DNR commissioner tries to force AG’s help in court

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — The state’s public lands commissioner is taking Attorney General Rob McKenna to court.

The dispute between McKenna and Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark centers on a right-of-way case in Okanogan County.

The county Public Utility District won a lower-court case allowing it to run power lines across some state trust land that Goldmark manages.

The attorney general is the lawyer for state agencies in official matters. Goldmark, a Democrat, wants to appeal the case. But McKenna, a Republican, has refused to do so.

Now, Goldmark is asking the state Supreme Court to force McKenna to get involved.

Goldmark says McKenna is ignoring his legal duty to represent the Department of Natural Resources. But McKenna says he can decide which cases to appeal on his own.