Gregoire deserves four more years

• Published October 12, 2008

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Four years ago when we endorsed Chris Gregoire for governor, we said she brought experience, vision, intensity, common sense and a commitment to the public in her bid for a four-year term.

Little has changed. She has the same opponent, Republican Dino Rossi, a commercial real estate investor and former state senator.

Voters should re-elect Gregoire on Nov. 4.

The one thing that has changed in this gubernatorial rematch is the tone of the campaign. Both candidates and their followers are guilty of mudslinging. The television advertisements have been filled with distortions and outright lies and both candidates are equally guilty of wrongdoing. There are no winners when candidates sink to this level. In the minds of many, the Gregoire/Rossi race has set a new low mark for politics in Washington state.

Rossi, who turns 49 on Wednesday, spouts conservative talking points — that he's a breath of fresh air, that it's time for a change, that he's the candidate of government efficiency and no new taxes. In his campaign four years ago, he supported the Defense of Marriage Act and said a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage would be a last resort. He is an anti-abortion Catholic who said the death penalty should be imposed in only the most heinous cases. This time he, like Gregoire, opposes Initiative 1000, the assisted suicide measure on the Nov. 4 general election ballot.

Rossi is clearly running against the Olympia establishment in his 2008 campaign. He says as governor he gets to appoint 1,000 people to official positions and he'll use that opportunity to bring outsiders into the capital. In addition to shaking up the higher levels of management, Rossi made it clear in his interview with The Olympian's editorial board that he's not afraid to take on the powerful state employee unions. He argues, for example, that the governor should not negotiate wage and salary packages with union leaders during the campaign season when union groups are donating heavily to political causes.