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Projected Budget Deficit. Probably the most important issue in the 2008 WA Governor’s Election has been the enormous projected shortfall for our next budget period— some 3 Billion Dollars. And this is definitely the issue that is in Rossi’s plus column. You don’t have to be a fiscal conservative to appreciate that the head of a state cannot afford to overspend, hoping that good fiscal times will last forever. Not Everything is George Bush’s fault, and the attempt of the incumbent Gregoire to portray it as so, is so ungraceful. Face it Gregoire supporters, Gregoire loses big time on this one!
Transportation & Tolls. Transportation might be a problem, but, I doubt it’s all or maybe even greatly Gregoire’s fault. Some needed highway projects in Clark County have been done well. It looks like tolls are in our future, and that mass transit, of the appropriate type, is needed for different parts of the state. Gregoire and her Democratic supporters probably should be faulted for not sticking up for Clark County Commuters and an incredibly expensive Light Rail system that is definitely not needed here for decades, and whose purpose could be met just as well with buses. But it sounds like the experts don’t like Rossi’s master fix it plan. No one is a clear winner here.
WA State Income Tax . Gregoire and some Democrats have mentioned it, and maybe its in the works with such a predominant Democratic State legislature, but how should I know? A False Issue?
Women’s Right to Choose & Embryonic Stem Cell Research. I’m getting tired of hearing people assaulted for their private religious beliefs. Rossi keeps saying that he is NOT running on the issue of Abortion, fellow, but liberal Catholic Gregoire keeps refusing to accept his answer. That really is nasty negative advertising! As to embryonic stem cell research, I really doubt if we have the extra state money to provide research money that, if it has a future, should be provided privately. Dare I say to the Gregoire side: “It’s the Economy, Stupid!” Major Points deducted from Gregoire!
Minimum Wage. Gregoire (or some third party) keeps hitting Rossi over the head with this. I do hate TV Ads that outright lie, and these do. Rossi only talking about a smaller training minimum wage for the under-18 workers, NOT about adults. To Gregoire’s team: Liar, liar, pants on fire!
Unions & Tribal Casinos. I buy the Rossi position that Gregoire is too cozy with both the unions and the tribes. You don’t have to do something outright illegal, to be “in the tank” with them. I really would like more of an arm’s length relationship between the Governor and both these groups.
Big Business, Developers, & Rossi. Okay, points taken away from Rossi. But can he do that much schmoozing with a heavily Democrat legislature?
Environment. I refuse to see Rossi as a bad guy here. He and his family has to live in the state too! And same backup as above — heavy Democrat state legislature!
WASL. I wish Rossi had been elected in 2004 (But maybe he really was?) I like the idea of a national test. But is it now too late in the game?
Sonics. In the Last Debate, he actually indicated that Gregoire was responsible for the Sonics leaving Seattle. As a resident of Clark County, I’d like to say — Who Cares? This isn’t a proper top priority for a Governor, or even a bottom one. This is the attitude that got us the horrible CLEAN decision, where a need for a Base Ball Park was an “emergency”, resulting in the reduction of our Referendum rights. Points off for Rossi, but its not a serious violation, and he is a non-lawyer.
Total Score: Game for Rossi! That’s where my heart was all the time, anyway! |
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Washington State-Wide Races: The Governor’s Race
Conclusion to the Case of . . . and Issues Debated in 2008 Page 6 |
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Some Major & Minor AND Real & False Issues debated by Dino Rossi and Chris Gregoire in the 2008 Washington Governor’s Election |
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(continued from Prior Page)
2008 Judicial Elections. By the time that Charles W. Johnson came up for re-election in 2008, PDC v WEA and its unanimous reversal by the US Supreme Court in Davenport were ancient history. From a Pro Quest of the state newspapers, mention of this case never came up, nor of Justice Charles Johnson’s signing onto the faulty logic of the PDC v. WEA Majority Opinion. Justice Charles Johnson’s re-election is now just a formality, after he obtained more than 50% of the vote in the August 2008 Primary.
Conclusion
It is regrettable that memories are so short regarding the decisions of our state Supreme Court justices, and that the public is not better guided in understanding the workings of our courts. While both Faith Ireland and Charles W. Johnson, might have fine legal minds, their votes on, and Ireland’s authorship of the peculiar case of PDC v. WEA, should have been subjected to at least some intelligent public scrutiny. This seems especially so, where a former state Supreme Court Justice joins in a suit which is entirely based upon the people’s right of public scrutiny of its election process. |
