McKenna Faces a Week of Stumbles and Pitfalls

Week in Review: Bailing on Teachers, Backfiring Political Ploys, Broken Campaign Promises

Seattle – This can’t be the week that Rob McKenna wanted. Instead of spending time on the trail continuing to make $6 billion in cynical campaign promises he knows he can’t keep, McKenna instead spent his week playing defense against a series of embarrassing headlines.

“In the past week alone, McKenna has managed to show a complete disregard for our state’s educators, the seriousness of the budget crisis, and the promises he made to voters during his two bids for attorney general,” said Reesa Kossoff, communications director for the Washington State Democrats. “"This week McKenna has provided a crystal clear preview of the new direction he wants to take Washington, and it's one of politics-as-usual.”

Rob McKenna’s Week in Review…

Bailing on Washington’s Teachers. McKenna kicked off his week recovering from a series of weekend stories highlighting his 11th hour refusal to meet with the Washington Education Association, running scared from the teachers who know that his political promises don't meet economic reality. As told by WEA President Mary Lindquist, "The teachers here wondered why he wasn't here. They were speculating that he was afraid to meet with us," or that education was not one of his priorities.

A Backfiring Political Ploy. On Tuesday, The Olympian blasted McKenna’s friends in the Legislature for pushing “emergency” legislation aimed at giving McKenna a boost by changing the rules of campaign fundraising. The Olympian dismissed the effort as “pure partisanship, and likely will go nowhere during this special legislative session dedicated to solving the budget imbalance.”

Broken Campaign Promises. Bad news continued on Tuesday when the Associated Press exposed that tort payouts have surged by $70 million under McKenna’s watch, despite his campaign promise to cut the amount state agencies pay in major lawsuits. McKenna claims that he can pay for his billions in unfunded campaign promises through tort reform, but failed to take crucial actions to fix skyrocketing payouts during his seven years in Olympia.

12/12/11