By Erin Hawkins
Olympic Peninsula News Group
SEQUIM — Sequim holds a special meaning for state Attorney General Bob Ferguson.
Ferguson paid homage to Sequim last week when he stopped by Sunland Golf & Country Club last Friday to visit the Sequim Sunrise Rotary Club while on his way to attend a ceremony at Hurricane Ridge dedicating the naming of Olympic National Park wilderness as the Daniel J. Evans Wilderness.
Ferguson said he proposed to his wife at Dungeness Spit many years ago. Now married for 13 years, he said it was great to be back in Sequim.
He said growing up, his parents were active in Evans’ first campaign for governor in 1964.
Evans is “a man I greatly admire and respect,” Ferguson said.
Ferguson said Sunrise Rotary was the 98th Rotary Club meeting he has attended. His goal is to visit all of the estimated 160 to 170 Rotary clubs in the state.
While he is not a Rotarian himself, he said he enjoys getting out of the office and talking to residents, taking questions and sharing what’s going on at the Attorney General’s Office.
“I love getting out to Rotaries,” Ferguson said.
“Rotarians are very much in the same business that people in my office are in. Every Rotary I’ve discovered is very involved in their community.”
He explained to Rotarians some of his roles as attorney general and shared some of the recent cases of the 600 his office and attorneys have been involved in.
Some of his most recent cases, aside from his lawsuit challenging the legality and constitutionality of President Donald Trump’s original travel ban in January, involved a recent campaign finance lawsuit against the Grocery Manufacturers Association.
Ferguson also answered questions from Rotarians on issues revolving around the legalization of marijuana, litigation with the Service Employees International Union, consumer protection and laws regarding the release of public information.
One Rotarian referred to the recent events of an Edmonds man submitting records requests to the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office for pet licensing information and information about county law enforcement, and asked Ferguson what he can do for the public.
Ferguson advised the Rotarian to talk with members of the state Legislature that makes such laws and noted how burdensome these requests can be, but he said it is difficult to balance the public’s right to know and carve out parts of the law that are “bad” or “burdensome.”
“My job is to defend and enforce the law,” he said. “The challenge is more and more there has been a dramatic increase in the use of our Public Disclosure and Public Records acts,” he said.
To learn more about the Attorney General’s Office, visit www.atg.wa.gov or contact 360-457-2711 for the Port Angeles office.
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Erin Hawkins is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach her at ehawkins@sequimgazette.com.
