Ferguson rolls out public safety plan, including $100 million for more cops

Plus fresh cash in the AG's race, a new face at the Ferguson campaign, and some recommended reading

Attorney General and would-be Gov. Bob Ferguson laid out his public safety platform Thursday, including a proposed $100 million grant program to help local governments hire more police officers. The AG sat down with Drew Mikkelsen over at KING5 if you’re looking for the standard story. 

We’re more interested in the political implications of this move. Although “attorney general” is often read as “top cop,” the office doesn’t really have that big a role in criminal justice in Washington. That doesn’t mean Ferguson’s opponents won’t try to drape some of the state’s heavy public-safety baggage from the last 12 years on the Democrats’ shoulders.

Here’s why you should care about this: if Ferguson has a big vulnerability in this campaign, it’s public safety. For example, he had to walk back his support for the broad decriminalization of drugs as the politics of that reversed in the last two years.