Governor: Budget concerns give Rossi the edge

Anyone paying attention knew that this year's rematch in the race for governor would be one of the most heated contests on the Nov. 4 ballot. It has certainly lived up to its billing.

Incumbent Democrat Chris Gregoire is running hard on her four-year record as chief executive. And there are many things to like about that record. We take particular note of her many official visits to Central and Eastern Washington that reflect her pledge to create "one Washington" and rip down the Cascade Curtain that often separates east and west, urban and rural.

Republican challenger Dino Rossi, who lost to Gregoire by 133 votes in 2004 in the closest gubernatorial race in state history, is back for another try. This time his no-nonsense approach to state spending is resonating across the state as the Legislature prepares to write a 2009-11 state budget in the face of a projected $3.2 billion deficit in the amount of money needed to carry current spending forward for another two years.

We recommend Rossi's election to the job, which pays $166,618 a year. In these trying economic times, we see real value in a Republican chief executive being squared off against a Democratic-controlled Legislature dominated by Puget Sound big spenders. It's in the public's best interest to have available the tight-fisted budget writing skills he displayed as chairman of the powerful Senate Ways and Means Committee before he resigned to run for governor four years ago.

We also add this little historical footnote: The state hasn't had a Republican governor since John Spellman left office at the end of 1984. It's time for a new direction.

It's no secret that Washington's economy can be a boom-or-bust roller coaster ride, but over the past four years we're just not satisfied with Gregoire's leadership on budget issues. For most of her time in office she has ridden the crest of an incredible economic high during booming real estate sales. Since then we've seen the budget slip from one that could draw on huge surpluses to one that will be running on fumes. Her recent hiring freeze and 1 percent across-the-board cut in spending is frankly too little, too late and automatically suspect coming, as it has, in the midst of a tough re-election campaign.

And blaming the state's economic misfortunes on the Bush administration and Wall Street isn't working. Washington's economy has consistently bucked the national trend in recent years, and our current budget woes didn't just happen as a result of the Wall Street crash.

Granted, Gregoire's first two-year budget was essentially inherited from Rossi and her fellow Democrat, former Gov. Gary Locke, just as Rossi would essentially inherit one from Gregoire and whatever legislative budget writers will produce in the session that opens in January. Even if she loses this time, Gregoire is required by law to submit a budget proposal by Dec. 20. Locke faced a similar requirement on the eve of his leaving office.

Still, she's been through four regular legislative sessions since taking office and has been in a position to exercise tremendous influence on the budget and state spending, through subsequent budget requests and the powerful bully pulpit afforded a governor.

She was a staunch supporter of creating a "rainy day" fund earlier this year, which sets aside money in a special account that's difficult to tap except in emergencies. While we'll give her credit for that, we think that kind of initiative and leadership should have come much earlier in her administration during the economic highs as a long-range hedge against the type of tax receipt crash that's now occurring.

Four years after we endorsed Rossi's 2004 bid, we still find ourselves with the same major concern: In Gregoire, we sense too much of "government is the answer" to the needs of the state, particularly health care and education. While her goals of a world-class education and health insurance for every child in the state are noble, we're leery of how the state would pay for all of the good things she has tried to provide.

In Rossi, we see a much more pragmatic approach by a conservative with a social conscience, who approaches funding state programs based on our ability to pay for noble goals. Let's shoot for the best we can get with the money available.

All that said, though, we also admonish the Republican standard bearer to step beyond the sound bites and rhetoric of this year's campaign and let us see the Dino Rossi who impressed us to the point of endorsing him four years ago. This year's Rossi seems a little too preoccupied with what he sees as wrong with the Gregoire administration. That's to be expected to a certain extent, but we would rather hear all that would be right and positive about a Rossi administration.

The voting public deserves no less in the final days of a bruising gubernatorial campaign.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Sarah Jenkins, Bill Lee and Karen Troianello.

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