The Times endorses
Rob McKenna for state's top lawyer

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Rob McKenna, Republican, is endorsed for state attorney general.

McKenna has a sharp mind and solid values. He knows policy and the law. He is the smartest Republican on the King County Council, and, until he was ejected, was the people's voice on the board at Sound Transit. McKenna is the kind of Republican the party needs more of. On abortion, he says that he cannot recommend it, but "as a conservative," he wants the choice in the hands of the woman and not the state.

On the Patriot Act, he opposes "sneak-and-peek" warrants and says the whole law needs to be thoroughly reviewed for its consistency with constitutional rights. On the Public Disclosure Act, he sides again with the people, noting that the attorney general's office was sued for nondisclosure, lost the case and had to pay the citizen's legal costs.

McKenna said he would be honored to defend the "top two" primary-election system before the U.S. Supreme Court, should the voters accept that system Nov. 2. In that, he also sides with the people against both parties.

Asked whether he would have signed on to the multistate lawsuit against the tobacco companies, as Attorney General Christine Gregoire did, he said yes, but the motive of such lawsuits must be enforcement of the law and not raising money for the state. "The attorney general's office is not a profit center," he said. Probably, McKenna would be more careful about entrepreneurial lawsuits than his opponent.

That opponent, Democrat Deborah Senn, is equally smart, and a champion of consumers. But in her eight years as insurance commissioner she was so hostile to the insurance companies, and so unmoving, that for a year no company would sell individual health coverage here. It took the governor to break the logjam. Under Senn, the Insurance Department lost its national accreditation, a badge of institutional credibility. Her grandstanding alienated many Democrats, and she has attracted strong primary challenges in both of her statewide races since then.

This year, she has presented herself more rationally and calmly. But we cannot forget what came before, and the questions it raises about elevating her to attorney general, a position of power. McKenna does not come packaged with similar risk.

Attorney general is a partisan position that calls for a nonpartisan style. When asked at The Seattle Times/City Club debate Tuesday what part of the job he would perform "specifically as a Republican," McKenna said, no part of it. The job is about managing a state office of 500 lawyers — keeping them motivated, focused and successful. The attorney general needs to be someone to whom competitive lawyers on the staff can pledge their loyalty. Slade Gorton was such a person. So is Christine Gregoire.

Our choice to succeed her is Rob McKenna.