If, as Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna complains, payouts for settle lawsuits against the state have grown substantially in recent years, rather than making it harder for citizens to sue the state, perhaps taxpayers might just want to go out and hire themselves a better lawyer?
I’m just sayin’.
Or, perhaps, the citizens should ignore Tim Eyman and his Republican colleagues who try to do government-on-the-cheap, resulting in overworked probation officers who can’t possibly properly manage the hundreds of parolees who are ostensibly under their supervision. When those parolees end up committing crimes, the victims sue the state for negligence in monitoring them, and the state ends up paying out a lot more than they would if it had just been done properly in the first place.
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Similarly, we don’t adequately staff CPS or DSHS, which results in children being placed in foster homes that have not been adequately vetted and in failure to reasonably monitor the children under DSHS supervision. There are countless other examples within state government. So, the tax-cut, anti-government crazies gut government, then accept no fault for the harm to individuals that results. Now, Robbie Mac takes the crazies’ nonsense to the next level and promotes a free ride for the state for any harm it causes. These people seem to yearn for a Mad Max world.
Maybe we should simply make Rob McKenna’s position appointive? Even if Dino Rossi had won back in 2004, I doubt that he would have hired someone who had not actively practiced law in nine years and had zero litigation experience and zero supervisory experience.
And somehow I don’t think Christine Gregoire would have appointed Deborah Senn either. On the other hand, Gregoire would have been a logical choice for appointment back in 1992 when she was first elected to the position.
No other country besides the United States elects prosecutors and other public lawyers. And many U.S. jurisdictions don’t elect them either. Most district attorneys are elected, but many attorney generals are appointed. Some city attorneys are election, most are not.
Judges too, Richard.
Does anyone have any thoughts about why our trolls avoid these threads concerning McKenna and his lobbying for sovereign immunity? Anyone? Cynny? lost? Maxie? Aren’t you going to defend your fellow Republican on this issue?
Well, I read the McKenna quote you included in the former post, and, yeah, if that’s the quality of argument we can expect from the AG’s office, then it’s pretty clear that we need to hire a better lawyer.
Y’know, we are going to be hiring a new lawyer in 2012. McKenna will be trying to go all Peter Principle squared, as he’ll be running to demonstrate his incompetence in the state’s highest office.
Any word on who might be thinking about running for AG?
Bob ferguson, maybe one of our Seattle area Democratic legislators, maybe Stan Rumbaugh. On the GOP side- Reagan Dunn (talk about incompetent lawyers!) or possibly Jay Rodne- or serious GOPs may want Dan satterberg, or John mcKay- solid candidates who may be too moderate for a GOP primary.