Editing Rob McKenna (section)

==Attorney General of Washington==
As Washington's 17th Attorney General, McKenna managed the largest public law office in the state with approximately 1,150 employees and offices in 13 cities statewide: Bellingham, Port Angeles, Everett, Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Wenatchee, Spokane, Yakima, Kennewick, Vancouver, Tumwater, and Pullman. The Washington Attorney General's Office serves over 230 state agencies, boards, commissions, colleges, and universities, as well as the governor and Legislature.<ref name="AGO">{{cite web|title=About the Washington State Attorney General's Office |url=http://atg.wa.gov/AboutTheOffice/default.aspx |accessdate=January 20, 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080118094211/http://www.atg.wa.gov/AboutTheOffice/default.aspx |archivedate=January 18, 2008 }}</ref> As Attorney General, McKenna made the protection of consumers and businesses, the improvement of community safety and the advancement of open government his chief priorities.<ref name="Seattle">{{cite journal|last1=Carlson|first1=John|year=2006|title=Legal Eagle|journal=Seattle Magazine|issue=November|page=131}}</ref> He also argued before the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] three times to defend Washington state laws from challenges, and won each time.

===2004 election===
McKenna based his 2004 campaign for the office of attorney general around three areas of protection he promised to bring to Washingtonians: protection of the safety of families by fighting crimes such as [[identity theft]], internet fraud, and child pornography, and supporting local police, sheriffs, and prosecutors; protection of rights by controlling regulation and supporting the public's right to know what the government is doing; and protection of pocketbooks by counseling state agencies to avoid costly trial and litigation, bringing reform in the matter of reducing what some see as unfair burdens placed on doctors, hospitals, and other professionals.<ref name="bio3"/>

McKenna developed broad-based alliances to win the election, attracting the support of prosecutors, police chiefs and sheriffs, along with farm and business leaders one at a time and then leveraging those endorsements into broader support. He also built nontraditional alliances with tribal leaders, public safety unions, firefighters and other moderates in both parties.<ref name="AP Bio 2005"/> He defeated political novice Mike Vaska, a private attorney from [[Issaquah, Washington|Issaquah]], in the Republican primary for state attorney general, with approximately 70 percent of the vote. He defeated former Insurance Commissioner and Democratic Senate candidate [[Deborah Senn]] in the November General election and was one of just a few Republicans to win statewide office in 2004.<ref name="AP Bio 2005"/>

===First term===
In his first year as attorney general, McKenna founded "Operation: Allied Against Meth", a program designed to reduce the drug's manufacture and use in Washington.<ref name="bio1"/> The initiative included an increase in the law enforcement and prosecution personnel dedicated to cracking down on methamphetamine-related crimes, a statewide educational program to help prevent the use of the drug, and a legislative alliance devoted to improving Washington's meth problem. Since the initiative began, deaths from methamphetamine use in Washington have fallen by a third, while the incidence of driving under the influence of meth decreased by over 25 percent.<ref name="Meth">{{cite web|title=Operation: Allied Against Meth |url=http://www.atg.wa.gov/AlliedAgainstMeth/default.aspx |accessdate=June 6, 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429215618/http://www.atg.wa.gov/AlliedAgainstMeth/default.aspx |archivedate=April 29, 2011}}</ref>

During his inaugural term, he created Washington's Law Enforcement Group against Identity Theft (LEGIT), and was subsequently named as one of ''Security Magazine'''s 25 most influential people in security.<ref name="sec">{{cite web|url=http://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/top-25-most-influential-people-in-the-security-industry-1 |title=Top 25 Most Influential People in the Security Industry |website=Securitymagazine.com |date= |accessdate=2016-01-26}}</ref> He was also active in the [[National Association of Attorneys General]] (NAAG) during his first term, co-chairing both the Financial Practices Committee and the Tobacco Committee during his first term. Acting in this capacity, he helped lead cases against subprime lenders that resulted in the largest settlements in the history of American consumer protection lawsuits.<ref name="bio1"/>

===2008 election===
McKenna kicked off his 2008 campaign in November 2007. He received the support of two Democrats, State Auditor Brian Sonntag and Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney Janice Ellis.<ref name="SoundPolitics1">{{cite web|title=McKenna Announces Re-Election Bid| publisher=Soundpolitics.com|url=http://www.soundpolitics.com/archives/009644.html|accessdate=November 14, 2007}}</ref> He defeated [[Pierce County, Washington|Pierce County]] executive John Ladenburg in the [[Washington attorney general election, 2008|2008 election]] with over 59 percent of the vote.<ref>[http://vote.wa.gov/Elections/WEI/Results.aspx?RaceTypeCode=O&JurisdictionTypeID=2&ElectionID=26&ViewMode=Results] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101115210123/http://vote.wa.gov/Elections/WEI/Results.aspx?RaceTypeCode=O&JurisdictionTypeID=2&ElectionID=26&ViewMode=Results|date=November 15, 2010}}</ref>

===Second term===
In his second term, McKenna continued to be active in the [[National Association of Attorneys General]], serving as co-chair on various committees and receiving the NAAG's Distinguished Service Award before becoming Vice-President of the organization in 2009. In 2010, he was elected President of NAAG, and assumed the office on June 22, 2011. He launched his Presidential Initiative, a program called "Pillars of Hope" aimed at reducing [[human trafficking]] in the US, in Chicago on the following day.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.naag.org/rob-mckenna.php |title=NAAG &#124; Rob McKenna |accessdate=2011-06-06 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110120142317/http://www.naag.org/rob-mckenna.php |archivedate=January 20, 2011 |df=mdy}}</ref>

On March 22, 2010 McKenna announced that he was joining other Republican elected officials in a [[Florida et al v. United States Department of Health and Human Services|multi-state challenge to the constitutionality]] of a [[Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act|health care overhaul bill]] passed by US Congress and signed by President Obama.<ref name="BusinessWeek1">{{cite web|title=Washington state AG will sue over health care bill|work=Bloomberg BusinessWeek|accessdate=March 22, 2010|url=http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9EJU8B80.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023180004/http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9EJU8B80.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 23, 2012}}</ref> The ongoing legal battle grew into a 26 state coalition of plaintiffs, including McKenna, who maintained his original motivation to see the provision for mandatory purchase of private individual health-insurance plans by 2014 struck down for being unconstitutional.<ref name=mckennapays>{{cite web|last=Brunner |first=Jim |url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017833876_healthcare25m.html |title=If 'Obamacare' falls, McKenna could pay political price &#124; The Seattle Times |website=Seattletimes.nwsource.com |date= |accessdate=2016-01-26}}</ref> McKenna differed from his co-plaintiffs by supporting the law's several provisions pertaining to patient protection; the other opponents wanted the entire law scrapped.