Rob McKenna

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Rob McKenna : biography

01 October 1962 –

Robert Marion "Rob" McKenna (born October 1, 1962)Texas Births, 1903–1997, Ancestry.com is the former Republican Attorney General of Washington. He was elected in November 2004 for a term beginning in January 2005. He won re-election in November 2008 with over 59 percent statewide. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Washington in 2012.

McKenna is an Eagle Scout, was student body president at the University of Washington, and attended the University of Chicago Law School, where he was on the law review.

Early life, education, and early law career

McKenna was born in Fort Sam Houston, Texas, the son of Bonnie Jean (née Olson) and Robert Elliott McKenna, an Army officer.http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/news/state-and-regional/obituaries/article_147b64e2-34d0-58f8-8feb-8bf1636293a1.html His ancestry includes Irish, Norwegian, and German.http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~battle/celeb/mckenna.htm He grew up at posts in Germany, Bangkok (where he attended the International School Bangkok), San Francisco and Kansas before his family settled in Bellevue, Washington when he was 14.

He graduated from Sammamish High School in Bellevue in 1980. He earned two bachelor’s degrees, in Economics and International Studies, from the University of Washington and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He was student body president in 1984–85. He received a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1988.

After graduating from law school, McKenna worked as an attorney at the law firm of Perkins Coie, one of the 50 largest firms in the country, where he practiced mainly business and regulatory law from June 1988 to January 1996.

Personal life

McKenna and his wife, Marilyn, have four children, and reside in Bellevue, Washington. An Eagle Scout, he serves on the Chief Seattle Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Bellevue Schools Foundation and the Eastside Domestic Violence Program. He serves as co-chair of the Campaign for Equal Justice.

2012 gubernatorial election

In June 2011, McKenna announced that he would run for Governor of Washington. He said "We deserve a governor who will bring us a leaner, better-run state government that doesn’t demand endless tax increases before it delivers results to its bosses, you the taxpayers."

Polling placed McKenna and his opponent Jay Inslee neck and neck. Inslee defeated McKenna, winning just over 51% of the vote. McKenna won 31 of 39 counties, with many of his greatest margins in Washington’s most rural areas. Inslee won 63% of the vote in King County, Washington’s largest, which proved decisive.

Political positions

Tax policy

McKenna has, on several occasions, defended the "2/3 rule" requiring a two-third vote before any tax increases. He opposed I-1098, a ballot initiative to impose state income taxes on households earning more than $400,000. He supports increasing the Business & Occupation (B&O) tax credit to $4,800 per year for small businesses in all categories. McKenna has proposed requiring out-of-state businesses that sell into Washington (including online and mail-order companies) to pay state taxes, even if they lack a physical presence there.

Education

McKenna supports increased funding for colleges and K-12 education. He is a strong proponent of school choice and charter schools. He wants to end the unfair distribution of education funding, which gives more funding to schools with students that come from wealthier families. In doing this, McKenna hopes to increase class mobility for low-income students.

Same-sex marriage

McKenna opposes the legalization of same-sex marriage and believes that the legality of gay marriage should be decided by a popular vote (and was eventually approved by popular vote on 11/06/2012 by Washington Referendum 74 (2012)). He supports civil unions.

Abortion

McKenna is pro-choice, and wants to ensure that all pharmacies sell the morning-after pill. As a general provision, McKenna would support legislation that would require parental notification before a minor obtains an abortion. "I’m like a lot of parents," McKenna said. "When your daughter turns 13 and the mom is kicked out of the examining room for anything related to reproductive health, it’s troubling for a lot of parents."