Washblog

Mr. Esser's resignation letter was written several days after his election as Chair of the Washington State Republican Party (WA-GOP).  It was written one day after  Particle Man on Washblog had questioned why Mr. Esser had, the previous day, worked during business hours for the WA-GOP while still an AG employee.  

According to the copy of the leave request I received last Friday, Mr. Esser's appplication for unpaid leave from the AG office to do partisan work on 1/29 was first applied for two weeks after he took those hours, on 2/16.

Washington state laws on ethics in public service prohibit the use of state funds, employee time, resources, or facilities for partisan activities. Wasn't Mr. Esser operating outside the law on 1/29/07? Would this kind of behavior be tolerated in the private sector?

Even if he did not break the law, by creating this appearance of impropriety and of possible illegality, Mr. Esser, a high-level employee representing the public face of our state's top legal office, brought upon himself an affirmative obligation to demonstrate that he was within the law and the public trust.  To my knowledge, he took no effort to meet this obligation.  At least not until 2/16, when I read a story on HorsesAss that showed Mr. Esser was still on the AGO website as an employee -- and called that office to ask for documentation to clear things up.

I don't think this resignation letter and leave request set this matter to rest. I think they demonstrate the need for further investigation.

Mr. McKenna, Washington's top legal officer, and Mr. Esser, who represented that office to the public, hold a uniquely high level of responsibility to strictly follow state's ethics laws -- and to appear to the public to strictly follow these laws -- both in their letter and their intent.  

This responsibility is heightened further by Mr. McKenna's recent history of partisan advocacy, two instances of which are detailed at the head of this post. In both these instances, Mr. McKenna employed a technique of conflating in the public's mind his governmental and partisan roles. In one of these instances, the confusion created was in support of Mr. Esser's political aspirations. Esser and McKenna's responsibility is, again, heightened because they are politically ambitious individuals who have made a point of publicly declaring their support for government accountability at a time when voters so value accountability that it is a key selling point for candidates. Mr. McKenna has stated that government accountability is a top priority for the AG office.  As noted above, Mr. Esser has signed a pledge "to suppport the public's right to know at every opportunity".