McKenna sues WSRP, pulls back from case

By Bryan Bissell, PolitickerWA.com Reporter

Attorney General Rob McKenna has decided to sue the Washington State Republican Party for violating campaign finance law earlier this year, but will recuse himself from the case, the Seattle Times is reporting.

The suit comes from a complaint upheld by the Public Disclosure Commission that the Republicans had spent over $200,000 in exempt "soft money" on a mailer that directly advocated for gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi. The law stipulates that soft money may only be used for party building and administrative costs, not candidate advocacy.

McKenna then recused himself. Shortly after announcing the lawsuit the attorney general announced that his chief deputy, Brian Moran, will be responsible for the case in his absence. McKenna opted to remove himself from this case because of his long ties to the state party, and his personal and professional relationship with Chair Luke Esser. The two have been longtime friends, and Esser once worked for McKenna at the attorney general's office.

McKenna's opponent as he runs for re-election this fall, Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg (D-Tacoma), who along with the state Democratic Party called for him to appoint an independent counsel, does not think McKenna went far enough.

"There are two things inherently wrong with the action taken today by Republican Rob McKenna. First, there is absolutely no difference between Rob McKenna sealing himself off from the WSRP case and not the [Building Industry Association of Washington] case," Ladenburg said, referring to another lawsuit recently taken on by the attorney general. "Rob McKenna's ties to the BIAW are equal to or closer than his ties to the Republican Party now that the case involving the BIAW directly implicates his close friend Dino Rossi."

"Second, the public is not going to believe that Rob McKenna's chief deputy who is beholden to Rob McKenna is going to hold an independent and fair investigation based on the appearance of fairness. McKenna must seek independent counsel and he must recuse himself from this case."

Prior to recusing himself from the lawsuit, McKenna had repeatedly brought up the success that then-attorney general Chris Gregoire had in suing both the state Democratic party as well as her supporters at the teachers union for similar campaign finance violations.

Bryan Bissell is a PolitickerWA.com Reporter and can be reached via email at noreply@politicker.com.

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