Howling media bias on the governor's race

Today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer ran an anti-Rossi hit piece on its "news" page:

It's a familiar Republican drumbeat: Less red tape equals more jobs.

Dino Rossi has made regulatory reform the centerpiece of his campaign for governor, a platform aimed at benefiting Olympia's powerful business lobby.

But the effect of Rossi's ambitious agenda could be much greater than simply streamlining the arcane, voluminous layers of bureaucracy frustrating business owners.

If elected governor, Rossi would immediately grant himself broad oversight over all areas regulated by the state, including the environment, health, safety and social services. No new regulation could be implemented without approval of Rossi's regulation czar.

Critics say the changes could mean less protection for the public. And they say regulatory reform in New York state has hurt the most vulnerable by eliminating safety standards for homeless shelters and threatening subsidies for the poor and disabled.

While short on some details, Rossi promises to "change the culture" in state government with his plan, modeled after an initiative launched a decade ago by New York Gov. George Pataki, another Republican. The paramount issue of Rossi's candidacy, it's exactly the plan business groups, including some non-profits, have been seeking.

"It would be one of those pivotal events that begins to signal a cultural change," said Richard Davis, president of the conservative think tank, Washington Research Council.

But detractors of Pataki's regulatory reform office say it's gone too far. They say Pataki has built himself a powerful and secretive vehicle for his own agenda -- from weakened environmental standards to more conservative social policies.

Of course, every governor "would immediately grant himself broad oversight over all areas regulated by the state". That's every governor's job. The "news" article makes it sound like Rossi aims to install a dictatorship in order to exterminate homeless people. In fact, Rossi's main innovation is to protect the public from the dictatorship of unelected bureaucrats running amok and imposing arbitrary unlegislated regulations that get in the way of fair commerce and effective government. "Eliminating safety standards for homeless shelters"? I doubt it. Try: "Relax unreasonable regulations in order to allow more housing for the homeless to be created".

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at October 08, 2004 11:10 AM | Email This