Bob Ferguson willing to sue all presidents, not just Trump
Mar 9, 2017, 2:32 PM | Updated: 2:54 pm
In January, State Republican Party Chairman Susan Hutchison said State Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s lawsuit against President Trump’s executive order was essentially the beginning of Ferguson’s campaign for governor. Actually, that’s exactly what she said.
Related: Ferguson says Trump can’t play ‘whack-a-mole’ with travel ban
“Mr. Ferguson basically kicked off his campaign for governor,” the Republican Chairman said during a news conference in Bellevue.
Hutchison was insinuating that the attorney general is positioning himself for a run at the governor’s mansion in 2020 and the only reason he was suing over the order — aka Trump’s travel ban — was to get support from Democrats on the far left.
If that’s the case, then what were Ferguson’s ulterior motives for suing former President Barack Obama — twice?
That’s right. Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued the Obama administration twice over the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. The lawsuits fought to hold the administration accountable for cleaning up the nuclear waste at the site and protecting worker safety.
For a little background, the 586-square-mile Hanford nuclear site is located on the Columbia River in Eastern Washington. It was used to produce plutonium for the U.S. nuclear weapons program from 1943 to 1987. Production of weapons for World War II and the Cold War left behind solid and liquid chemical waste — much of which is also radioactive, according to the AG’s office.
The federal government employs workers to remove the nuclear waste that is located in 177 underground tanks.
Though he vowed to continue to hold President Trump accountable for his new travel ban, Ferguson announced he does not need to file another lawsuit.
“This cannot be a game of whack-a-mole,” Ferguson said, adding that the president can’t just repackage an executive order and decide it’s different enough than the original. That, he says, is up to the court.
To say Ferguson is suing the administration to better position his run for governor could be a little far-fetched. Of course, Ferguson was elected in 2013 and only sued the Obama administration over the course of several years. As of Thursday, Trump has only been in office for 48 days. So, if Ferguson is gearing up his run for governor in 2020, he has plenty of time left to add to his portfolio.
As a side note, The Seattle Times reported Hutchison also said that sources told her Gov. Jay Inslee has a desire to run for president in 2020.
Let’s see how many lawsuits it takes to get into the White House.
