Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Robert Jamieson today expresses grave doubts about Governor Christine Gregoire's character and integrity. Coming from a P-I columnist, this is fairly remarkable, and just one of many indications that Gregoire faces very tough sledding even if the state Supreme Court fails to order the new election sought by Republican challenger Dino Rossi.
Christine Gregoire dropped her inaugural speech on the ears of the state. The new governor said one thing. I heard and thought another.Gregoire told the crowd in Olympia the other day that "we all have a chance to have a positive influence in the lives of others" because "we all leave personal legacies for the people we know and love."
...my brain flashed back, first to Gregoire's sorority days at the University of Washington. As president of Kappa Delta sorority more than three decades ago, she tolerated a "whites-only, Christians-only" rule. She presided over rituals with hooded white robes that even reminded some of her own sorority sisters of the Ku Klux Klan and the sorority's racist roots.
...Gregoire smiled during her speech in the Capitol Building. She preached about "a legacy of holding government accountable" and the importance of requiring "agencies to be more effective and efficient in achieving results, and ensuring that public tax dollars are being spent wisely." Her comments triggered the memory of when she was state attorney general. Her office missed a deadline to appeal a $17.8 million jury award to three disabled men abused while under state care. At the time, the 2000 judgment was the largest personal-injury verdict ever lodged against the state.
Instead of absorbing blame for the botched appeal -- as a laudable chief would -- Gregoire ducked, blaming an assistant, Janet Capps. That doesn't sound like taking responsibility for an error that walloped wallets of Washington taxpayers. It looks more like a calculating politician covering her rear end and finding a scapegoat.
Gregoire said the people of our state must change "the way we think about partisan politics, and change ... the way we reach out to each other and reconcile our differences."....In the post-election whirl, she blamed Rossi for being whiny in disputing ballot numbers and for fishing for votes. Didn't Gregoire whistle the same tune when she was behind, before a manual recount put her on top? Didn't she famously say every vote ought to count?
......"If we want unity," Gregoire said, nearing the end of her speech on Wednesday, "we must all be unifiers. If we want accountability, each of us must be accountable for all we do."
I started to feel queasy. "As Gandhi so famously said," Gregoire rhapsodized, "we must all 'be the change we want to see in the world.'" I wanted to throw up. Gandhi's ghost, I'm sure, wouldn't want to be invoked in the face of such hypocrisy, either.
As the governor embarks on her future of change, she'd do well to take an honest look in the cracked mirror of her past. What Gregoire (the person) would see would not reflect what Gregoire (the newly anointed politician) says.
It's not often a Democrat makes Robert Jamieson, or anyone at The P-I, want to throw up. FWIW.
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at January 14, 2005 04:57 PM | Email ThisJamieson has the rare talent of objective writing....something we NEVER see at the Seattle PI! ....
The downside is.....He'll probably be looking for a job soon! sigh....
Perhaps they are trying to be somewhat objective now so that when all is said and done, they can say, "See, we had it covered".
Posted by: TADD on January 14, 2005 05:21 PMhttp://seattlepi.nwsource.com/jamieson/198304_robert05.html
Posted by: Mike H on January 14, 2005 05:45 PMThe Seattle PI reports on 'THE SHARK"
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/jamieson/207532_robert12.html
Kudos to SoundPolitics, and the PI for objective journalism. Most of the Mainstream Media is working to "heal" our state, by giving positive publicity to LewdiChris (a.k.a. Fraudoire).
Shouldn't they be critical of what just happened in this election? While I'm sure many of us would prefer that to be the case, too many lefties permeate the Editorial Boards of our great Media Giants in Washington. Rather than questioning the government, and asking the tough questions that need to be asked, they roll over and play "catch". Connelly, another writer with the Seattle PI might as well just reprint Fraudoire's own press releases as his "editorial column". I called and asked him about his latest piece:
"In The Northwest: While the GOP rants, Gregoire gets to work"
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/207875_joel14.html
When asked why the PI and Times hadn't been reporting on the whole election fiasco, he said they're "not obligated" to report anything. Furthermore, he suggested that bloggers like SoundPolitics just throw lies and Innuendos around to see, "what sticks".
Rather than echoing Gov. LewdiChris' press releases, is it too much to ask for an objective and forthright analysis?
Cross-Posted on www.plucrs.blogspot.com
Posted by: CR ACTIVST on January 14, 2005 05:53 PMHis colleague Joel Connelly must get paid more. Connelly's vitriolic one-sided attacks against anything right of liberal are launched from a position of privelege on a news page, not the op-ed section at all. But all was joy today in the bumper-to-bumper world, to hear him on John Carlson's show snorting and complaining against Sound Politics and its horrible attacks on CG and 'the people's business'. Someone here has stung him, and his plummy baritone rode roughshod over Carlson as he stereotyped Sound Politics as low-class and abusive by quoting some name-callers from the comment sections, as if they typified the blog.
As with Ken Schram yesterday, he would not give Carlson a straight answer to questions about the real abuses committed by the King County Elections people. Nor would Connelly acknowledge the clear reporting by Sound Politics of the election irregularities - which his 'newspaper' doesn't make any effort to investigate, other than quoting Dean Logan as gospel truth.
Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on January 14, 2005 06:05 PMIt's not a lesson we'll soon forget.
Posted by: headless lucy on January 14, 2005 06:37 PMHe gave the media too much credit, but he made his points well and stayed focused on his goal, a re-vote.
I will be watching...
I think it's great - that Rossi has National momentum growing in this contest!
Posted by: Deborah on January 14, 2005 06:53 PMOddly, that's the second time I've seen it today!
Posted by: DeadManVoting (aka Iguana) on January 14, 2005 07:01 PMGo here for more:
http://bovis.gyuvet.ch/3dict/390ainet.htm
Posted by: Ken on January 14, 2005 07:11 PMI read the Seattle P.I. Op-Ed section several times a week, and whatever I read usually makes me want to vomit.
Posted by: Cyd (Metnally Insane) on January 14, 2005 07:21 PMYou have had Nat'l attention from the moment Rossi was declared the winner by 261 votes. I am in NE (No not New England, Nebraska). This thing has been followed in the Blogs, on national radio, in national dead tree and online newspapers. Where have you been? LOL
Posted by: Ordi on January 14, 2005 07:26 PMMight be a good day to at least pull out that orange T-shirt.
First, Jamieson takes surprising positions from time to time. I don't think he's as far left as the rest of the PI.
Second, he is black and is probably offended by the racist past of gReGore. After all, it's usually the rightous Democrats who are out monitoring slips and language or behavior that MIGHT indicate some sort of deviation from their definition of political correction.
They don't often expect that filter to be applied to themselves. But, hey, live by the sword, die by the sword, right?
Posted by: DeadManVoting (aka Iguana) on January 14, 2005 08:07 PMHere's the article:
Democrats want the case thrown out because they believe the state Constitution grants the Legislature (which is now controlled by Democrats), not the courts, the power to invalidate a gubernatorial election. They will argue that the court lacks the proper jurisdiction to rule on the matter.
That's a stark contrast to what Democratic lawmakers maintained throughout two days of heated debate this week, that the courts are the appropriate place to decide whether the election should stand.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/207867_governor14.html
Posted by: Mark on January 14, 2005 08:14 PMFunny...very funny
Posted by: R.W. Nut on January 14, 2005 08:19 PMThe UW is known for its over the top PC agenda wtih woman studies and the like.
When I was there, a single (caucasion) guy stood up to the woman studies prof and they attempted to crucify him. His name was Pete..something.
Posted by: Erik on January 14, 2005 08:22 PMMark,
I saw that too! Yesterday, I believe....
But I thought it was in a letter received from one of the Democrats in the legislature...Perhaps she used the PI story for her letter...
Anyway - I thought it was so absurd! So contrary to what actually transpired in the legislature when the vote was taken to delay the certification of the Governor! The Democrats in the house and senate voted against the delay - citing the matter was for the courts to decide!!
I guess the Dems want it denied both ways! They love to confuse an issue until it exasperates everyone!
Heh...It isn't going to work this time....
Posted by: Deborah on January 14, 2005 08:36 PMOh, that's right, you're losing debates there also.
Posted by: Lawrence on January 14, 2005 08:37 PMWith Country Joe, the only perspective that matters is his, and if you behave yourself, he'll lower himself to explain why only an idiot wouldn't agree. Otherwise, you can just stew in your juices and be on the outside looking in.
For Jamieson, I don't think that it's a right/left thing. He leans left, but it's tempered by realism.
The reason you notice him is that he's a rarity in the Seattle MSM. He doesn't have to look "objectivity" up in the dictionary.
Posted by: scott158 on January 14, 2005 09:26 PMpaul daniel
Posted by: paul daniel on January 14, 2005 10:28 PMI do agree with one thing she said : "we must all BE the change we want in the world" or whatever that was. YES, X-TINE, PLEASE BE THE CHANGE THAT MAKES YOU INTO AN UNEMPLOYED EX-GOVERNOR
Posted by: Michele S on January 14, 2005 10:50 PMWas that crucify or castrate?
The Women's Studies department at UW, as with most universities, is a lead in the victim cult that contemporary feminism has become.
But, hey, you know that you are part of a vast patriarchy conspiracy, now don't you?
Posted by: DeadManVoting (aka Iguana) on January 15, 2005 02:12 AM