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2008 Gregoire v Rossi Governor Race : The Basics. 10-22-2008
Corrected & Edited 10/28 & 29/2008 The Basics
The current 2008 Washington State Governor’s Race is a heated and well funded contest indeed. It is a rematch between Christine Gregoire, who prefers the Democratic Party, and Dino Rossi, who prefers the GOP, aka Republican Party. Gregoire and Rossi ran against each other in 2004. Dino Rossi just didn’t lose to Chris Gregoire in 2004, in the ordinary fashion. Rossi ultimately lost by only 133 votes, after some 500 additional ballots were found uncounted in King County [2] which discovery itself came only after the original vote count was already concluded. There were also multiple cliff-hanging and reversing recounts, a lawsuit, and an appeal. But in the end, Rossi still lost. Chris Gregoire was declared the winner, and got to add a 4-year term as Governor to the three 4-year terms she had served as WAState Attorney General.
Builder Groups— Guilty of Violating Campaign Finance Laws? — the Details
On July 25, 2008, less than a month before our Washington State Primary, a group led by two former state Supreme Court Justices, Faith Ireland and Robert Utter, sent a letter to our State Attorney General, Rob McKenna, and three county prosecutors, accusing the Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW) of “amassing $3.5 million in an illegal secret fund for its campaign to defeat Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire.” [1]
The letter informed its recipients that unless government attorneys took action, this group would bring its own private action. This was just standard procedure under Washington State law, which permits private actions under its campaign finance laws, provided notice is given to the attorney general and other appropriate prosecutors. The Attorney General properly forwarded this letter and its complaints to the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC).
On September 15th a unanimous PDC found that there had been two different types of campaign finance violations committed— a failure to timely report some $585,000 that the builders had set aside for the 2008 governor’s race back in July 2007; and a failure to declare a political committee for overtly political action. An affiliate of the BIAW was involved in the first violation. The Master Builders Associations of King and Snohomish County were names in the second matter.
On September 19th Attorney General McKenna filed the two lawsuits, having found there was “sufficient evidence” in both cases. Status conferences before the court were scheduled for December 19th. [3] This would, of course, be well after the November Election.
Old Enemies & Old Judicial Politics
Few readers following these legal battles in the newspapers were probably surprised by either the events or the harsh words that the parties used against each other.
Over the years, the BIAW had spent millions of dollars on conservative issues and candidates. Labor unions, environmentalists, and Democrats were said to have a lot of animosity against the builder group. In the 2004 Governor’s Race, the BIAW had backed Rossi against Gregoire, and financed TV and radio ads attacking her record.
Also in 2004, the BIAW had spent a great deal of money to help elect Jim Johnson to an open seat on the Washington state Supreme Court — a seat that had been vacated by Faith Ireland, who had decided not to seek a second six-year term. The large amounts of money the BIAW threw into the Jim Johnson race was said to have “changed the dynamic” of Washington state Supreme Court races.
In 2006, the BIAW tried to repeat its earlier success, and backed property rights advocate, John Groen, against incumbent Chief Justice Gerry Alexander, and financed particularly caustic attack ads against Alexander.
Gov. Christine Gregoire and others formed a liberal PAC supporting the incumbent judges, after a conservative PAC had been formed by libertarian Justice Richard Sanders. Faith Ireland publicly responded to radio attack ads against Justice Tom Chambers (who was not opposed by the BIAW). |
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Washington State-Wide Races: The Governor’s Race Page 1 |
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Story continued on . . . |
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The story becomes a bit complicated and legalistic for the next few paragraphs. Hang In There! Note the name of one of the “former State Supreme Court Justices” who is mentioned, Faith Ireland. To me , it is Faith Ireland who really makes this story interesting! |
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This Story related to the Governor’s Race is in longer term development than other entries on this Site. I will try my best not to write over and edit existing entries, but I’m trying to get “just right” some complicated ideas and events. I do apologize for any confusion during these first few days of “building” and “gluing together” these particular Pages of the Site. |