It’s bizarre. Really, really bizarre.
Rob McKenna has largely been a cautious politician. He has mastered the technique of being as inoffensive as possible—an absolute necessity for a Republican running for statewide office in Washington state. So, when asked to comment on an inflammatory partisan issue, McKenna skillfully responds with the most vacuous, inoffensive answer imaginable.
But the façade has been showing cracks. They became apparent during McKenna’s gubernatorial kick-off event, when Goldy was barred from entry to the press conference. The campaign was specifically targeting Goldy or The Stranger for exclusion.
What the fuck?!? That’s the kind of petty shit I expect from Tim Eyman, not a serious person asking to be the next Governor of Washington. My impression at the time:
There are warning signs here. The McKenna campaign, right out of the starting gate, is engaging in thuggery. “Open government champion,” my ass.
Two days after McKenna’s kick-off, The Stranger’s Eli Sanders ran into McKenna outside the KUOW studios and asked him about excluding Goldy. McKenna responded:
“I don’t think David Goldstein qualifies as a journalist,” a miffed McKenna told Eli. “He’s a hack. He’s a partisan hack. He’s just there to parrot points from the other side.”
Legally, McKenna is simply wrong. Goldy is a journalist under the laws of our state.
You would think the Attorney General would know that!
(*Crack*)
Then there was the cupcake incident, where McKenna was to give a speech before the King County Young Republicans:
McKenna was about 40 seconds into his talk—he was outlining the state’s dismal job numbers—when a young man in a blue Cougars baseball cap, blue sweat jacket, jeans, and Tevas walked in, sat in the front row, took out a camera and started filming.
McKenna stopped and asked the man who he was with. The man gave his name, Zach Wurtz, and said he was with the Washington State Democrats. The Young Republicans club president, Jennifer Fetters, asked him to leave. Nope. McKenna told Wurtz to turn off the camera. Wurtz refused. McKenna’s voice got sharper, “You need to put the camera away. Now!”
Through the cracks is revealed a peevish—and possibly paranoid—man.
That same mix of peevish and paranoia was seen when he barked, “Get a job!” to Kendra Obom, a woman asking him questions about his position on the Reproductive Parity Act:
McKenna first tried to blow off her question, stating that as a lawyer for the state — he is currently Washington’s attorney general — he wasn’t allowed to comment. Then, apparently flustered, he went after Obom personally, asking her if she thought she was being honest and accusing her of trying to gain a political advantage.
Despite Obom identifying herself as a youth worker, McKenna ends his interaction by telling her “Why don’t you go get a job?”
A candidate has the right to be dickish, of course. Perhaps McKenna was picked on too much in school. Or maybe being a partisan Republican in a moderate’s clothing has rendered him a little skittish and paranoid. But these events strongly suggest that McKenna has serious character flaws that are, at the very least, unseemly in a Governor.
It becomes totally unacceptable when a candidate’s character flaws infect his judgement as a public official. This is precisely what happened last Thursday, when McKenna’s staff specifically targeted Goldy for exclusion from an AG press conference. Goldy’s news editor, Dominic Holden, the person who had assigned Goldy to cover the conference reported:
“They are physically blocking me from entering,” Goldy told me by phone, seven minutes before the 11:30 a.m. press conference was scheduled to begin. A spokesman for McKenna, Dan Sytman, had told Goldy a few minutes before that Goldy wasn’t a journalist and then blocked him from entering. A McKenna staffer had also grabbed Goldy by the shoulders and turned him away from the door.
(*Snap*)
Goldy offers two competing hypotheses:
- McKenna wasn’t aware of the legal issues of barring a member of the press (or even the public) from public meetings.
- Our State Attorney General, out of some mix of personal vendetta and sense of invulnerability, used his office to illegally intimidate a citizen into giving up his rights.
This latest episode goes beyond “warning sign.” It’s a danger sign. Rob McKenna has some serious flaws in his temperament that make him paranoid and vengeful—to the point of abusing his office.
It is something voters really ought to know about.
Darryl,
You can’t be serious. Have you not read? The
editorial boardclown car at the ST has endorsed Bobby Mac. And not without good reason. Bobby Mac grew up here!FYI – the deadline for voter registration for the August primary in the state of Washington is Monday, July 9th.
If you suspect someone you know is not registered, get them registered. It is easy!
https://wei.sos.wa.gov/agency/osos/en/MyVote/Pages/MyVote.aspx
Apparently HA(te) cant find anything good to write about when it comes to Inslee.
“Over Site!!!”
We are months away from election day, and you guys are already crying.
Poor old Goldy made his bed, now he has to lay in it.
Karma is a bitch – and when you act like a punk ass bitch, as goldy has done, then you get treated like a punk ass bitch.
too damn funny to watch.
goldy ISNT a journalist, and never has been.
fucking OWNED!
@4
According to state open records laws no one can be excluded, not even left-wing hacks, from public meetings like the one the AG tried to ban Goldy from.
Not really. Goldy got into the meeting and if the AG’s office tries something like that again The Stranger will take them to court and get a restraining order against them. Sounds like it was the AG’s office that got owned to me.
@5
yes, I am sure you see it that way. In real world though, goldy looked the fool.
@6
No he didn’t.
We know that, you know that.
Cupcake McKenna is a peevish paranoid entitled asshole. Parallels with the Mittster in that regard are inescapable, and voters will respond. Regular people don’t like whiny entitled pricks.
@7
wrong again. when you act like a disrespectful little bitch ass punk, well guess what! you get treated like one!
Nobody at the Stranger is a journalist – they are all a bunch of political hacks – so they get treated as such.
@6
In “the real world” it’s going to be McKenna’s campaign that’s hit over and over again with his “get a job” statement and their attempts to ban Goldy. If I were I cynical person I’d think McKenna’s folks were playing right into The Stranger’s hands.
And Goldy was denied what? They let him in. Goldy got a great story out of it. The Stranger got a good circulation for the week and lots of view on their website. Shit, that was probably the best thing Goldy and The Stranger had happen to them in months.
It does not matter what sort of asshat you are, you still have a right to attend a public meeting. The AG of all people should know that it is a violation of the law and common sense when you try to ban members of the public from a public meeting.
“baring” (sp)
barring
This is baring (NSFW): http://tinyurl.com/8yselnv
@4 “Karma is a bitch – and when you act like a punk ass bitch, as goldy has done, then you get treated like a punk ass bitch.”
The problem with this is that McKenna is violating The Stranger’s constitutional rights, they’re going to take him to federal court on it, and taxpayers will get stuck paying for McKenna’s and The Stranger’s legal bills. I thought you conservatives were against wasting taxpayer money? Or is it okay when your guys do it?
@6 In the real world, McKenna looks like a lawyer who hasn’t read the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and/or is completely unfamiliar with the caselaw relating to freedom of the press. If this argument goes before a federal judge
I would much rather be Goldy than McKenna.
@8 “Nobody at the Stranger is a journalist – they are all a bunch of political hacks – so they get treated as such.”
You can explain that to the judge after McKenna is back in court for violating the injunction The Stranger will get against him. No doubt you will be removed from the courtroom by the bailiff immediately after you tell the judge that injunction doesn’t mean anything.
@8,15
Eli Sanders won a pulitzer prize for his work at The Stranger.
BFD…
@8 – You seem to be confusing your junior high trash talk with, you know, the fucking LAW. Moron.
As for McKenna, any AG who illegally tries to exclude a member of the public just because they disagree politically is a piece of work who doesn’t deserve to be AG, much less governor. (To think I voted for this prick).
@13 After two fucking multi-trillion dollar wars, years of record-breaking discretionary spending, and an entirely worthless bureaucracy–all courtesy of self-proclaimed “fiscal conservative” Republicans– that would be an emphatic “yes”.
I have a problem with the entire concept of elected AGs.
Why do we need one?
The Federal Government does not have an elected AG.
What is his or her job?
To provide legal support for the Gov and the Legislature. Jeez .. we hire folks to run our state computers, maybe we should also elect the WASTATE CIO?
Look, getting to be AG ion this effed up system has NOTHING to do with ability as an attorney. If Bill Gates wanted to buy the AG office for his sister in law, Mr. Gates could likely do that!
If Ichiro Suzuki took out US citizenship, after a few night school courses, we could even have a Japanese AG!
Personally, I think the state should elect more important folks …
WASTATE Sherrif.
WASTATE CIO
WASTATE Treasurer
WASTATE Surgeon General
President of the UW
Husky Coach
…………….
18. NW Gull Shut the hell up, you voted for McKenna.
@20
God, you sound a lot like Steve. (Hint: handle issue?)
You’ve committed one of the classic blunders,
the most famous of which is “never get involved in a land war in Asia” – but only slightly less well-known is this:
NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN.
@17
It’s pretty hard to win a Pulitzer Prize for journalism if you’re not a journalist.
In nwgal’s defense, last time around it was either McKenna or a corrupt good old boy.
For the record, I did not post #21. Mrs. Rabbit tells me she did, and using my screen name apparently was inadvertent.
Really???
I sound like God???
Gad … I thought I sounded like Morgan Freeman!
Who woulda thun.
Seriously though, when God speaks seems like you ought to listen to It?
This is just what McKenna does. An AG that goes after guppies and lets sharks get away. Where was he when WAMU imploded? The lawsuit with the Affordable Care Act, who does he represent? Who ever heard of an AG hired to protect consumers and at the same time has a lobbyist/attorney from the BIAW on the payroll. I don’t even want to think who he might bring in with him as Governor. It’s not only him, it is who he would bring with him if elected Governor that is frightening.
The “get a job” comment is pretty revealing – McKenna may try to act like a moderate, but he’s clearly allowing his positions to be influenced by the Tea Party shouters.
Also, perhaps it’s correct that he was bullied as a kid. Victims of bullying tend to end up being bullies themselves, if they have the chance. Heck, one lottery winner in Italy even went so far as to buy up the company where his childhood tormenter worked, just so he could fire the guy. With McKenna, he exhibits a confidence that he can use the considerable enfluence of his office to threaten anyone who offends him with legal consequences, including arrest for tresspass charges if they don’t remove themselves from him immediately upon his command.