Beware L&I, Rossi is coming

Republican candidate for governor Dino Rossi stopped by The Olympian this morning, and we quizzed him on a topic near and dear to all our hearts: state government.

"The best information I get and am getting is from state employees," said the former Senate budget writer.

On the campaign trail, Rossi is running as an agent of change, promising to bring new people to state bureaucracy and take a red pen to the state budget. Asked where he was looking for change, he honed in on customer service in agencies like the Department of Labor and Industries.

“That’s No. 1, Labor and Industries,” he said.

Asked to name a member of Gov. Chris Gregoire’s cabinet he approves of, he mentioned the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"I think John Lee is doing a good job," Rossi said.

And those 2 percent annual raises Gregoire has been negotiating with state worker unions? Rossi’s been a big critic of Gregoire’s relationship with the unions, but was not pledging to revoke the deal.

"On it's face it sounds reasonable," he said of the raise amount. "Let's see what the situation is once we have a (new) revenue forecast."