(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Trump Resister WA's Bob Ferguson [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-11-18 Washington State’s Democratic Governor-Elect Bob Ferguson–A Key Member of the Trump Resistance November 18, 2024 Many Democrats rightly understand that they must not cower before Demagogue/Dictator wannabe Donald. Donald “claims” that after defeating Democrat Kamala Harris to win a second Oval Office term, he has a broad mandate and keeps repeating along with his media friends that he won in a “landslide.” Again, get real! All the votes in the November 5, 2024 presidential race are still being counted. Many of those yet to be counted will be coming from the anti-Trump West Coast, including Golden State/ “Blue” California. Trump is currently winning the popular vote, but he did not win a majority of it. A majority is 50% +1 which he does not have. Biden and Obama received outright majorities. Obama won an outright majority twice, 52.9% in 2008 and 51.1% in 2012 (See kos.com 11/16/24). You get the idea. Again, we must take Demagogue Donald at his word. We must start right now getting ready to fight Donald’s awful agenda. During the campaign, he vowed to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, and this time, GOP Sen. John McCain is not alive to stop him. Trump has also promised to curb environmental laws and continue his attack on reproductive rights. The House and Senate are now held by GOPers, most of whom are part of Trump’s cult of personality. They will bend and bow before just about anything he plans to do. Trump’s extremist Cabinet picks, including RFK Jr. and Matt Gaetz, show that he plans to stick his finger into the eye of the American people, including many who voted for him. Fortunately, Democratic governors will be a major part of this resistance and will not go “gently into Trump’s authoritarian night.” California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom (my effective head of state) has called for a special legislative session to “Trump-proof” his “Bluest” and most populated-state in the U.S. Democratic Governors have just formed a new pro-democracy organization, “Governors Safeguarding Democracy,” GSD (nytimes.com, cnn.com). This new pro-democracy group will consist of think tanks, legal experts, and democracy advocates.Through “governor-led efforts and the support of a network of senior staff, this group will foster cross-state collaboration, including the sharing of essential tools, knowledge, and resources (nytimes.com).” This GSD group will work across state lines. It will work together on “elections and laws against encroachment from what they expect to be a hostile federal government (nytimes.com).” Top staff members of this group will include Illinois Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker, Colorado Democratic Governor Jared Polis, and Julia Spiegel, a former legal adviser to CA Dem. Governor Gavin Newsom. And get this. Governors from “Blue” States are not the only ones wanting to join this group of Trump resisters. Gov. Pritzker told the NY Times that he has also had conversations with GOP Governors about joining “Governors Strengthening Democracy” (Kos Staff, Stephens, M., 11/16/24). Washington State Governor-elect and former Attorney General Bob Ferguson and his team have also studied Trump’s campaign promises and the awful Project 2025 blueprint Trump and his friends are supporting. Ferguson is ready to prepare lawsuits to block federal actions by Trump and Company. Ferguson has experience fighting Trump. When Demagogue Donald took office the first time, Ferguson filed nearly 100 lawsuits against him and led the charge in lawsuits against Trump’s Muslim travel ban (kos.com, 11/16/24). Meet Evergreen State Governor-elect Ferguson. Democrat Robert Watson Ferguson (59) will assume office as WA State’s Governor on January 15, 2025. In 2024, he won election to the governorship by defeating former WA GOP Cong. Dave Reichert by an 11.4% margin (nbcnews.com). He will succeed that state’s present Democratic Governor Jay Inslee. Seattle native Ferguson is a fourth-generation Washingtonian whose great-grandparents homesteaded on the Skagit River in the 19th Century near what is now the area of Marblemount (newstribune.com, 2/01/12). After graduating from Bishop Blanchet High School in 1983, he attended the University of Washington where he was elected Student Body President. After receiving his undergraduate degree, Ferguson joined the Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest where he directed an emergency services office for a year (Young, B., old.seattletimes.com, 10/10/12, elections.kitsapsun.com, 3/17/18). Ferguson obtained a law degree from New York University Law School. While in law school, he received a grant to provide legal assistance to the Yaqui tribe in Guadalupe, Arizona where he lived for a time and provided a wide range of legal assistance to that community ( kingcounty.gov/Ferguson/Biography , 11/0512). After law school graduation, Ferguson clerked for two federal judges (bellevuebusinessjournal.com, 2/14/11). Following his clerkships, Ferguson returned to Seattle and engaged in private practice at the law firm of Preston Gates & Ellis where he was a litigator. He worked on litigation that successfully defended taxpayers from paying overruns associated with the Safeco Field construction. He handled cases involving software piracy and successfully sued companies that stole intellectual property from Washington State companies (heraldnet.com, 10/25/12). After four years in private practice, Ferguson first won election to the King County Council in 2003. He won re-election and remained in that office until 2013. In that office, Ferguson worked on improving health services for military personnel, mental health issues, and environmental matters. He aided small businesses (wiki). In 2010, Ferguson was selected to join the Aspen Institute-Rodel Fellowship, a program that brings together the nation’s most promising political leaders (bellevuebusinessjournal.com, 2/14/11). In 2012, Ferguson ran for Washington State Attorney General and won by a margin of more than 200,000 votes. During his campaign, he visited all the state’s 39 counties and became WA’s 18th Attorney General. He was handily re-elected to this position in both 2016 and 2020 by margins of 34% and 13% respectively (WA State Attorney General election results, 2012-2020). In the Washington State Attorney General’s office, Ferguson, as previously noted, was not shy about suing Demagogue Donald. He sued the Trump administration 97 times and personally led this litigation in 36 of those cases. He won 22 times and lost just once (atg.wa.gov, Gutman, D., seattletimes.com, 11/14/20). In April, 2013, Ferguson filed a consumer protection lawsuit against “Arlene’s Flowers,” a Richland, WA floral shop after that business refused to provide flowers for a couple’s same sex wedding. After litigation that twice went to the WA State Supreme Ct, the floral shop owner lost her case in a unanimous decision When Demagogue Donald signed an executive order on Jan. 27, 2017, which banned entry to the U.S. for 90 days for non-citizen refugees from 7 Mid -Eastern countries, Ferguson and Gov. Inslee filed a legal challenge against this action and charged it was a case of religious discrimination. They were supported by WA-based companies Amazon and Microsoft. A Federal U.S. District Judge ruled in Ferguson’s favor for a temporary restraining order on the enforcement of the travel ban nationwide (npr.org, reuters.com, 2/04/17). Ferguson suggested a bill banning assault weapons which passed the WA House in March, 2023. Pro-gun groups challenged Ferguson’s “large capacity” magazine ban. Ferguson settled with a local gun shop for $3 million after the owner continued selling high-capacity ammunition magazines (firearmspolicy.org, 6/03/22, ABC News, 2/06/24). Atty. General Ferguson filed a lawsuit against Providence Health & Services for violating WA’s charity care. He received a 2024 settlement in which Providence refunded nearly $21 million in medical bills, as well as erasing medical debt of $137 million. Attorney Gen. Ferguson had previously filed lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson for contributing to opioid addiction. In 2024, Ferguson also reached a $149.5 million settlement with that company (Johnson,G., msn.com, 2/01/24, Ramer, H., 1/24/24 wpbs.org/newshour ). In August, 2016, Ferguson announced that WA State would sue telecommunications company Comcast over deceptive consumer practices. A court’s ruling resulted in $9.1 million in civil penalties against that company (O’Sullivan, J., 6/06/19). In view of Attorney General Ferguson’s record going against Donald and other companies that often back Trump’s big business agenda, we should have no doubt that he will continue to go after him as Governor. We must strongly support Ferguson when he becomes Governor, the other Governors resisting Demagogue Donald, and similar groups fighting him. Democracy is on the line. 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