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Even though an Attorney General isn’t
directly responsible for making environmental laws, there are many ways they
can influence policy. To make it happen, we need an Attorney General who
not only shares our values, but will also look for opportunities to use the
power of their office to improve our environment.
A lifelong environmentalist, Senn’s first
job out of law school was as a prosecutor for the EPA in Illinois where she
went after polluters and helped clean up water across the state. In private
practice, Senn represented utility consumers and environmental groups in fights
against nuclear coal-fired power plants.
Later, as insurance commissioner here in
Washington, Senn sought and found innovative ways to use the power of her
office to improve our environment. She helped bring an end to insurance company
practices employed to delay or stop environmental clean-up of more than 5,000
toxic waste sites in the state.
As Attorney General, one of Senn's top
priorities will be getting the federal government to uphold its
responsibilities to take responsibility for and clean-up Hanford.
Senn's opponent, King County Councilman Rob
McKenna, has an extensive anti-environmental record. He has voted for more
sprawl, against mass transit, for highway expansion, and has openly questioned
the need for salmon recovery efforts. His record, and avowed support of so
called "property rights," indicate that he is ideologically opposed to fully
enforcing our state's environmental laws. For too long, Washington's
expectations for a clean and healthy environment -- strongly spelled out in a
host of state laws -- have been thwarted by low funding for enforcement, and by
political pressure from the powerful for exceptions and delay. The last thing
Washington's environment needs is an Attorney General who thinks we have
done too much for the environment already. A vote for McKenna is a vote to turn
the clock back on environmental protection. Vote for Senn.
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