Washington attorneys general in the spotlight

Bob Ferguson isn’t the first attorney general from the Evergreen State to wade into deep legal waters and find himself in the national spotlight.

Related: Washington’s electoral drama of 1976

Here’s a look back at three examples from recent Washington state history.

Slade Gorton Goes To Bat

Before the Mariners played their inaugural game at the Kingdome in 1977, Seattle was home to the Pilots for just one season back in 1969. Coincidentally, 1969 was also the year that Slade Gorton was first sworn in as attorney general.

The Pilots’ ignominious departure broke the city’s heart decades before the Sonics would do the same on the basketball court. It also led Attorney General Gorton to take the baseball business to a different kind of court.

In a recent interview, Gorton told the editorial board of The Columbian what happened next.

“I was in my first year as attorney general of the state, and I sued the American League … for fraud and breach of contract,” Gorton said.

To litigate the suit, Gorton hired Seattle attorney Bill Dwyer. Many spring trainings and World Series came and went as the wheels of justice slowly turned and not quite rounded the bases for Seattle fans.

“It took us five years to get the American League and all their legal maneuvers before we got them in front of a jury in Everett,” Gorton said.

“At the end of the trial, just before the verdict was to come down,” Gorton said, adding only somewhat “facetiously” that, “the American League lawyers recognized the jury was going to vote [for] capital punishment.”

Rather than wait for the jury, Gorton said the baseball league officials decided to settle out of court.

“We had them in front of a hometown jury and we were gonna win big, and so almost overnight the American League agreed to create the Seattle Mariners,” Gorton said.

Gorton also pointed out that the people of Toronto have him to thank for the Blue Jays, because the American League had to create an even number of expansion teams in 1977 (the Mariners plus one more), or otherwise they would throw the schedule completely out of whack.

Chris Gregoire v. Joe Camel

Christine Gregoire was elected Attorney General in 1992, succeeding Ken Eikenberry. In 1996, she joined with other states and filed suit against the tobacco industry to recover Medicaid funds spent by Washington state to treat illnesses linked to cigarettes.

Negotiations went back and forth for a few years before the massive suit was ultimately settled out of court. Speaking at a press conference in November 1998, Attorney General Gregoire outlined the terms of the national settlement in dramatic terms.

“The attorney generals have now before them a tobacco settlement proposal that would provide the states with $206 billion through the year 2025, the largest financial recovery in the history of the world, and would require the most sweeping changes in business practices ever imposed on an industry,” Gregoire said.

“It will change the way we see tobacco,” the attorney general said. “Under this proposal, billboards: gone. Taxi and transit ads: gone. Hats, shirts, backpacks with tobacco brand names: gone.”

McKenna v. Obamacare

And just seven years ago, Bob Ferguson’s predecessor (and current KIRO Radio contributor) Rob McKenna joined a lawsuit with 25 other state attorneys general to sue the federal government over provisions of the Affordable Care Act, aka “Obamacare.”

Support for Attorney General McKenna’s suit was not widespread here in Washington, a state carried handily by President Obama in 2008 and 2012.

McKenna explained his legal thinking to Enrique Cerna during a KCTS broadcast not long after joining the suit.

“The individual health insurance mandate, it appears to me to be clearly outside of Congress’ power,” McKenna said. “The federal government simply does not have the power to exercise control over what amounts to economic inactivity, a choice not to buy insurance.”

“As [US District] Judge [Roger] Vinson said, this case is about a lot more than health care. In fact, it’s not really about health care, it’s about federalism,” McKenna said, “and whether we’re going to maintain the historic balance of responsibilities of powers among the people, the states and the federal government.”

The case ultimately went to the US Supreme Court, with the June 2012 ruling upholding the “individual mandate” of Affordable Care Act, yet limiting the ACA’s expansion of Medicaid.

Springboard to higher office?

Of the 15 men and one woman who’ve previously served as Washington’s attorney general since statehood in 1889, a total of six have later sought the governor’s office. Only one, Christine Gregoire, was successful.

John Atkinson ran in 1908 but lost in the primary; Don Eastvold ran in 1956 but lost in the general to incumbent Art Langlie; John J. O’Connell ran in 1968 but lost to incumbent Dan Evans; Ken Eikenberry ran in 1992 but lost to former U.S. Representative Mike Lowry; Rob McKenna ran in 2012 but lost to Jay Inslee.

Only two Washington attorneys general have later served in Congress. Slade Gorton was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1980; William C. Jones, Washington state’s first elected attorney general, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1896.

What lies ahead for Bob Ferguson’s lawsuit against President Donald Trump is up to the courts; what lies ahead for Attorney General Ferguson’s political career is up to him, and to the voters.

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