Washington Governor-elect Bob Ferguson and Attorney General-elect Nick Brown said they don’t want to pick fights with the second Trump administration.
They’ll defend Washingtonians as necessary, they said at a recent press conference. But for the time being, they don’t intend to go on the offensive this time around.
That may be wise. They have plenty to do at home to strengthen democracy and public trust in government, elections and other institutions.
That starts with a healthy, local press system, which both have vowed to support. It also demands open, transparent government.
As they prepare their agendas, here are a few suggestions to help, and perhaps start some conversations between Washingtonians, their newly elected leaders and other representatives in state government.Improve civic literacy and critical media consumption skills through Washington’s K-12 system. Work with the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction on standards and learning targets. This should begin in elementary schools and include instruction on the role of local media, not just national sources. Most voting is local and local media is needed to make informed decisions and proven to increase civic engagement and knowledge. For models, look to Northern Europe where teaching students to be discerning media consumers is considered essential to national security as well as democracy.
Continue funding and potentially expand the news fellowship program managed by Washington State University’s Murrow College. This relatively low-cost program is supporting communities across the state with additional local news coverage by early-career journalists. It also helps local outlets by strengthening newsrooms with state-funded, temporary journalists.
Brown should continue Ferguson’s leadership, as attorney general, to hold online gatekeepers accountable for anti-competitive business practices harming the press. That includes continuing to partner with the U.S. Department of Justice and other states as they pursue the antitrust case over Google’s dominance of online ad technology.
As part of that antitrust coalition, Washington should advocate for remedies that address harm to the news industry, as the DOJ detailed. Ferguson told me in 2023, after Washington joined the ad-tech antitrust case, that this was a priority. “It’s critical for support for newspapers creating content that we all depend upon and the shared information,” he said.
Consider a state version of the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, a bipartisan proposal in Congress that would enable local news outlets to collectively bargain fair compensation with dominant tech platforms. California tried this but its governor bowed to Google, resulting in a watered-down grant program partly funded by the state. Washington can do better.
Restore Washington’s former stature as a model of open, transparent government. This leadership is sorely needed as democratic institutions fray and cronyism and special interests ascend. It’s necessary to rebuild trust. Voters enacted the state’s open government laws in the early 1970s, motivated by Nixon-era angst and distrust. Washington went high when the White House went low.
Start by eliminating the bogus “privilege” that some elected officials are claiming to hide public records from the public. Ferguson, like current Gov. Jay Inslee, has pledged not to invoke “executive privilege” to keep secrets in his administration. That’s harder for Brown. His office represents both citizens, who demand open government, and the legislators who think they know what’s best for the people to know. It would be a great legacy for Brown if he can talk sense into the latter clients. Uphold the state’s transparency law, not the tortured legal theory behind “legislative privilege.”
Support a media proposal to revise the state’s Model Public Records Act Rules. The changes would affirm that public records must be released promptly and help agencies more efficiently clear their backlog of records requests. Brown told me at the Nov. 7 press conference that he needs to see the details but supports the concept.
Brown can improve the attorney general’s office own responsiveness to public records and open records training provided to public officials, so it better emphasizes transparency. Those are among the issues that the Washington Coalition for Open Government had with Ferguson as attorney general.
As governor, Ferguson should set an example of openness, as Inslee has done, and go beyond his predecessor. Work with legislators, the attorney general and the secretary of state on ways to help state and local agencies better respond to public records requests. Improve systems to catalog, store and share public records, which is a core duty of government and key to building trust, civic engagement and an informed citizenry. It should not be seen as a burdensome obligation. Ferguson can set the right tone, once he’s no longer the lawyer for legislators and agencies.
All of these proposals should have bipartisan support and provide ways for these Puget Sound Democrats to build bridges across the state’s political and geographic divides.
Conservatives are equally concerned about excessive power that tech giants have over the public square.
So keep pursuing antitrust enforcement that began during the first Trump administration and level the playing field for publishers.
Help rural and suburban newspapers survive, so people in all parts of the state have local news representing and strengthening their communities. And increase everyone’s trust in state government by reversing Washington’s recent slide toward secrecy.
Ferguson and Brown will still have time to file federal lawsuits, if they decide that’s also necessary.
