John Ladenburg, fighter from the neighborhood

John LadenburgAt his official campaign kickoff last Monday, Democratic candidate for Attorney General John Ladenburg began his speech by talking about opening his first office as a trial lawyer in South Tacoma. He mentioned how he worked with tribes and blue collar folks from the neighborhood and boasted that he was one of the first lawyers around to work on behalf of battered women. 

Ladenburg still lives in blue collar South Tacoma, the neighborhood where he grew up. He even gets his haircut at the same barber shop on 56th and South Tacoma Way that he has been going to for thirty-odd years. It's just one of the ways that he keeps up with the local issues, and the gossip around town.

"I represented people in the neighborhood," he said.

That image of a fighting neighborhood lawyer is just what Ladenburg hopes to present to the voters this fall, in contrast to the incumbent Attorney General Rob McKenna who Democrats want to paint as a "Bellevue corporate lawyer" that doesn't look out for the good of the people.

And at Monday's event, he had plenty of Democratic big guns to back him up in his claims. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels crowed that Ladenburg was "going to be a people's lawyer." Former Governor Gary Locke touted Ladenburg's large family and union roots; he grew up in a house with 16 children and an outdoor high rise electrician father who was very active in the local union, IBEW 77. 

"We don't need an attorney general who simply is out there with his name on public service announcements," Locke said. "We need a doer, a partner, a leader."

Ladenburg has a folksy drawl to fit with his persona as a local boy done good. Chris Gregoire even spoke to it in her endorsement of Ladenburg.

 "I know what it takes to be a great Attorney General, and John Ladenburg has what it takes to be a great Attorney General," Governor Chris Gregoire said of the Democratic candidate who also ran against her in the 1992 AG primary. "Many of you think he is mild and meek and will not be a tenacious candidate.  I was there in 1992, and look out, here he comes!"

King County Executive Ron Sims piled on, citing Ladenburg's down-to-earth persona, "John has walked with Kings, but has not lost common touch."

Still John from the block

Ladenburg himself likes to talk about his humble roots on the stump, saying that his background has shaped him throughout his career. He tells stories of working summers with his father's union and how his dad would stick up for the local Native Americans who weren't being hired for jobs because of the color of their skin.

"I remember all the great people who came and went," he said of his early days as a lawyer in Tacoma. "It wasn't about the hourly rates, it wasn't about making the biggest buck. It is about helping people at the end of the day. That is why I went to law school."

Ladenburg also takes McKenna to task on his record and his background, frequently referring to his work as a corporate lawyer in Bellevue prior to his election to the office of Attorney General, going so far as joking that McKenna has probably never even met anyone accused of a crime.

"I've never forgotten the average working people who came in asking me for help," Ladenburg said of his own experience. "I just don't think a corporate lawyer from Bellevue gets it."

He likes to highlight recent studies that show Washington ranks 9th in per capita ID theft in the nation, and 2nd in consumer fraud. He mentions these particular statistics not just because they matter to Washington voters, but because they are also key components of Attorney General Rob McKenna's portfolio.

The recent slate of public service announcements that McKenna has done on television has also irked Ladenburg, who says they do little for crime and lots for McKenna's name recognition. He went as far as saying that if elected AG, he would seek to outlaw public servants from using their image in public service announcements during election years.

"Now," Ladenburg said in his speech, "we see Rob McKenna running, quote, public service ads. Actually these are self service ads."

He later added in a conversation with PolitickerWA.com that in his time as a prosecutor, "We never ran any PSAs to solve crime problems. We ran indictments and prosecutions."

Round 2 for Ladenburg the AG candidate

Ladenburg's resume is long. He started his own law firm shortly after graduating from Gonzaga, became a Tacoma City Councilman in 1982, Pierce County Prosecutor in 1986 where he worked for fourteen years, and has been the Pierce County Executive for the past eight years.

He ran for AG in 1992, but lost the Democratic nomination to Chris Gregoire. Despite that, he never lost interest in the job of Attorney General. When a chance opened up four years ago, Ladenburg decided not to run because he had unfinished business as Pierce County Executive. But what he saw shaped his opinion about the 2008 race.

Ladenburg believes that part of the reason McKenna won in the first place was due to the bitter primary fight between eventual Democratic candidate Deborah Senn and Mark Sidran. The two engaged in an expensive battle throughout the summer, and Senn won by one percentage point. Ladenburg thinks a lot of Democrats, still spoiling from the Primary, chose not to vote in the AG contest.

That may or may not be true, McKenna won by nearly ten points, but it was a pitfall Ladenburg wanted to avoid entirely. He did that by ensuring that he would be the Democratic nominee early on, and as a result Ladenburg says that has hurt his early fundraising, but believes that in the long run it will help him lead a united Democratic Party in a blue state.

He spent a lot of time talking to potential candidates last year, and sought and received the early endorsement of party.

"That's worth a lot of money to me right now," Ladenburg said.

As for the rest of the fundraising, an area where McKenna owned a $300,000 cash on hand advantage at the end of March, Ladenburg says he isn't concerned at this point in the race.

"We expected to be here," Ladenburg admitted, "we are close to where we want to be."

It's an attitude

The longtime Democrat also firmly believes that the post truly isn't much of a partisan job. He sang the praises of longtime Republican Attorney General Ken Eikenberry, but decided after watching McKenna do his job early on in his term that he did not approve.

In terms of the issues where he strongly disagrees with the incumbent, Ladenburg does not go into many details. He pointed to McKenna's advocacy of capping lawsuits against the state. Ladenburg compared that mindset to that of an insurance company. Ladenburg highlights the example of Pierce County, which is self-insured, and places such a premium on mitigating problems that they wind up passing along much of their lawsuit rainy day funds to the general fund.

"We need government accountability," Ladenburg said. "Figure out what we did wrong and fix it, have fewer claims. The job of government is to find the problem and fix it."

Instead, Ladenburg insists that the style of law practiced by the Attorney General is far more important, and he intends to run the office in a completely different manner.

"I've been disappointed, honestly, in Rob. He's just not the kind of attorney I am in terms of attitude, where he comes from, how you do law and how you do government," Ladenburg said. "I keep talking about being the people's lawyer. That shows my attitude. Rob talks about being the best law office in the state for the government."

The Democrat says that he would do more to protect people, and on issues like large scale fraud may even try cases personally and go after heavy punishments in order to make examples of shady business practices.

"If they can do that undercover job and find these people," he said of television expose' pieces, "why can't the Attorney General? We do know deterrence works in law enforcement. I know that from being a prosecutor."

A statewide battleground?

Though Ladenburg lags far behind in the money race and will not have a signature, catchy issue on which to run, he still believes his chances for a statewide victory are strong. He points out that he received two thirds of the vote when he ran for re-election for Pierce County Executive in 2004, and talks up his Eastern Washington roots. He was born in Spokane, and spent seven years there at Gonzaga University for undergraduate studies and law school.

Beyond that, Ladenburg also calls himself a Henry Jackson Democrat referring to the popular late Senator. He believes he has the fighting attitude that many independents and Republicans like to see.

"I give up no ground to McKenna," Ladenburg boasted. "I'm going to give voters a tough Democrat they can be proud to vote for. I've tried death penalty cases. I'm willing to take a tough fight on."

Again, he cites his resume.

"I happen to be a Dem," he said of his play for statewide appeal versus the incumbent, "but If you take the D and the R off the resumes, are you going to hire a guy with 30 years experience, 10 years his own law firm, 14 years as prosecutor, 7 as executive, or a guy with 6 years in a Bellevue law firm where he never tried a case in his life? Take the R and the D off and I ask you, if you're a businessman, who do you want to hire?"

It is a choice he hopes to sell on November 4.