Today is Monday, 18th November 2024

WA: Dem Candidate John Ladenburg Says He’s Friends Again With Dem House Leader

From the News Tribune:

Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg responded to my blog post yesterday about the attorney general’s race.

Based on an earlier item from the TNT’s Political Buzz blog, I had noted that House Majority Leader Rep. Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, had said she wouldn’t endorse Ladenburg for AG – because Ladenburg had opposed her bill requiring local governments to record their executive sessions.

Ladenburg says that it it was all a misunderstanding.

Read the Rest…

UPDATE: Looks like they may be friends, but the House Majority Leader still won’t endorse Ladenburg. Thanks to S_Emerson for giving us the heads up.

UPDATE 6/30: A few commenters have challenged Ladenburg’s assertion that Kessler is now supporting him, so I called her this afternoon to check. She said she and Ladenburg had a cordial conversation, but that she will not be endorsing – or supporting – anyone for state attorney general. She said she rarely endorses candidates, although she recently made an exception for her colleague Jim McIntire who is running for state treasurer. – KB

3 Comments

  1. Comments  S_Emerson   |  Monday, 30 June 2008 at 5:33 pm

    Ladenburg is known around Pierce County as a self-serving B.S.-er. His antics are many: redefining the word “perpetuity” to instead mean ‘until a better use is discovered’; to forget to include millions of dollars of costs in the plan of Chambers Bay Golf Course; for using an entire community in Riverside as his sacrificial lamb to appease the Port and Fife City; for committing PDC violations by using tax dollars to partially fund biased campaign propaganda–and for failing to report his stock holdings of Prometa–which he lobbied on the behalf of for public funding.

    Because I can’t believe a word Ladenburg says, I emailed Lynn Kessler and asked her if what he claims is true. Although I haven’t heard back (and don’t expect to), I am hopeful that she’ll offer a comment to media.

    Here’s what I sent to her:

    Sent: Sun 6/29/2008 11:36 AM

    Ms. Kessler,

    Two articles have appeared in The News Tribune which address the issue of whether you do, or don’t support John Ladenburg for AG. In response to the first article, “How to make ed boards like you”, JL states:

    “The story is in error. I did not take any position on her bill and never discussed it with her. I was telling the reporter the reasons that the Association of Counties was against it. Lynn and I have talked and cleared this up. She supports me and looks forward to me helping her bridge the gap with the Counties Association. She also said she cannot support Rob McKenna because he wants to expand government immunity rather than create accountability.”

    In today’s article, “Ladenburg, Kessler buddies again”, he states:

    “Since that article came out, Kessler and I have spoken and cleared up the issue. I promised to work with her on the issue and find a compromise that could work for locals. She was very receptive to this because of my good relationship with county and city officials. Kessler will support me and next year I will work with local government to find a solution to the problems they found in her bill. She pointed out that she cannot and will not support McKenna because he is against government accountability by promoting more government immunity.”

    Please, Ms. Kessler, help the voters understand if you do, or do not endorse him and why. Although I truly hope you don’t support him, if you do, we ought to hear it from you, not him.

    Ladenburg is thought of in these parts as the Emperor who had no clothes. He’s made a horrible mess of things in Pierce County. He garnered many of his votes for Executive because The People thought that his prior service as County Prosecutor he would help solve the issue of Pierce County’s ranking of #1 in the state for violent crime. Yet he did nothing about it, and in fact worked against corrective measures. Others voted for him believing that his lawyer experience would help in pushing for codification of ecology laws in Pierce County so our wetlands and other natural resources would stop being destroyed, but he failed us there too. Additionally, in 2006 JL argued against all but one Pierce County Charter Amendment–he even wrote or co-wrote all the Statements Against the amendments in the Voter’s Pamphlet–and though The News Tribune sided with JL, The People passed 7 of the 9 amendments. What’s that tell you about how The People feel about Ladenburg, and about the one paper in this one-paper county? It should tell you a lot.

    There’s so many reasons why you should not support Ladenburg – the above mentioned issues, and/or that as Executive he goes down as committing one of the two “most blatant violations of campaign law in the [PDC’s] commission’s 30-year history” (TNT) regarding 2001’s Proposition 1 – and then again violated state law by failing to disclose his stock ownership in Prometa [which he lobbied on the behalf of for public funding].

    Please, for the good of the state, consider all the above before committing your support, and then tell us in your own words if you do indeed support him.

    Stacy Emerson
    XXXX XXth St E
    Tacoma, WA 98445-5401
    (253) XXX-XXXX

  2. Comments  S_Emerson   |  Monday, 30 June 2008 at 10:44 pm

    The News Tribune added a brief update on this issue. It reads:

    UPDATE 6/30: A few commenters have challenged Ladenburg’s assertion that Kessler is now supporting him, so I called her this afternoon to check. She said she and Ladenburg had a cordial conversation, but that she will not be endorsing – or supporting – anyone for state attorney general. She said she rarely endorses candidates, although she recently made an exception for her colleague Jim McIntire who is running for state treasurer. – KB

    (see http://blogs.thenewstribune.com/oped/?blog=14&title=ladenburg_kessler_buddies_again&page=1&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1&disp=single)

  3. Comments  lisa J   |  Tuesday, 01 July 2008 at 6:43 pm

    Kudo’s for Kessler for not letting John L make false claims. Instead, he’s left with egg on his face and his nose longer each day by all his false claims.
    His arrogance was compounded when he stated that not only Kessler and he had made up but that “he planned on working with her next year to resolved the problems with her bill.”
    Working with her how? Thinking he was going to win his second attempt at the AG position? Mr. L will be out of a job after next election and in no position to work on anything but actually earning an income. As he has claimed experience within the junk car removal sector as his shining glory for 8 years of exec. here, maybe his friends locally will provide him with a job there.

Leave a Reply


You must be logged in to post a comment.

Share this Story on Facebook

Main Menu

Top