I’m filling in again tonight for Frank Shiers from 9PM to 1AM on Newsradio 710-KIRO, and joining me at the top of the first hour Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna.
We’re going to get an update on some important environmental litigation, including I-297 (Hanford Cleanup Priority Act) and the Roadless Rule, as well as talk about the AG’s initiatives on meth and identity theft. But first I’m going to ask him about the U.S. attorney scandal and the tenure of ousted USA John McKay.
Got questions for our state’s highest ranking Republican? Give us a call at 1-877-710-KIRO (5476).
MY QUESTION:
WILL YOU RENOUNCE BIAW?
If you find some dead air, it would be great if you could engage Atty. Genr’l. Rob McKenna on the subject of the “appeal” provisions of SHB 1396.
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinf.....;year=2007
They would mean the ATTY GENR’L’s office would face a big “challenge” in a couple of weeks. Sec. 5 of that bill would mean Atty. McKenna’s office would be in the Supreme Court by about July, trying to defend the citizens’ interests in upholding a newly-enacted law. Is he in favor of that part of the bill? Personally, I think he’d be selling out the citizens of this State by not opposing that bill. It would not let him keep the “challengers” far away from the Supreme Court.
How about asking him about details of the “investigation” of KCRE 2004 election. Not just the Trial, but the records released Months AFTER the trial. You know the Full Scope. The whole enchilada. What actually was “investigated”.
If McKay is using this as an Excuse for his firing, then lets see if it is was a Reasonable Excuse. Maybe. But maybe he didn’t really “investigate”.
Only a few know….or should I say, no one is talking.
For that matter, it wouldn’t hurt to ask R.M. if he supports the bill THE SENATE PASSED that would create an ACCOUNTABLE government for transportation planning:
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinf.....;year=2007
Apparently Rob hasn’t said one way or the other whether he likes the status quo , compared to the ACCOUNTABLE transportation governance system that ESSB 5803 would provide. Doesn’t he want people with more power? Hmmmmm…
THAT would be an interesting topic to delve into with R.M.
He was on Sound Transit’s board. How the fuck does he think transportation planning around here should be improved?
Firing a Prosecutor
This is worth reading:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....01969.html
@2 The Attorney General doesn’t get to take a position on legislative bills whose validity he must defend before the state Supreme Court. He is required to argue the law is valid, regardless of whether he personally likes the law.
This Guy Must Be A Republican
“U.S. Attorney Botches Biggest Ever Tax Fraud Case, Keeps Job. Treasury out $100+ Million
“Submitted by BuzzFlash on Thu, 03/29/2007 – 1:33pm. Alerts
“A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT article linked to cnn.com article
“The U.S. Attorney Scandal has struck a new victim: the American taxpayer. A judge ruled Wednesday that an epic blunder by federal prosecutors in the largest tax prosecution ever means that the treasury can’t recoup at least $100 million in restitution.
“Telecommunications entrepreneur Walter Anderson pled guilty to tax evasion, but U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman said the binding plea agreement listed the wrong statute. … Because of the technicality, Judge Friedman said, ‘I’ve come to the conclusion, very reluctantly, that I have no authority to order restitution. . . . This is a very poorly drafted agreement.’
“The case was prosecuted by the office of the interim U.S. Attorney for D.C., Jeffrey A. Taylor. Taylor was appointed directly by Attorney General Gonzales without Senate confirmation in November 2006 under a provision of the Patriot Act that Congress has recently voted to reverse.
“Sure enough, Taylor came straight from the Bush Administration. He served as Counselor to Attorney Generals John Ashcroft and Gonzales for four years prior to his selection. Before that he worked as an aide to Sen. Orrin Hatch, where he actually participated in the writing of the Patriot Act. …
” … [T]he case was prosecuted in cooperation with Justice Department headquarters, meaning that a slew of other Bush officials were also partly responsible. The only lawyer to catch the mistake was the defense attorney – an assistant public defender ….”
Reminds me of our Old AG, miss christine.
Didn’t she cost the state some 11 million on a lawsuit when HER staff neglected a timetable????
Mr O’connell @ 6
Since you bit hook line and sinker, what did the proper investigation entail? Records requests? Interviews of record? Anything beyond the Trial?
Got any answers????
Why does Bush hate our troops? He says he will veto the bill that gives them the funding they need. Too bad he doesn’t care about our troops.
9
Blaming Gregoire for that loss is idiotic. The reality is that the state was stuck with a jury verdict that, like any jury verdict, has very little chance of being reversed on appeal. Appeals almost never succeed in reversing jury verdicts, especially given the fact of that particular case. But, someone like you is unlikely to care about reality, so go ahead and blame Gregoire.
@9 That’s highly debatable. Although a staff attorney several layers of supervision below Gregoire failed to make an appeal deadline, there is no guarantee the appeal would have been successful. So the cost to the state of the missed deadline conceivably was zero.
A lawsuit against DSHS arising from the OK Boys Ranch case (for negligent supervision of a facility licensee) resulted in a jury award against DSHS for $16 million. Liability was not at issue; the only grounds for appeal were that the amount was arguably excessive. However, it is not easy to get an appellate court to reduce a jury award in Washington. There was no chance at all of the jury award being reduced to zero or a trivial amount, but conceivably a successful appeal might have saved the state $10 million or so. But that’s purely speculative.
However, let’s say Gregoire’s office did cost the taxpayers $10 million by blowing that appeal deadline. First of all, the AG’s office is the largest law firm in the state, with about 500 lawyers, and all law firms of that size make some mistakes. When you are running a firm or office that handles literally thousands of legal cases a year, perfection just doesn’t happen.
And, if you’re fair-minded, you’ll weigh this $10 million mistake against the $4.25 billion that Gregoire personally won for Washington taxpayers in the tobacco litigation. That’s a net profit for taxpayers of $4,240,000,000 after deducting the cost of screwups.
With a record like that, she can be my lawyer any day! In fact, I’d give blood to get her to represent me.
@10 What you see is what you get, and since we’ve never seen a shred of evidence of any fraud by either the Democratic Party or the Gregoire campaign, reasonable people will conclude there wasn’t any.
Unreasonable people will continue to find conspiracies under mushroom.
under every mushroom
@12 Yeah, it’s just a wingnut talking point. Sounds good, but falls apart when you examine the facts. Just like their bullshit about “disenfranchised military voters” or people supposedly voting with fake IDs — they can’t prove a single, solitary case.
Hell, I can say the earth is flat, but saying so doesn’t make it so, and satellite photos clearly show the earth is a sphere. But that doesn’t stop wingnut liars from repeating, like a broken record, that it’s flat.
Roger Rabbit @ 13
Actually, that mistake ACTUALLY COST taxpayers about $13 million. The State of Washington paid $18 million, with interest, to satisfy the judgment after the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court rejected an extension of the appeal deadline.
The State had an umbrella policy to cover excess tort liability, that WOULD HAVE paid any judgment to the extent it exceeded $5 million — IF ONLY the Gregoire’s office had followed the terms of the insurance policy. In this case, the policy was violated, since Gregoire didn’t inform the insurance company about the lawsuit until shortly before trial, and then failed to timely appeal.
ZURICH SPECIALTIES LONDON LTD ET AL VS STATE OF WASHINGTON, Pierce County Superior Court No. 00-2-13314-1. Insurance company sued State to declare excess liability policy coverage didn’t extend to the Gregoire’s screwup of the DSHS appeal, and I think one other multi-million dollar Gregoire screwup. On May 11, 2001, the court ruled in the insurance company’s favor, and said they didn’t have to pay anything, because Gregoire had screwed up.
Local News: Wednesday, May 16, 2001
State, not insurers, must pay, judge says
By Mike Carter
Seattle Times staff reporter
The state of Washington – not a group of insurance companies – must pay a disputed $13.8 million of a record jury verdict, a judge has ruled, because the state Attorney General’s Office missed an appeal deadline in the original lawsuit.
That means taxpayers could end up paying the entire $17.8 million awarded in the case plus $1 million in interest, not just the $5 million the state is covering through its self-insurance policy. …
It was just the latest setback in the case for Gregoire, whose office lost the original civil lawsuit brought by three developmentally disabled men who were sexually and physically abused in a state-licensed adult family home.
The state then failed to file notice of appeal on time. That incident exposed severe problems in the attorney general’s torts division that have cost more than $1 million to address.
Moreover, the state had to hire an attorney specializing in insurance litigation to defend it in seeking coverage for the disputed amount. That attorney, Jeffrey Tilden, has billed more than $101,000 to date.
Gregoire blamed the appeal miscue on one of the trial lawyers, Janet Capps, saying she ignored the deadline out of spite. Capps, in turn, has filed a $5 million defamation claim against the state.
The state had asked the Court of Appeals and the Washington Supreme Court to reinstate its appeal option but was turned down unanimously by both.
Last October, the state paid the plaintiffs and then turned to its insurance companies for reimbursement.
The state was self-insured to $5 million and held numerous so-called “excess” insurance policies to pay the remaining $13.8 million. But those insurers, a group that included Zurich Specialties and Lloyds of London, accused the state of breaching its policy and refused to pay.
The companies sued in Pierce County Superior Court last November.
The companies accused the state of failing to appeal the original verdict after telling the insurers it would.
http://archives.seattletimes.n.....y=gregoire
Watched CSI instead.
Republican Crook #1-0025732809-7
Bush Appointee Doctored Scientific Reports & Leaked Confidential Documents to Political Friends
“By Juliet Eilperin
“The Washington Post
“WASHINGTON — A senior Bush political appointee at the Interior Department has repeatedly altered scientific field reports to minimize protections for imperiled species and disclosed confidential information to private groups seeking to affect policy decisions, the department’s inspector general concluded.
“The investigator’s report on Julie MacDonald, deputy assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks, said she often sought to reshape the agency’s scientific reports to ease the impact on landowners.
“Inspector General Earl Devaney … noted that MacDonald ‘admitted that her degree is in civil engineering and that she has no formal educational background in natural sciences’ but nevertheless repeatedly instructed Fish and Wildlife Service scientists to change their recommendations on identifying ‘critical habitats.’
“At one point, according to Fish and Wildlife Services Director Dale Hall, MacDonald tangled with field personnel over designating habitat for the endangered southwest willow flycatcher …. When scientists wrote that the bird had a ‘nesting range’ of 2.1 miles, MacDonald told field personnel to change the number to 1.8 miles. Hall … said she did not want the range to reach California because her husband had a ranch there. …
“The report also said MacDonald ‘misused her position’ by disclosing confidential documents to … the Pacific Legal Foundation and the California Farm Bureau, both of which have challenged endangered-species listings.”
Quoted under Fair Use; for complete story and/or copyright info see http://tinyurl.com/352cwe
Roger Rabbit Commentary: The Inspector General referred the case for “disciplinary action” — I hope they fire her aass!
From today’s Letters to the Fishwrapper:
“The media have picked up the practice of renaming celebrity couples. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez became ‘Bennifer.’ Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are known as ‘Brangelina.’ Would that make Hillary and Bill Clinton ‘Hillbilly’? — Don Stern, Seattle”
No, Don, “hillbilly” would be you, and anyone else who supports the criminal Bush regime.
Moonbat!s: Why did the Moonbat! led donkocraptic congress have the Congressional Research Service stop tracking bills laden with pork. They tracked all the bills while the Republicans led congress. Now that the Pelosi gang is in power, this tracking has stopped.
I thought you guys said “vote us in for no more pork”? LIARS!
Mr Stupid AKA Left Turn: Is this you?
http://www.wrcbtv.com/news/index.cfm?sid=7217
Hollywood history repeats itself – Joseph Farah
Posted: March 26, 2007 11:18 p.m. Eastern
Sean Penn
Imagine, for a moment, it’s 1939.
A prominent Jewish actor makes the following statement.
“Let me tell you something about Germany, because I’ve been there and you haven’t. Germany is a great country. A great country. Does it have its haters? You bet. Just like the United States has its haters. Does it have a corrupt regime? You bet. Just like the United States has a corrupt regime.”
What would you think of such a person? How would history judge him?
I don’t know that anyone made exactly that statement in 1939. But I do know that Sean Penn made a very similar statement a few days ago. The only difference was the name of the country. Instead of Germany, substitute Iran.
Is there really any moral difference between the statements?
Iran is led today by a president who has repeatedly threatened to eradicate the state of Israel. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is building weapons that can get the job done quicker and more efficiently than Adolf Hitler with his formidable war machine. He is every bit the Jew hater that Hitler was. And he hates America even more.
In 1939, Adolf Hitler had made clear his intentions for the Jews. He had made clear his intentions for all of Europe. He had made clear his intentions for Nazi Germany to dominate the world.
Nevertheless, there were some people in Hollywood who were making statements like that. There were people in Hollywood who were marching against war with Germany. There were people in Hollywood who, like Sean Penn, wanted to appease this evil on the horizon.
No, there was no active Nazi Party in Hollywood at that time. But there was a party under the active control of a foreign totalitarian dictator. It was the Communist Party USA and the foreign tyrant was Josef Stalin.
Why were communists in Hollywood – even Jews – saying nice things about Hitler in 1939 – and even as late as 1941? They were doing so because of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact – also known as the Hitler-Stalin Pact.
It was signed in 1939 and broken June 22, 1941, when the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union.
From 1939 right up until June 22, 1941, the communists in Hollywood had nothing but praise for Hitler. They held rallies against aiding Britain in its life-and-death struggle with Nazism. They gave speeches saying Hitler was no threat. They wrote anti-war scripts.
All that changed June 22, 1941. One day the Hollywood communists were pro-Hitler. The next day they wanted to go to war. Why? Because they took their orders directly from masters in the Soviet Union.
Would it surprise you to learn that one of those prominent Hollywood communist Jews who sided with Germany until the breaking of that Hitler-Stalin Pact was none other than Leo Penn, the late father of Sean Penn.
Amazing? Yes, but true.
You don’t believe history repeats itself?
Now it’s Sean Penn’s turn to relive and recommit the sins of his father, who never repented of his Communist Party activities – activities that included support for and appeasement of Hitler’s Germany at the very time the concentration camps were incinerating his Jewish brothers and sisters in Europe.
Penn spoke at a town hall meeting in Oakland last weekend. What he said about his country was shameful. What he said about our country’s enemies – and the enemies of freedom throughout the entire world – was even more despicable.
What can you say about a man who embraces and defends Iran, the biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world today? What can one say about a man who embraces dictators around the world while openly loathing the elected leaders of his own nation? What can one say about such a prominent self-hating Jew?
I think I’ve said enough.
It’s just history repeating itself.
The words of his son Sean:
“Now, because I’ve been on the streets of Baghdad during this occupational war, outside the Green Zone, without security, and you haven’t; I’ve met children there. In that country of 25 million, these children have now suffered minimally, a rainstorm of civilian death around and among them totaling the equivalent of two hundred September 11ths in just four years of war. Two hundred 9/11s. Two hundred 9/11s.
You want to rattle sabers toward Iran now? Let me tell you something about Iran, because I’ve been there and you haven’t. Iran is a great country. A great country.
As things stand today, I will be voting for Dennis Kucinich, who has fought this war from the beginning.”
This Moonbat! didn’t fall too far from the trunk! Like father like son!
For those of you too stupid to understand what happened on June 22, 1941: Hitler invaded Russia.
I realize most Moonbat!s here have NO CLUE about history, so ol’ Puddy needs to deliver history lessons every so often because correct history is lost in Moonbat! led classrooms.
Did ya see the state is admitting their teaching of math leaves high schoolers with an elementary school comprehension level.
So I guess dumbing down curriculae to the dumbest common denominator (Mr Stupid, Clueless, Factless, Froggy, etc.) didn’t work since 50% of 10th graders fail the WASL the first time.
Joseph Farah
EDITOR OF WINGNUT DAILY. NEED I SAY MORE?
HEY PUDDYPUD. PENN IS RIGHT. IRAN IS A GREAT COUNTRY. SO GREAT – HALLIBURTON/DUBAI HAS DONE BUSINESS WITH THEM THROUGH PHONY CAYMAN ISLANDS SUBSIDIARIES FOR YEARS.
LMAO!!!
AT PUDDYBUD.
Hey, Puddybud, maybe you could help a liberal out with this one: How many world wars has Iran started? How many wars has it started by invading a neighbor?
People who compare a second-rate military to the strongest military state and a true world threat of the 1930’s sort of amuse me, but these sorts of dishonest analogies are what I expect from you and your ilk.
Osama bin Laden is the greatest threat to humanity ever known!!!!! He is an Islamo-fascist worse than Hitler! We can’t afford to have a Constitution at a time like this… its a virtual suicide pact!
Oh well, never mind. I guess he really is not someone we need to worry about after all.
Saddam Hussein is the greatest threat to humanity ever known!!!! Forget about that bin Laden character. This tin-pot dictator propped up by Reagan is worse than Hitler!!! He has
nukes,supports al-Queda,has WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION…. oh never mind he is a bad man dammit and you must let me have my war.We can’t elect a decorated war veteran like Kerry at a time like this!
Oh well, I guess that whole Iraq thing was overblown… never mind about that anyway. Sure it cost $412,743,650,000+ , untold numbers of US troops and civilians killed, but God told me it was the thing to do you see and it is better to be tough and stupid then be smart see.
Iran is the greatest threat to humanity ever known!!! Ahmadinejad may not have any real power in Iran but he says really bad things. He is worse than Hitler!!!
We can’t investigate Republican corruption, provide health care and protect American jobs at a time like this!
WOLF!!!
So what was the most intersting thing McKenna had to say?
Did he avoid anything you brought up, Goldy?
Here’s a news story that won’t be coverd on Faux News or touted by Puddybud:
Alec Baldwin to help pay for GI’s education
Actor moved by story of 18-year-old scheduled to serve in Iraq
“PHOENIX – Actor Alec Baldwin was so moved by the story of an 18-year-old Army soldier who is scheduled to serve in Iraq, he’s going to help pay for her college education after she leaves the military.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17867506/
Hey, Puddybud @ 25
Perhaps you’d also like to tell the story of how Prescott Bush (George HW Bush’s father and GWB’s grandfather) continued to do business with Nazi Germany until well into WWII, until our government ordered him to stop.
As for people changing their opinion of someone in another country, would that be anything like Donald Rumsfeld sucking up to Saddam Hussein back in the 1980’s and then later declaring him a danger to the entire world?
@35 What I don’t get is why we still have to be in Iraq after the demon-figure Saddam is dead. As in D-E-A-D, not breathing anymore, moldering in the ground. Has Osama taken up residence in Baghdad? Or did Osama hide nukes in the sand? What’s the wingnutz’ excuse for still being there?
Don’t you just love the conveniently selective memory that revisionists like Pudwhacker have, when it comes to things like GOP warmongers supplying the war machines of scumbags like Saddam, Noriega, and Pinochet?
Hey pudwhacker, how come you forgot to mention the American nuns in El Salvador who were murdered by rightwing death squads armed and egged on by the likes of Reagan, Poindexter, and North? Can’t deal with the fact your conservative heros are nun-killers?
Hey, Puddybud?
Other than telling us the Sean Penn doesn’t have both oars in the water and that Alec Baldwin is a nice guy, even if he is a conservative, what is your point?
I’ll agree that Mr. Penn is a few fries short of a happy meal, and even that Mr. Baldwin seems like a nice enough fellow, but I cannot imagine why you feel these things are worth more than a few seconds thought, much less telling the rest of us about them.
John Barrelli@39 Buttfull’oPutty hasn’t got even as second of thought to spare on anything…
This self-involved, brain dead thumbsucker can only engage in the most deceitful and dishonest discourse. He litters up the threads with cut’n’paste wingnut trash, derails any sigificant discussion, throws sand about “racism” and then slights anyone else’s ethnicity (left the reservation, indeed!).
John, if a man came to you and asserted he was “A Righteous Man” and openly supported those who torture and maim in the most inhumane, and did not wrap himself cloak of some pseudo-Christianity, would you give him a second thought of consideration?
Froggy: I know where you stand! Killatroll?
Nuff Said!
PelletHead: When the nuns were killed I was a liberal. I stated this many times. So, I still decry it. How about all those Cubans killed by JFK? How about all those Vietnamese killed by JFK & LBJ?
Hmmm…? Tell me more PelletHead!
GBS: Good for Alec Baldwin. Bought time he did something good for society.
Clueless: The message is true. Too bad your comprehension level is below Mr Stupid!
Regarding the wars started by Iran, Persians you better start with Babylon and keep going until now. Or how about their proxies Hamas? Oh you forgot about them?
Research it deeply Mr Coward. You may be educated! But then again research would force you use your brain!
John I forgot to add Alec Baldwin is no conservative.
Baldwin said, “I think my exact comment was that if Bush won it would be a good time to leave the United States. – Wikipedia!
And… Once again Clueless equates me with Halliburton, like he tried with Enron.