Economy set to play big role as Gregoire-Rossi battle kicks off

Four more years.

The chant followed Gov. Chris Gregoire on a three-city tour Monday, the first leg of her re-election campaign kickoff. During six stops, she emphasized her role as someone who gets things done for the environment, the economy, health care and safety.

On unemployment, the Democrat emphasized that the state has gone from the highest unemployment rate in the nation — tied with Oregon — to the lowest in the state's history.

"When I came, I set a goal. Let's put Washington State and its people back to work," she said. "That goal has been met — 225,000 new jobs have been created over the last four years."

She never mentioned Republican opponent Dino Rossi by name, but painted him as a politician who didn't make decisions.

"The fact of the matter is if you want a governor who will be an echo chamber for Washington, D.C., the other Washington, I am not your candidate," Gregoire said at Zones Inc. in Auburn, the largest minority-owned business in the state.

Auburn, the governor's hometown, was the first stop before heading to Tacoma and Vancouver.

In Tacoma, U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks introduced the governor, saying "Washington has never had a better governor" than Gregoire.

He also described her as a fighter who went against big tobacco companies and won.

Gregoire told the couple hundred people gathered at the Landmark Convention Center that she's "taken the tough challenges and delivered results."

Those challenges include traffic congestion, prison overcrowding, a polluted Puget Sound, health care for children and education.

She also talked about the kidnapping and killing of Zina Linnik in Tacoma last year. After the tragedy, she gathered a committee to study what could be done to prevent similar crimes in the future.

"We went to work this Legislative session and took every recommendation and put it into law," she said, including a community policing pilot project in Tacoma.

"When I look at what we have done together, I see amazing things," she said.

After hearing the governor speak in Tacoma, Sherry Brown-Yet of Parkland said she thought the governor was "wonderful."

"I support her 100 percent," she said. She brought her children, Desirea, 12, and Nicholas, 9, who were on spring break. She said their education is a big reason she supports Gregoire.

Gregoire also met with about a dozen business and community leaders at King's Books after the convention center stop.

While there, Pat McDermott, owner of the shop, asked the governor if there's any chance of making the state's tax system fairer. He said sales taxes disproportionately affect poorer people, who spend a larger percent of their disposable income on necessities and therefore end up paying a higher ratio of taxes.

Gregoire said "we ought to have a vibrant debate about it. But I am very close to the effort by (former governor) Booth Gardner."

She said Gardner sent a team around the state for a year, explaining how a state income tax would work. She said another obstacle is that many people don't believe a sales tax is regressive.

"It's hard to get past those two sentiments. I think we ought to have a huge debate about that," she said. She gave no indication the idea of a state income tax would be politically viable, though.

Marty Campbell, a business owner and community organizer, asked about what the state could do to encourage support of local businesses.

Gregoire said the state was already working on it by passing a bill into law this session that encourages school districts to buy produce from local farms.

"Let's talk about other ways that we can help," she said.

She made a gesture to Norm Dicks, who sat near her, and said they had just made a case at the national level for going local: The Boeing Co. tanker deal that fell through. The deal was brought up several times throughout the day.