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Jenny Durkan Formally Nominated for U.S. Attorney
President Obama made it official today, nominating Jenny Durkan as the next U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington.
Durkan is a razor-sharp, powerful, and highly accomplished attorney whose formidable legal and political skills are tempered by a engaging, down to earth personality.
Highly respected among local Democratic insiders and an inner circle confidant of Governor Chris Gregoire, she is best known by the public at large for playing a lead role in the Democratic Party’s legal rout of Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi’s attempt to overturn the outcome of the controversial 2004 gubernatorial election – Rossi’s lawsuit was “dismissed with prejudice” by Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges – which Gregoire won by 133 votes after three ballot counts.
Though a strong Democrat, Durkan has demonstrated a willingness to work across party lines. She was a prominent supporter of Dan Satterberg, a moderate Republican, in his successful 2007 campaign to become King County Prosecutor after the death of his boss Norm Maleng. Satterberg defeated Bill Sherman, then a King County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, in that race [disclosure: I worked on Sherman’s campaign]. And Durkan maintains close friendships with Mike and John McKay, both former USAs for the Western District. As prominent in Republican circles as Durkan is in the local Democratic world, the McKay brothers supported Durkan in her bid for the appointment.
[Amusing, if pointless, digression: before the 2004 election Congressman Adam Smith and I squared off against Mike McKay, who was then co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Washington State, and ultra-conservative radio talker Michael Medved, in a presidential race debate sponsored by a local conservative talk radio station. In my recollection, Adam and I beat McKay and Medved like a drum.]
Another noteworthy aspect to the Durkan pick: according to the Seattle Times, Durkan will be the first openly gay U.S. Attorney. That is a bit of surprise (really – there hasn’t been an openly gay USA before now? Strange.). So today marks another milestone of sorts for the gay community. Congratulations to Jenny from PubliCola, and kudos to Obama for making this smart – and in its own small way, historic – pick.
Durkan is a razor-sharp, powerful, and highly accomplished attorney whose formidable legal and political skills are tempered by a engaging, down to earth personality.
Highly respected among local Democratic insiders and an inner circle confidant of Governor Chris Gregoire, she is best known by the public at large for playing a lead role in the Democratic Party’s legal rout of Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi’s attempt to overturn the outcome of the controversial 2004 gubernatorial election – Rossi’s lawsuit was “dismissed with prejudice” by Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges – which Gregoire won by 133 votes after three ballot counts.
Though a strong Democrat, Durkan has demonstrated a willingness to work across party lines. She was a prominent supporter of Dan Satterberg, a moderate Republican, in his successful 2007 campaign to become King County Prosecutor after the death of his boss Norm Maleng. Satterberg defeated Bill Sherman, then a King County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, in that race [disclosure: I worked on Sherman’s campaign]. And Durkan maintains close friendships with Mike and John McKay, both former USAs for the Western District. As prominent in Republican circles as Durkan is in the local Democratic world, the McKay brothers supported Durkan in her bid for the appointment.
[Amusing, if pointless, digression: before the 2004 election Congressman Adam Smith and I squared off against Mike McKay, who was then co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Washington State, and ultra-conservative radio talker Michael Medved, in a presidential race debate sponsored by a local conservative talk radio station. In my recollection, Adam and I beat McKay and Medved like a drum.]
Another noteworthy aspect to the Durkan pick: according to the Seattle Times, Durkan will be the first openly gay U.S. Attorney. That is a bit of surprise (really – there hasn’t been an openly gay USA before now? Strange.). So today marks another milestone of sorts for the gay community. Congratulations to Jenny from PubliCola, and kudos to Obama for making this smart – and in its own small way, historic – pick.
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