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Dino Rossi


Dino Rossi (born October 15, 1959 in Seattle, Washington, USA) is a former Washington State Senator and the Republican nominee for Governor of Washington in the 2004 election.

Political background

Rossi has been active in Washington state politics for several decades.

In 1992 Rossi ran for a State Senate seat. After winning a divisive primary, he lost the general election.

In 1996 Rossi ran again for the State Senate and was elected. Senator Rossi was a relatively low-profile Senator until his 2003 work in negotiating a budget deal which closed a budget shortfall without cutting most services or raising taxes.

In 2004, Dino Rossi resigned his Senate seat to run for Governor.

A self-proclaimed moderate Republican from Sammamish, Dino Rossi faced no significant opposition in his party's primary when all GOP candidates dropped out shortly after he declared his candidacy. During the general election he was criticized for a strongly conservative voting record at odds with his moderate campaign posture. Rossi was also criticized for his long-time professional association with a real estate broker convicted of fraud, and for alleged resume embellishments. Rossi has worked against Roe vs. Wade, attacked opponents for supporting gay rights, and proclaimed that creationism should be taught in public schools. Although Rossi campaigned on being pro-life and in favor of state and federal Constitutional Amendments that would (as written) ban all benefits and legal contracts for gay couples, he downplayed his long history of fundamentalist rhetoric and claimed he was a "fiscal moderate with a social conscience."

Dino Rossi obtained very strong backing by business interests and conservative voters in Eastern Washington and other rural counties. Rossi's campaign ran a highly aggressive advertising campaign against his Democratic opponent, Christine Gregoire, who many viewed as milquetoast and a retread of the somewhat unpopular incumbent governor, Gary Locke.

The 2004 gubernatorial election

In the November 2, 2004 election, over 2.8 million votes were cast for Governor. After the initial vote count, Rossi led Democrat Christine Gregoire by a mere 261 votes.

Washington state law requires a machine recount in any race that decided by less than 0.5% and by less than 2000 votes. This recount narrowed Rossi's lead to 42 votes. (A Libertarian candidate who campaigned almost solely on legalizing same-sex marriage received about 2.2% of the votes.) On December 3, the Washington State Democratic Party requested a hand recount, which cost them $730,000.

The State Democratic Party also filed a motion in the State Supreme Court to reconsider rejected King County ballots that had not been previously counted. A Superior Court judge ruled the ballots were not to be counted, but on Wednesday, December 22, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the rejected King County votes were to be included the tally. Of those 732 votes, 566 were accepted as having valid signatures and were added to the existing total on December 23. The final results of the hand count, as of December 23, [1] placed Democrat Christine Gregoire ahead by 130 votes, solidifying the 10-vote lead she had before the previously rejected King County ballots were tabulated.

The Republicans found 91 rejected Rossi votes in King County. However, King County election officials declined the Republicans' demand that these ballots be counted, claiming that the 91 ballots had been rejected for valid reasons.

Election officials in most of the other counties, along with Secretary of State Sam Reed, rebuffed Republican plans to scour the whole state for rejected Rossi votes but the state GOP said some counties were "seriously considering" the same, pointing to a December 18 decision by Thurston County to count an extra ballot (Thurston later removed the ballot, reducing Gregoire's final total to 129). Lewis County, Clark County and Kittitas County all considered Vance's request to reconsider previously rejected ballots, but opted not to.

Secretary of State Sam Reed announced that he planned to certify the election for Gregoire on December 30. On December 29, Rossi held a press conference where he refused to concede and asked Gregoire to agree to a whole new election. Gregoire refused Rossi's request. Originally, state Republicans warned the Democrats against going to court and advised Gregoire to concede when the initial results suggested Rossi had won.

The GOP claimed some military voters overseas never received ballots from King County. King County election director Dean Logan disputed the charge, asserting that all absentee ballots were sent out on time, including ballots to military voters. State Republicans also point to possible recount inconsistencies between King County (which votes heavily Democratic) and the rest of the state, which could be a violation of the equal protection clause in the US Constitution. Republicans have said they would use the courts to block any final election results, possibly even going to federal court if needed.

If the victory holds, this will be the first time in Washington state history that a recount reversed an election result. The State may also have to repay the Democratic party for the cost of the hand recount.

However, since the inauguration of Christine Gregoire on January 12, 2005 under a considerable cloud of distrust and controversy, Dino Rossi has been pursuing a legal challenge against the election in Chelan County Superior Court. Pursuant to Judge Bridges' directions, the opposing sides have undertaken vigorous discovery. At this time, it is understood that Dino Rossi's challenge to the election results will reach trial in late May 2005. If the court finds sufficient merit in Rossi's allegations that the election results are defective due to serious errors in administering the election, particularly in King County, it is possible that a new election for Governor will be called for the fall of 2005.

If events shift again and Rossi wins in that new election, he would become the the first Republican governor elected in Washington state since Gov. John Spellman in 1980.

If Rossi loses, he has stated interest in running for Governor again in 2008. Rossi's name has also been mentioned as a strong candidate to run against Senator Maria Cantwell in 2006.

External links

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