2012-02-28
2012-02-13
Elections Matter
I probably voted for Gregoire when she first ran for Attorney General, but I certainly didn't vote for her during either of her gubernatorial campaigns. She struck me (and still strikes me) as a bloodless technocrat, less concerned with educating the electorate through leadership and more concerned with not appearing to be Dixie Lee Ray. In this she was no worse than Gary Locke or Booth Gardner, but I never saw any indication that she wanted to improve on her Democratic predecessors. She completely failed to anticipate or grapple with the endemic fiscal crisis caused by the state's dire need for tax reform, surrendering the political, um, initiative to de facto governor Tim Eyman.
But credit, please, where it is due. No disrespect to Ed Murray or the hundreds of legislators and activists who have worked on this for years, but there's no way today's triumph happens with Governor Rossi. Take a moment to thank (now U.S. Attorney) Jenny Durkan and everyone else who worked on Gregoire's team for the 2004 election recount litigation. Who in the summer of 2005 even dreamed this would be the consequence of that outcome?
But credit, please, where it is due. No disrespect to Ed Murray or the hundreds of legislators and activists who have worked on this for years, but there's no way today's triumph happens with Governor Rossi. Take a moment to thank (now U.S. Attorney) Jenny Durkan and everyone else who worked on Gregoire's team for the 2004 election recount litigation. Who in the summer of 2005 even dreamed this would be the consequence of that outcome?
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