State attorney general

Deborah Senn

Democrat

Personal: 55, married, two children.

Education: Senn has a bachelor’s in history (1970) and master’s in political science (1976) from the University of Illinois. Her law degree is from Loyola University, also in 1976.

Professional: Senn worked for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency as a law student and after graduation. She then went to work as a lawyer representing consumers in utility cases, and spent a year as a TV reporter in Anchorage. She then became counsel to a telecommunications committee in the Washington Legislature from 1985 to 1989. She became a lobbyist, representing the Service Employees International Union, the Northwest Women’s Law Center and the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence. She is now a lawyer and expert witness, specializing in asbestos and insurance cases.

Political: After an unsuccessful run for state Senate, Senn was elected state Insurance Commissioner in 1992, serving from 1993 to 2001. She was known as an outspoken advocate for consumers, with Ralph Nader once calling her the best insurance commissioner in the country. Her insurance reforms – and their costs to insurers – drew fire from health insurers, however, some of whom stopped writing new individual policies in the state.

Key issues: Senn said she would defend home ownership, by targeting predatory lenders. She would also focus on prescription drug problems, such as a recent anti-trust case, in which drug companies were allegedly working together to try to keep generic drugs off the market. Senn said she would aggressively go after high-tech crime, including identity theft, “spam” e-mails, and so-called spyware: programs that can secretly monitor keystrokes or computer activity. She said she would like to investigate this summer’s surge in gas prices, and that she’s committed to continuing the Hanford cleanup.

Key influence: Her mother

Favorite book: “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker

First priority if elected: “My priority is to be the people’s attorney.”

Mike Vaska

Republican

Personal: 43, married, with two sons

Education: Graduated from Stanford University in 1982, with a double major in economics and history. He got his law degree in 1985 from the University of Chicago.

Professional: Since graduating from law school, Vaska has worked at a Seattle law firm. Washington Law and Politics magazine has repeatedly named him to its annual list of the state’s “super lawyers.”

Political: No previous elected office

Key issues: Reducing liability claims against the state. Vaska said a typical family of four in Washington pays about $60 a year in “the litigation tax” due to claims and lawsuits against state government. “And it’s doubling every four years,” he said. The current state budget, he said, spends $170 million to pay claims and defend against new ones. To combat that, he said, taxpayers need “an experienced attorney, not a professional politician, in the attorney general’s office.” Vaska said he’d bring “a private-sector model of accountability” to the agency. “We need to make state government work better for citizens,” he said. His experience managing teams of lawyers in complex litigation, he said, is just what’s needed.

Key influence: His father, and former Gov. Dan Evans

Favorite book: “Undaunted Courage” by Stephen Ambrose

First priority if elected: Making sure the agency recruits and retains the best possible professional lawyers. “You don’t get anywhere without a good team.”