Christine Gregoire's aggressive response to radio ads critical of her record, as discussed below on the main page, was for a reason: changing the subject.
Behold the Seattle Times' recitation of the Democratic talking points refuting two such ads, on the topics of sex offenders and foster care.
Note that the Gregoire campaign has not pushed back anywhere near as aggressively on the other two radio spots in the same ad campaign related to transportation and taxes. One has to suspect because those are two topics her campaign would rather not bring to the forefront given that precious few voters would say either issue has improved much at the state level in the last four years.
To give credit where credit is due, Gregoire's staff has pulled out some credible factoids in a valiant attempt to defend her on the specific issues of sex offenders and foster care. And of course trotting out law enforcement endorsements helps mitigate the issue some too.
Even with all that, however, the aggregate record that Gregoire has to defend on public safety has some startling, gaping holes. Simply follow this series of headlines from 2007:
February 27, Seattle Times: 83 felons freed as state uses too much jail space
March 1, Seattle P-I: State routinely gambles on release of felons - Offenders completing 70% of supervision cut loose
March 1, Seattle Times: Gregoire: No more felons to be freed early
March 14, Seattle Times: State DOC resumes early felon releases
The details of those stories do not paint a pleasant picture, while the contrast between the 3rd and 4th headline is jarring.
Meanwhile, the Gregoire campaign's talking points fail to point out - as does today's Times article - just how many of the 1,300 plus untraceable sex offenders mentioned in the radio ads in question are now under proper supervision by the State. If the crackdown discussed late last year was so successful, wouldn't the Gregoire campaign have a lot of motivation to talk about that fact?
The Gregoire campaign's effort here is fundamentally about changing the subject. They don't want to talk about the issues at hand, so they revert to contrived outrage about independent expenditures - even as allies on their own side are readying such spending in spades, with many an unkind thing to say about Dino Rossi.
Gregoire's team knows the media will cover it because the BIAW is a black name in many journalistic circles, thus sure to land their push back efforts puff piece coverage. The campaign is further left safe in the knowledge that huge expenditures by assorted labor unions, environmental groups, and the like later this campaign season are less prone to receive attempted refutation on the front page of the local section of a Seattle daily.
Whether that works or not in the end remains to be seen, Dino Rossi had this to say as part of his remarks to the BIAW annual membership meeting today:
We have seen in the last week disturbing stories about the incumbent. It appears that if an interest group pays hundreds of thousands of dollars toward her party and her re-election she will support their agenda. She may even give away valuable benefits from the state treasury to benefit that special group.I need you to understand that as Governor I won't. Nobody is going to have this kind of influence in my administration. Nobody - including the business community. My decisions will be based on the best interests of all of the citizens.
I greatly appreciate people across this state who are supporting my campaign. But what they will buy with their support is a fair hearing from a governor who wants good businesses to be successful here. It is the same fair hearing I will give to everyone. Campaign support will not buy anything more.
Every group I speak in front of asks me about bringing home the bacon. And I tell each and every one of them that my role as governor is not to pick winners and losers, but create a climate where everyone has the opportunity to succeed.
That is the makings of a contrast that the incumbent will be hard pressed to minimize after events of the past week.
Exit question: the KING 5 puff piece linked above calls the BIAW "Olympia's most powerful special-interest lobbying group." Could someone explain how a business group, aligned with conservative points of view and vilified by the left-of-center MSM, is so supposedly powerful in a state government completely dominated by Democrats?
UPDATE: link fixed.
Posted by Eric Earling at June 19, 2008 08:21 PM | Email ThisAs for the 'exit question,' my guess is that somebody at King 5 is angling for a state gig similar to what Mak got with the city.
Posted by: russell garrard on June 19, 2008 08:45 PMTHIS IS NOT GREGOIRE'S PROBLEM!
Instead, the county sheriffs (most of whom are Republicans, including the King County Sheriff) are responsible to make sure these folks are registered and kept track of. If the convicted sex offender fails to satisfy the registration requirement, then it is the county prosecutors (most of whom are Republicans, including the King County Prosecutor) who are responsible for prosecuting them.
King County, by far, has the highest number of homeless and non-verified address (i.e. folks failing to stay properly registered) of any county in the state of Washington. Seems to me that the REPUBLICANS are more properly blamed for this.
Too bad Bill Sherman didn't do research on this unregistered sex offender issue last year, and rip Dan Satterberg a new one over the incredible laxity by the King County Prosecutor's office in staying on top of these matters. Maybe things will be different next time that office is up in 2010. And we can thank the BIAW for raising awareness of this issue.
Posted by: Richard Pope on June 19, 2008 08:49 PMRemember one very important thing Richard, just because you are paranoid it doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.
Posted by: Huh? on June 19, 2008 09:06 PMKING 5 knows better than to print that lie. Union slavemasters, the rascist gambling racket, and the religious environmental wackos are way more powerful and influentual than the builders are.
Posted by: AP on June 19, 2008 09:15 PMJust who was responsible for this coddling and wrist-slapping of convicted sex offenders?
REPUBLICANS!
In 1981, we had a REPUBLICAN state house and REPUBLICAN state senate that passed this legislation. And a REPUBLICAN governor -- John Spellman -- who signed it into law.
The 1981-82 legislative session was the last time that REPUBLICANS controlled both the governor's office and both houses of the state legislature. Democrats regained control of both houses of the legislature in the November 1982 election, and Spellman was booted out of office in the November 1984 election.
No REPUBLICAN has been elected governor since. So I guess electing Rossi (even though he is technically running with the "G.O.P. Party" this year) will result in even more lenient treatment of sex offenders, than is currently the case?
Also, during the golden years of the last REPUBLICAN governor Spellman, there were absolutely no laws on the books requiring convicted sex offenders to register.
Posted by: Richard Pope on June 19, 2008 09:16 PMPlease, tell me he isn't that stupid.
Posted by: Rick D. on June 19, 2008 09:29 PMhttp://flooractivityext.leg.wa.gov/rollcall.aspx?id=24834
The current Special Sexual Offender Sentencing Alternative (SSOSA) law is RCW 9.94A.670. This law was enacted in 2000 by Laws 2000, Chapter 28, Section 20, which orginated as Senate Bill 6223.
This law was passed by a nearly unanimous legislature: 97 to 0 in the House, and 44 (including Rossi) to 1 in the Senate. The ONLY legislator to vote against the SSOSA law was Senator Pam Roach.
So I think it is pretty hypocritical of the BIAW to criticize Governor Gregoire for lenient sentencing of sex offenders. Rossi SUPPORTED the SSOSA law for lenient sentencing. Moreover, Gregoire has absolutely nothing to do with the prosecution and sentencing of sex offenders in the first place.
Posted by: Richard Pope on June 19, 2008 09:43 PMObviously, Dino Rossi is just as bad as Christine Gregoire -- if not far worse -- since Rossi was responsible for the law allowing sex offenders to be released after a brief jail sentence and a slap on the wrist.
Moreover, Rossi is NOT EVEN A REPUBLICAN this year. Instead, Rossi claims affiliation with a never previously heard of "G.O.P. Party".
You need to instead vote for a REAL REPUBLICAN, and someone who HAS NEVER VOTED FOR LENIENT TREATMENT OF CONVICTED SEX OFFENDERS.
Fortunately this year, there are two candidates running for Governor under the "REPUBLICAN PARTY" -- John W. Aiken, Jr. and Javier O. Lopez. I don't know much about them, but I can GUARANTEE that neither Aiken nor Lopez has ever voted to provide lenient sentences to convicted sex offenders.
If neither Aiken nor Lopez make it to the general election -- WRITE IN PAM ROACH for Governor in November. Roach still claims affiliation with the "REPUBLICAN PARTY" -- and she was the only REPUBLICAN in the entire state legislature to VOTE AGAINST lenient sentences for convicted sex offenders.
Posted by: Richard Pope on June 19, 2008 09:53 PMTry as you might to be accepted by the Dem's they don't want you either Richard. You are without consensual party affiliation. People would rather lose elections without you than win with you as a candidate ( not that you could ever win as a candidate, what is it 0 for 12?) or a supporter.
Posted by: Huh? on June 19, 2008 10:09 PMFunny, I've heard "G.O.P." used interchangeably with "Republican" all my life. I just look on wikipedia... the Republicans have also gone by G.O.P. since at least the 1870's.
Yeah, no one has ever heard of the G.O.P. before. Nice try. Given how many times you've switched parties (and still always lost, I might add), you are the last person who ought to be criticizing Rossi for registering under the alternative name "G.O.P." and not "Republican". Nice try with your weaselly lawyer tactics, but all they've accomplished is making you look like... well... a weasel.
Posted by: Mike H on June 19, 2008 10:22 PMRepublican Ken Eikenberry was state Attorney General most of the time that sexual abuse was taking place at the O.K. Boys Ranch. This happened between December 1987 and September 1994. One of Eikenberry's assistant Attorney Generals even served on the Board of Directors of the O.K. Boys Ranch!
When Christine Gregoire became Attorney General in January 1993, she started investigating the O.K. Boys Ranch and forced it to shut down. Many people (including myself) severely criticized Gregoire for not acting fast enough in investigating and shutting down the Boy's Ranch.
However, Eikenberry was the real culprit. He did absolutely nothing about the O.K. Boys Ranch from December 1987 and the remainder of his tenure as AG, which expired in December 1992.
The Washington State Patrol completed an investigation of the child sex abuse at the O.K. Boys Ranch on February 5, 1996. However, the Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney -- Bernadeen Broadus, who happened to be a Republican -- did not bring criminal charges against very many people.
If you want to find out more about the O.K. Boys Ranch, here is a link to someone who has written a lot about it:
http://www.lbloom.net/okbr.html
Posted by: Richard Pope on June 19, 2008 10:25 PMGregoire must be trying to divert from the tribes scandal. In any event, her complaints about BIAW ads fall on deaf ears, in light of her WEA lackeys doing all they can to dirty up Dino before election season gets into high gear.
It won't work. Dino will be a far more ethical Governor than Gregoire could ever dream of being. She has to go. Sooner would be better than later. Especially in light of the fact that she doesn't care if the tribes don't pony any of their take, while the rest of the businesses in the state can't operate except by paying ransom--I mean the B&O tax--to the state in order to stay open. And we don't even have a skeezy business like gambling. Yet WE'RE the ones who she wants paying, not tribal gambling (like THAT'S a nice business?? Take people's money and send them home broke. How nice....)
She just doesn't get it....
Two things that I find amazing regarding the tribal gambling issue.
First, Gregoire claims she entered into the gambling pack in early 2007 -- in order to STOP the EXPANSION of gambling. However, both David Goldstein, Stefan Sharkansky, and leading Republicans criticized Gregoire at the time for allowing gambling to expand by far too much when this pact was first being proposed.
Second, the state of Washington apparently gets no revenue from the gambling pact. Most other states get something like 15% of gambling revenues -- which leaves our state perhaps $140 million a year short. But back in early 2007, no one criticized Gregoire for kissing away all this potential revenue -- not Stefan, not Republican leaders, no one at all.
Posted by: Richard Pope on June 20, 2008 12:02 AMhttp://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003637595_doc27m.html
It has Gregoire's policy on early release violations in it:
Under the new policies, community-corrections officers will have specific punishment guidelines for offenders who have violated the terms of their prison release. Those might include an apology letter, a book report and increased support-group meetings for low-risk offenders.
Medium-risk offenders might be told to enroll in anger-management courses and counseling. Punishment for high-risk offenders could include drug treatment, mental-health evaluations and incarceration.
Those book reports are some pretty stiff penalties.
/sarc
Posted by: TrueSoldier on June 20, 2008 04:59 AMworse than Christine Gregoire's record Richard? I don't think even you believe that is true. Governor Quagmire has an established record of miserable failures on all fronts. From DSHS, DOC, Education, Transportation,etc,etc, but she's a multi-tasker as she also managed(?- or mismanaged depending on how you view these things) to take a 2B dollar surplus and piss it away into a 2.5B dollar deficit during her reign. It's time for a change.
Good thing she didn't take that 140 million annually from the tribes , since we clearly couldn't use it, right?
Really, Richard? You've been around a long time on this earth judging by your picture [@12](which by the way looks oddly like you ran from the finish line at the boston marathon straight to the photography studio) and you've never heard the words 'Grand Ole Party' uttered prior to Dino Rossi's August ballot?
Rossi says he "prefers G.O.P party", but you realize the two are interchangeable (despite the redundancy). Besides, can you blame him from running from the "R" brand this election cycle? I certainly can't.
Posted by: Rick D. on June 20, 2008 07:10 AMThey jumped to the forefront on the bogus listing of salmon on the Endangered Species List. The funniest thing of that listing is it is the only endangered species that people are still allowed to catch, kill and eat. Think about it.
They also jumped in on some of the "newer" and stupid L&I regulations (yes, stupid and L&I are synonymous).
They intervened when Boeing wanted special treatment for their unemployment contributions and excluded the rest of us who were also paying too much. Boeing, instead of working for the common good, like the BIAW, decided to lone soldier it.
Need I go on and on?
Posted by: swatter on June 20, 2008 07:36 AMIt's hard to hide your nakedness in a forest that has no trees or a term as Governor that has almost no positive results.
Watch her tours to many other countries curtail while her 2004 healing tour around the state resumes.
Posted by: Andy on June 20, 2008 08:13 AMPersonal-income growth in Washington lagged much of the nation in the first quarter of 2008, according to data released Thursday by the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Total personal income -- total income received by all persons from all sources -- rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.78 percent, the bureau reported. That was down from 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007 and ranked 38th in the nation.
Total U.S. personal income rose 1.1 percent in the first quarter.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008007819_bizbriefs20.html
