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State Sen. Dino Rossi, R-Sammamish, says Thursday during an interview in Longview that fund-raising won't be a problem during his gubernatorial campaign.GOP's Rossi says he's out to meet voters
Friday, November 21, 2003 8:09 AM PST
By M. L. Madison
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E-mail this articleWashington hasn't had a Republican governor for nearly 20 years, but that isn't deterring state Sen. Dino Rossi, who promised Thursday that he "won't be a downtown Seattle governor" if he's elected next year.
"I will come down here as often as I possibly can," Rossi, R-Sammamish, said in an interview with The Daily News.
A commercial real estate broker, Rossi, 44, said he will decide the first week of December whether to resign from the Senate before the next session begins in January. Resigning would free him from a restriction on raising campaign money while the Legislature is in session, but his biggest obstacle isn't financing the race, he said.
"I raised $133,000 and put it in the bank in the first week," said Rossi, who declared that he would run Nov. 10 after pressure from Republicans, including President George W. Bush. "The challenge is to make sure I can get in front of enough people."
Elected to the Senate in 1996 and re-elected in 2000, Rossi chairs both the Ways and Means and Economic Development committees. Rossi must give up his seat by next summer to run for governor.
Democrats say Rossi is too conservative. After Rossi declared, State Democratic Chairman Paul Berendt told the Associated Press that the Republican party was "scraping the bottom of the barrel with an anti-choice Realtor."
Rossi dismissed Democrats' claims that he is too conservative for the job. He said Democrats are trying to paint him as right-winger because he negotiated a no-new-taxes budget this year.
"That was the one thing that really upset them," he said, accusing House Democrats of trying to take money away from programs from the poor and the disabled to fund state employee raises. "I quite frankly didn't care if I had gotten re-elected. I tell every legislative leader, don't worry about getting re-elected -- do what you think is right, and explain it."
Rossi said he is getting support from pro-business, moderate Democrats, and he touted his experience in the private sector. He criticized Attorney General Christine Gregoire, who has reported raising $743,000 in campaign contributions and is considered the Democratic front-runner, for courting labor support.
"Christine Gregoire got up in front of the Washington State Labor Council and made a pledge to them: that you and labor will be involved in every decision" she makes if elected, Rossi said.
"How's that going to change things? They've been making the decisions for the last 20 years," he said.
Washington hasn't had a Republican in the Governor's mansion since John Spellman lost a re-election bid in 1984.
Although two other Republicans are running, Rossi is clearly the GOP's favorite son.
Light on specifics, Rossi said he wanted "a change in attitude from the top" to help improve the state's business climate.
Rossi, who has a 7 percent approval rating with the Labor Council, referred to last session's vote to cut unemployment benefits for some workers as "a modest reform." He said the state's ergonomic regulations, which voters scrapped this fall, "didn't make any sense."
He said he supports making more "adjustments" to the state's unemployment benefits, and cutting worker's compensation costs.
Jeff Smith, president of the Cowlitz/Wahkiakum Central Labor Council, said it was unlikely that Rossi would get much support in Cowlitz County.
"As far as his stance on unemployment, I don't know if he realizes how many people it's affected," Smith said Thursday. "There's tens of thousands of dollars that are going to be lost to the community."
He said the cuts in unemployment benefits and the repeal of the ergonomics regulations were "a stepping stone" towards Washington becoming a right-to-work state.
"Look at these right-to-work states -- they're some of the poorest states in the U.S.," he said. "And with all these cuts, has Boeing said they'd return to this state? No."
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