The monthly Kirkland Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Woodmark Hotel was packed Tuesday with chamber members and elected officials. And while the official business of the chamber included a vote on major by-law changes that merged the group with the Kirkland Downtown Association, the merge wasn’t the big draw of the meeting.
“I was asked to speak about the complete history of by-laws,” joked special guest speaker Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna.
McKenna, who lives in Bellevue, spoke to the group formally and received hugs from long-time friends after the event.
“I have a lot of friends for over 20 years in Kirkland,” said McKenna. “ … It is also important to have an opportunity to let the public know what we are working on.”
McKenna told the group that one of the major things the Attorney General’s Office is working on is investigating mortgage foreclosures in Washington State.
“Many of (the financial institutions) have been pushing foreclosures through without looking at the documents,” said McKenna. “This is a great crisis for American families and it is clear we have a lot to do.”
His office recently settled with Wells Fargo over loan modifications.
The broader investigation was officially announced by the Attorney General’s Office Wednesday.
McKenna went over many of the highly publicized issues facing his office, such as the national lawsuit over health care reform, the right of convicted felons to vote and the Department of Energy’s shuttering of Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
After the speech, an audience member asked how the Attorney General’s Office chooses its cases. McKenna responded that it has to directly impact Washington State. In the case of Yucca Mountain, Washington State sends all of its nuclear waste to the site from Hanford, Wash. and that would stop if the site is allowed to be shuttered.
“The administration abruptly shut it down and it does not have the authority because Congress ordered the program,” said McKenna. “… We are concerned about Hanford. We have the most nuclear waste in America and it sits just above the Columbia River.”
McKenna also talked about some of the issues that are not grabbing all the headlines, but impact a large number of people in the state.
His office recently joined an anti-trust lawsuit against all the manufacturers of flat panel televisions sold in the United States. The suit contends that the heads of the companies conspired to fix prices on the products from 1998-2006. McKenna said that the alleged conspiracy cost consumers billions of dollars.
“They would regularly meet in secret to discuss it,” said McKenna. “They all would check into the same hotel and meet one-on-one. It is the anti-trust version of speed dating.”
