stefan.
You just cut through the crap.
I'm voting for McKenna.
Vaska sure sounds like the kind of Republican who is destined to ~grow~ in office.
As for Senn, isn't there a correllary to the Peter Principle that says that an incompetent politican always uses that incompetence as proof of their suitability for higher office?
Posted by: Raoul Ortega on June 23, 2004 08:50 PMGood job, Stefan. I've always resonated with
Rob McKenna. He's the greatest!