Cross-posted at RespectfullyRepublican.com

Olympia -- Governor Christine Gregoire is coming under fire on at least three issues that are endangering her ability to govern effectively. At the top of the news cycle for a number of months was the Viaduct in-decision. You can now add to that the early release of felons, and allegations that she exchanged political favors to tribes in return for political contributions to a PAC that supported her anointed slate of judicial candidates.

On the first issue, a public vote will go off on March 13. After the ballots are tabulated, Gregoire could be in bad political shape on an issue that continually ranks near the top of voters priority lists: transportation and traffic congestion. Gregoire was for the public vote before she was against it. But charges of flip-flopping are the least of her concerns at the moment. If the will of the people expressed through the vote (pro-tunnel, or even anti-Viaduct) is in contradiction to her stance, she could land in hot water with a significant part of her base: Seattle voters. A well funded anti-Viaduct group, Not Another Elevated Viaduct, is opposing the Governor's preferred option: a bigger, noisier, and uglier Viaduct.

On the second issue, even though David Postman has pronounced the issue of what Gregoire knew when, dead on arrival, that won't keep the public perception of the Governor's performance from further deteriorating. To his credit, Postman did wax on his blog about how, "it's important to get the answers and it's worth continued questions." Time will tell whether the important questions were ever even asked, let alone answered. Much of the traction that Postman is talking about comes when the media (i.e. The Seattle Times) takes the gloves off. That rarely happend in the last election cycle with the Cantwell-McGavick matchup. Further, it isn't likely to happen now for a very simple reason: it means taking on the establishment, who also happen to be the few loyal readers our two daily newspapers have left.

Finally, on the issue of the political exchange between the Governor and the tribes, this plays into what many candid observers have said about Gregoire for some time: she values "hard negotiating" and backroom dealing over transparency. Let's also not forget that it might have been ethically and constitutionally questionable for Gregoire to have been involved in fundraising for judicial candidates (non-partisan offices no less).

All of the issues discussed above point to a tough season ahead for the Governor. If she is able to duck these issues, and advance even a slim slate of legislative priorities, she might emerge stronger. But if she is beset by yet another crisis--or consumed by the present ones--her Governorship could go into a full tailspin. And if that happens, her opponents are likely to get the kind of traction that they've been seeking, and pundits like Postman have so far denied them.