About Candidates, Ballot Measures, and Races

Governor

Governor Chris Gregoire has been a strong leader on many important issues, including education, health care, and global warming. (Back in May, she earned a Fuse Sizzle award for her global warming leadership.) No leader is perfect, but she's definitely earned a second term.

Governor Gregoire has initiated significant improvements in Washington's schools, including: reduced class sizes and increased teacher pay and training, expanded pre-kindergarten programs for low income children, additional space for thousands of students in engineering, math and science in colleges and universities, and increased scholarships for low-income students.

Under Gregoire's leadership the State has also significantly improved access to health care -- expanding healthcare coverage to 84,000 new children, preventing more than 17,000 adults from losing their coverage, and establishing Mental Health Parity, which requires insurance companies to treat mental illnesses comparably to physical illnesses.

On the economic front, since Gregoire took office Washington has created more than 200,000 new jobs, doubled its exports, and is ranked by Forbes Magazine as one of the three best states to do business.

Governor Gregoire has also been a leader on conservation issues, fighting for the passage of a sweeping Climate Action and Green Jobs bill that will generate real reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and help triple the number of green collar jobs in our state to at least 25,000 by 2020. She also launched an ambitious new initiative to clean up Puget Sound. And Governor Gregoire is currently suing the Bush Administration's Environmental Protection Agency for refusing to allow stricter car emission standards, which she had proposed to implement in 2009.

Rossi's Record
Gregoire's opponent, Dino Rossi is a former State Senator with an extremely conservative voting record. And this is a track record he is trying to hide from--during this and previous campaigns, he has worked hard to avoid stating a position on many important issues. But he is anti-choice, and has a long track record of supporting conservative business interests while voting against transit, environmental protection, health care, education, and consumer protection.

Throughout his career, Dino Rossi opposed critical investments in the highway, transit and ferry systems. He voted against hundreds of million of dollars for the operations of ferries, eliminated funding for transit service and opposed investments in highway improvements. He sponsored a bill that would have eliminated Sound Transit, created by local voters in 1996 to operate light rail, commuter rail and express bus service. And he supported an unsuccessful statewide initiative to reverse state transportation investments in 2005.

Rossi's record on health care is also disturbing. The budget he designed as Chair of the Ways and Means committee in 2003 eliminated health care for 46,000 low-income kids, and slashed family planning in rural areas. He opposed a Patients Bill of Rights designed to help patients who were denied health care coverage and improve patient privacy, and he voted against a bill to require health insurance companies to cover birth control pills if they also covered other prescription drugs.

Rossi has a long track record of opposing environmental protection efforts and supporting environmental rollbacks. Until about two months ago, Rossi refused to admit that global warming was real and as a State Senator he voted against bills to reduce global warming pollution and to recognize climate change as a threat. He supported several bills over the years aimed at reducing or eliminating limits on irresponsible development in rural areas, as well as bills attempting to reduce protections for rivers and streams. And while the Bush Administration was rolling back important environmental standards, Rossi voted to limit Washington's ability to set standards exceeding federal limits.

There also real concerns about Rossi's ties to powerful business interests, and his record of supporting their self-serving agendas rather than the concerns of ordinary citizens. Rossi has a longstanding and mutually beneficial relationship with the Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW)--a trade association led by ultra-conservative developers--who are the state's most powerful and extreme special interest. The BIAW is Dino Rossi's largest political patron, starting with his election to the State Senate. They spent close to $1 million promoting Rossi's failed bid for governor in 2004 and are already spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on his 2008 campaign. Two former State Supreme Court justices have called for an investigation into BIAW's contributions, saying they are skirting public disclosure rules.

The BIAW reports that Dino Rossi voted with them 99 percent of the time as a State Senator, attempting to block legislation reducing global warming pollution, supporting efforts to weaken the Growth Management Act and opposing efforts to strengthen consumer protections against negligent building contractors. It is also important to note that while a State Senator, Rossi also purchased a multi-million dollar apartment building and co-founded a bank with BIAW lobbyists, which we believe is a conflict of interest.

We think that Dino Rossi is out of touch with Washington residents. His beliefs and values are too conservative for Washington residents and are not in line with what voters have shown their support for.

Rossi on the Issues
Health Care: As a State Senator, Rossi's record on healthcare speaks for itself. He wrote a budget that would have cut healthcare coverage for 40,000 kids. He sided with the insurance industry in voting against a patient bill of rights that would put patients and their doctors in charge of medical decisions. He sided with big pharmaceutical companies by voting to stop our state from negotiating lower drug prices. And, he opposed the Family and Medical Leave Act. Some have described Rossi's health care policy as "Don't Get Sick."

Economic Fairness: Rossi voted for--and still supports-- cuts in the minimum wage that would badly hurt many of the 57,000 Washingtonians who earn the legal minimum. He voted against letting people use sick leave to care for ailing family members. He voted to deny unemployment benefits to victims of domestic violence. Rossi voted for changes to the unemployment system that dramatically cut benefits for workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own, for cutting workers' compensation benefits for victims of job-related hearing loss, for repealing the workplace ergonomic safety rule and for freezing the state minimum wage

Transportation: Rossi has released a widely-panned $15 billion "plan" that eliminates funding for transportation choices and assigns foolishly low costs to highway projects, from the SR-520 Bridge and the Alaskan Way Viaduct to the North Spokane Corridor freeway. Mark Hallenbeck, the respected director of the Washington state Transportation Center at the University of Washington, said Rossi's numbers are "completely divorced from reality." Rossi's so-called plan, he says, is "a political statement. It's complete silliness." Rossi's plan is overwhelmingly focused on building new highways, has no money for transit service, and is funded primarily by diverting over $10 billion from a general fund already facing severe shortfalls.

Education: Dino Rossi, as chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, wrote the budget that cut voter-approved funding for smaller class sizes and educator salaries. Rossi voted against a simple majority requirement for school levies. He has consistently opposed increased funding for the state's colleges and universities, making higher education less affordable to middle class families.

Reproductive Rights: Rossi has a long track record of opposing reproductive rights and access to birth control. He believes state-licensed pharmacists should be able to refuse to sell birth control for personal political reasons, and he supports the use ineffective and long-discredited "abstinence-only" sex education programs. Rossi worked against the statewide initiative that codified Roe v. Wade into state law, and supports additional restrictions on abortion rights, making clear that if the issue came to him as governor he "would vote my conscience."

Global Warming: Dino Rossi refused to acknowledge that global warming was real until just four months ago, and he voted with the special interests opposed to all the global warming bills that came his way while he was in the State Senate. He still hedges by citing "debate in the scientific community" about the role of humans in global warming. He has developed a climate plan that actually increases global warming pollution. His plan, according to an analysis by Fuse, Sierra Club, and Washington Conservation Voters, would add an additional 21.5 million tons of carbon dioxide pollution to the atmosphere.

Environment: For seven years as State Senator, Rossi voted against the environment more than two-thirds of the time, according to Washington Conservation Voters. He blocked efforts to phase out the release of mercury and other toxic chemicals into the environment. He voted to reduce protection for clean rivers and streams from developers. He supported a proposal to prohibit any state protections that were stronger than federal rules gutted by the Bush administration. And Rossi has regularly voted to weaken the Growth Management Acts protections against irresponsible development.

We believe that the strong leadership Governor Gregoire has shown on issues including education, health care, and global warming has earned her another term as Governor of the great state of Washington.

Attorney General

The Attorney General (AG) is the Chief Legal Officer of the state. The AG is responsible for protecting consumers in Washington State, upholding the state Consumer Protection Act, representing the public regarding utilities, and pursuing anti-competitive business practices. The AG advises the Governor, Legislature, and state government officials, representing the state in court. The AG investigates crimes at the request of the Governor or a County Prosecutor. The AG approves ballot titles for state initiatives, often the last "argument" made to voters before they mark their ballot.

We believe that the State's Attorney General is an important position of public trust, fighting for and protecting the people of Washington State. The job requires representing our State, standing up to corporations and even the federal government. It means fighting for what is right: for consumers, for the environment, and for our future.

John Ladenburg is the kind of Attorney General our state needs. He is a former Prosecutor who knows about fighting for justice. He has fought the Federal EPA to provide clean drinking water. He set up the state's first "drug court" to provide alternatives for first-time offenders. He handled tough cases involving racketeering and gang violence.

John Ladenburg has a strong leadership record of getting things done. He served as Pierce County Executive and as the Chair of Sound Transit. He built coalitions, worked to protect the environment, restore salmon runs, and build transit. He has the management experience to understand how to represent the state and the passion to take the initiative to protect its citizens.

Incumbent Attorney General Rob McKenna is smart, very ambitious, and very conservative. He has opposed limits on irresponsible development and fought rail transit, while failing to stand up for ordinary citizens and challenge corporations on consumer protection issues like mortgage abuses.

A recent article in Consumer Affairs said the Attorney General is the "consumer's first line of defense". In an era where states now have to deal with everything from toxic toys to corrupt, predatory lenders, who is fighting for the consumers of Washington state? We are alarmed that Washington is the second worst state in the country for consumer fraud and thirteenth worst for identity theft. We wonder why Rob McKenna did not join other state AGs in looking into corrupt mortgage lenders selling people loans that they could not afford.

McKenna's failure to solve Washington's identity theft and consumer fraud problems, hasn't discouraged him from engaging in a major self-promotional campaign using public airtime donated to the people of Washington state for public service messages. We believe such messages should be limited in a campaign year.

We believe one test of Justice is willing to stand up even when it is unpopular with your friends. Rob McKenna was silent when George W. Bush illegally fired John McKay, the United States Attorney in Washington State. John Ladenburg spoke up--even though McKay is a Republican. Ladenburg has also served as an appointed defense attorney, representing defendants who faced the death penalty.

McKenna has never served in a courtroom. His record on the county council was very conservative, opposing community limits on irresponsible development, and fighting rail transit investments.

Commissioner of Public Lands

The Commissioner of Public Lands is the CEO of the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR). DNR protects and manages the 5.6 million acres of forestland, conservation areas, aquatic land the public owns in this state. Income from harvests and leases on trust land helps pay for school construction. DNR also protects the environment, providing data to state and local government on environmentally sensitive areas, and regulating timber harvests on public, private, and tribal land. Hopefully, DNR manages our land in a sustainable way for long-term benefit, preserving fish and wildlife habitat, protecting clean water, and providing for public recreation. We believe the Commissioner of Public Lands is both important for his direct responsibilities, but also his leadership and environmental stewardship.

Peter Goldmark has an impressive resume that makes him an ideal candidate for Commissioner of Public Lands. In addition, he's no stranger to serving his community. Goldmark is a volunteer firefighter and Molecular Biologist who maintains a small scientific research facility at his ranch in Okanagan, Washington. He served as Director of Agriculture for State of Washington, appointed by Governor Lowry in 1993 and has experience serving as Chairman of the Governor's Council on Agriculture and the Environment from 1994-1996, member of Governor's Council for a Sustainable Washington from 2002-2003, and member of Governor's Council on Biodiversity from 2004-2005. In addition, Goldmark was a member of the Okanogan School Board from 1998-2005 and currently serves of the board of the Washington State University-University of Washington Policy Consensus Center.

Incumbent Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland has lost sight of his responsibility to protect the public interest and manage resources sustainably. He has reduced oversight, increased clear-cuts, and is too cozy with industries he regulates- with literally disastrous results.

Under Sutherland, the Department of Natural Resources has established a track record of excessive clear-cutting and failures to protect important wildlife habitat. Fuse told you about a shocking investigative report by the Seattle Times, which reported that widespread failures at Commissioner Sutherland's DNR contributed to the landslides, flooding, and destruction during December's storm. According to the Times, the DNR reduced monitoring and allowed Weyerhaeuser to clear-cut dangerous, unstable slopes with "scant oversight," despite a history of landslides from previous logging, clear evidence of unstable slopes, and concerns from local officials.

That same week the Seattle P-I reported that due to lax oversight at DNR, Taylor Shellfish had been allowed to illegally harvest on public lands - despite one complaint filed with DNR over a decade ago. DNR is now investigating the shellfish farm, which comprises 17-25 acres of state land.

It's also important to note that contributions from the timber industry and shellfish companies make up over half of Commissioner Sutherland's 2008 campaign contributions, which we believe is a clear conflict of interest10.

We believe Peter Goldmark will be a breath of fresh air who will provide proper accountability and oversight to the DNR, which has lost the public's trust under Commissioner Sutherland.

We are also disturbed by a recent Seattle Times story about Commissioner Sutherland's personal conduct. As reported in the Seattle Times, "Sutherland, inappropriately touched and made remarks to a young female employee who soon quit the Department of Natural Resources despite his formal apology, according to public documents on the incident from his own department." Sutherland "acknowledged that the incident probably contributed to her departure."

Peter Goldmark has vowed to clean up the Timber Industry by reforming wasteful, short-term practices, demanding that the rules are followed, and strengthened as needed, and ending what he calls "the current policy of trading high-value forests to developers." As a former school board member, Goldmark says his strategies will protect the money rural schools rely on from timber sales.

We believe that Peter Goldmark will take the right approach to logging, which will lead to improved health and safety for Washingtonians, and will protect jobs, recreation access and habitat. And it's music to our ears that Goldmark has also vowed that he will not accept money from the industries he is supposed to regulate.