Early scrutiny, budget crises, legal fights with Trump: WA AG’s fiery first 100 days

Washington has a new attorney general for the first time in 12 years in Nick Brown, and it’s been a chaotic start to his tenure as the state continues to battle against many of the Trump administration’s executive orders.

“Let’s talk about your first three months on the job. How is it going?” Charlie Harger, host of Seattle’s Morning News on KIRO Newsradio, asked Brown. “What’s it been like for you?”

“Well, just kind of slow and boring for the first three months,” Brown joked. “No, it’s been great. I always tell my team, it’s so fun to be in a job where you walk in and everything you’re doing has importance. It impacts people’s lives. It feels weighty and significant, and I’m loving the job. Really proud to be part of that team.”

With Nick Brown replacing Bob Ferguson after he became the next governor of Washington, Brown now operates and controls the largest public law firm in the state, and the second-largest public law firm on the West Coast.

Whether it’s the dismantling of the libraries agency, interference over funding, or overhauling elections, Brown’s first few months as attorney general has been defined by his fight against the Trump administration.

“My job and my oath is to defend Washington law. I made an oath to defend our Constitution and the U.S. Constitution,” Brown said. “Every time that we’re looking at a potential legal action against any federal administration, we first say, ‘Does this break the law? Are Washingtonians harmed? Are we the right venue to bring those challenges?’ And if those three things match up, then we will bring those cases.

“Unfortunately, we’ve seen time and time again where the President of the United States and his administration is breaking the law, is harming Washingtonians, and we are the right venue to bring a lot of those cases,” Brown continued. “I understand that does not make everybody happy.”

Navigating the state budget crisis

Governor Bob Ferguson’s plan for $7 billion in budget cuts over the next four years received plenty of criticism as it intends to reduce state payrolls and institute furlough days after the wealth tax proposal died.

Dozens of protesters representing the group “Workers Strike Back” made their way into the Washington State Capitol building Wednesday to protest the proposed cuts.

“The state is facing a really significant budget hole, and that is a big challenge for the legislature and for the governor to try to find ways to make cuts and raise revenue to fill that hole,” Brown said. “But some of the proposals that were on the board earlier this session would have a devastating impact on our agency. We’re talking about furloughs for state workers. We have cuts to our general fund budget, which would cut back on the criminal justice work that we do. Cutting that fund would mean we would just do less of that work, and so I’m really hopeful that the legislature finds a way to get the necessary funding to make sure that they’re not cutting the services that Washingtonians have come to expect.”

Listen to the full conversation here:

Listen to “Seattle’s Morning News” with Charlie Harger and Manda Factor weekday mornings from 5-9 a.m. on KIRO Newsradio. Subscribe to the podcast here.