By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
State Attorney General Nick Brown got a standing ovation even before he spoke to the Rotary Club of West Seattle this afternoon at the WS Golf Course.
Brown, a West Seattle resident, said the past 10 months – since his election – “have felt more like 10 years” – only half-jokingly. But “despite all the chaos of the past 10 months … I love being in this position.” Here’s our video of his speech in its entirety, starting after the four-minute introduction by West Seattle Rotary president Ron Palmer:
Before talking about the work that’s put him in the headlines – more than 40 lawsuits against the Trump Administration – Brown said it’s important to acknowledge the hard work of his staff, “at this time when public service is denigrated” and worse. His department has “about 830 lawyers who work for me, on behalf of you,” and 900 more professional staffers, all spread across 13 offices in the state. “Part of the reason we’re so big” is that they represent every single part of the state government, rather than various agencies and departments (and universities, and more) rather than those entities each having their own legal staff. “All the way down to the state Potato Commission!” All in all, “I get to come to work and do something that matters, every single day.”
The Attorney General often works with the public on consumer-protection issues; he mentioned cases such as the rent-fixing allegations against RealPage. “We do so many things that touch people’s lives … And every now and then we sue the President of the United States.”
Brown said he doesn’t take joy in that “so much of our work is focused on protecting people from their president.” He explained that he started his career (here’s his bio) as an Army JAG lawyer and has other veterans and service members in his family. “I really love our country and believe in it … I believe we ar facing a torrent of illegal activity from the presidency … harming Washingtonians.” And when he sees that, “I feel an obligation to step in.” Right now, his office is involved in 41 cases against the federal government, out of about 55 filed by him and other state officials nationwide. Some of the cases are led by other states; some are joined by other states.
In talking about them, he singled out two categories:
-“Pure civil rights cases,” starting with the “president’s attempt to rewrite the Constitution regarding birthright citizenship.” They filed a case the next day and will be going back before the Supreme Court
-Protecting funding to Washington state because “they’ve tried to cut and end programs” with funding already approved by Congress, from education to environment.
Brown said they also “successfully fought to protect crime-victim funding” that dated back to President Reagan. That includes shelter services for domestic-violence survivors, he said, surmising that the programs were targeted because the funding also served LGBTQ+ and undocumented individuals.
All in all, he said, “we’ve successfully (protected) $14 billion in funding.” Regarding criticism that he’s focusing too much time in Washington, D.C., instead of matters at home, he said, “every single (federal) case affects people (here at home).”
He lauded the Rotarians for their work in the community, and then took Q&A.
First question, why did he run for AG? “For many years my dream job was the one” he had previously, U.S. Attorney for this area. He had “so much reverence for the federal government” – which has largely “evaporated” in recent months. He said two things were top of mind – “purely practical,” his previous job was dependent on who’s in the White House, so he “bet on myself rather than” on nationwide voters. He also had positive memories of the time he spent working as governor’s counsel (for Gov. Jay Inslee), and wanted something like that again.
Next Q – who’s his favorite politician of those he’s met? “Do I have to pick a politician?” he joked. He considers that he and others “are not worthy of hero worship” – in some cases they’re just regular folks. He eventually got around to a non-politician, Bryan Stevenson, a civil=rights and criminal-justice advocate who “has the most popular TED talk ever.”
Next Q was regarding the state/federal relationship – can the state enforce “basic human conditions at the ICE facility in Tacoma,” for example? Can the state enforce criminal laws if an ICE agent, for example, hurt or killed someone? Brown said, “Some areas are very clear and some are confusing.” But for example, the ICE facility is generally not subject to state oversight – it’s a federal facility, with federal employees. There might be the opportunity to investigate a federal agent violating civil rights, though. He went on to talk about the funding cases, and noted with regret that not a single Republican state attorney general has joined any of the cases, despite the fact people in their states are affected too. “I think they let politics dictate what is beneficial for their residents.”
Last question was also about ICE tactics such as detentions by force and the apartment-complex raid in Chicago. “It’s only a matter of time before this comes to Seattle, so what should we do, and where does your office come in (if and when it happens)?”
Brown said he wanted to address immigration issues in general, “there are so many people in Washington living in fear … I believe (the federal government) creating that fear is intentional … part of the reason we know about (the incidents mentioned) is because people were there, advocating for them,” so for people to do that advocacy/witnessing work matters a lot. “Find ways to dedicate your time to some of that work.” He went on to say that Washington is closely monitoring what’s going on in other states and has assisted in challenging it in some cases. “I think unfortunately the Supreme Court is going to continue to allow much of what we’ve seen.” And he criticized federal officials’ rhetoric, such as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem comparing “antifa” to international terrorist organizations. “It’s so absurd that that would come from the Secretary of Homeland Security … to compare ‘antifa,’ which isn’t really an organization, to the most violent drug-trafficking organization in the world, MS-13, is beyond the pale.” But he said if the federal government escalates, “we’ll be ready.”
OTHER ROTARY MEETING NOTES: A signature cause of Rotary International is the fight to end polio worldwide, so member Christine Peak gave a presentation about World Polio Day, October 24, noting that next year West Seattle Rotarians wil mark the occasion by staging a play for the community, “A Candle Against the Dark” … Other Rotary activities this fall will include participation in the West Seattle Joiner Jamboree, a mid-November cleanup on Delridge, the Festival of Trees on December 6, and a service project at Westside Neighbors Shelter. … President Palmer sent everyone off at the end of the weekly lunch meeting with the exhortation, “Let’s do something impactful.”
