Free Republic

John McCain will be nominated this week as the Republican candidate for president. He likely will ride effortlessly through the party's national convention in St. Paul, MN. But in Washington state, McCain will share the ballot this fall with Republicans trying to distance themselves from the national party and doing little to link arms with the McCain campaign. Dino Rossi, a Republican who lists his party preference as "GOP Party," is doing his best to bask in Barack Obama's message of change as he tries to unseat Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire. Rossi talks so much about Obama on the campaign...

Off-duty police officers last week forcibly removed a Democratic Party cameraman from a news conference where the Seattle Police Officers' Guild was giving its endorsement to Republican Dino Rossi. Guild members threatened the young man with arrest and made an emergency call to 911, bringing uniformed officers to the scene. Cameraman Kelly Akers was warned about trespassing. "There's no fine, no penalty, no request for charges," said Seattle police Sgt. Sean Whitcomb. Rossi is running for governor against Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire. The incident Thursday was the roughest implementation yet of Rossi's long-standing policy not to allow Democratic Party workers...

The re-election prospects for Washington Governor Christine Gregoire (D) have improved significantly over the past two months. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Washington voters shows Gregoire leading her Republican challenger, Dino Rossi, by eleven percentage points. It’s Gregoire 52% Rossi 41%. In late March, Gregoire was up by just a statistically insignificant single percentage point. In February, Rossi had a one point advantage. Four years ago, the 2004 election between the same two candidates was one of the closest elections in the state’s history.

A surprise U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding Washington’s voter-approved Top 2 primary system was hailed by Secretary of State Sam Reed today as a huge victory for average voters over the political parties. “Wow!” Reed said when he heard of the court’s decision from The Associated Press. “That’s terrific! It means the people of the state of Washington are going to be able to control who gets elected through this process.” The first running of the new primary will be Aug. 19. But state Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz said the decision complicates Washington elections, and that the party will...

He may have boasted of his big family, his political rise and his legislative triumphs, but speaking Tuesday night before hundreds of Clark County building industry professionals, Dino Rossi was all businessman."I came from a world of no salary, no benefits; you don't work, you don't eat - I understand the free enterprise system," the Republican gubernatorial candidate said at the Vancouver event, to laughter and applause. "And I sign the front side of paychecks."Rossi, a former commercial real estate broker and state senator who lives in Sammamish, is five months into what he expects to be a rematch against...

One feature of the four-year political struggle between Gov. Chris Gregoire and almost-Gov. Dino Rossi has been an abundance of suspect and self-serving opinion surveys. At last comes a poll, albeit with a few weeks under its belt, that surprised its takers. Washington Conservation Voters hired Grove Insight, Portland's top pollster, in November to see if Evergreen State voters are ready to walk the talk against global warming. WCV threw in a series of questions that were NOT mentioned in the Jan. 22 news release announcing poll results. The key finding: The Gregoire-Rossi race is dead even. In a trial...

Q: What did you do to escape from the major disappointment of winning the election then having the race stolen? A: The 2004 Washington gubernatorial race was the closest in U.S. history and perhaps the most memorable race in Washington state history. I was twice certified as governor-elect but never served in office. We have four children, and my wife and I wanted to make sure that we handled the situation with grace. We were never bitter or angry, and we focused on what we had learned and all the amazing people we had met. And when you have a...

ROME, Italy -- Seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi has reached an agreement with the Italian tax authorities and will hand over 19 million euros ($27.6 million) in unpaid tax for the years 2001-2004, Ansa reported. Rossi will move from London and return to live in Rome after agreeing a deal with the Italian tax authorities. The figure could rise to as much as 35 million euros when Rossi's earnings for 2005-06 are taken into consideration. In August the Italian tax office said it was investigating Rossi over allegations of tax evasion, linked to his decision to live in London in...

Dino Rossi is a former Washington State Senator and Republican nominee for Governor of Washington in the 2004 election, one of the closest elections in state history. In 2004, Rossi resigned his Senate seat to run for governor. His resignation was due to state fundraising laws that do not allow fundraising while the legislature is in session. He faced no significant opposition in the Republican gubernatorial primary as all other GOP candidates dropped out shortly after he declared his candidacy. He won the primary with 85% of the vote. In the November 2 election, over 2.8 million votes were cast...

Top political experts have identified the Washington governor's race as one of the three most competitive in the country in 2008 — after Missouri and Indiana, where Republican governors are defending their jobs. If it seems completely twilight-zone weird that Washington's race is so tight, it is odder still when you realize that our state enjoys one of the nation's most bustling economies. Boeing is humming. Microsoft is strong. Unemployment is low. And yet Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire, who normally would bask in this reflected glory, appears vulnerable against her former and future opponent, Republican Dino Rossi. A recent survey...

Republican Dino Rossi, who lost the country's closest race for governor in 2004, said Thursday he'll seek a rematch with Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire next year. Rossi announced his closely watched decision in separate interviews with KOMO News and The Associated Press and planned campaign kickoff events in Issaquah, the heart of his old legislative district, and in Spokane. "It's time for fresh air in Olympia," he said. "I'm ready. I'm very excited about the prospect of changing this state." Rossi, the former state Senate budget chairman and a real estate investor, said he's running as an agent for change...

Rossi creates cyberspace 'idea bank' Story Published: May 22, 2007 at 3:10 PM PDT Story Updated: May 22, 2007 at 3:52 PM PDT By Associated Press OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Republican Dino Rossi, now expecting to announce in December whether he'll seek a rematch with Gov. Chris Gregoire next year, on Tuesday announced a "Washington Idea Bank" for ordinary citizens to offer their thoughts on how to deal with the state's challenges. The former state senator, a real estate investor who lives in Sammamish, said the Internet-based brainstorming Web site will be augmented by about a dozen idea-gathering sessions...

Voters irked ballots didn't count By Keith Ervin Seattle Times staff reporter List of affected voters Todd Stansbury, a Marine stationed in California between tours of duty in Iraq, flew home in October to cast his absentee ballot. But he and his parents, Bellevue residents Ken and Wendy Stansbury, now know that their votes weren't counted in the election that put Christine Gregoire into the governor's mansion with a 129-vote margin. King County election officials yesterday released the names of 96 voters whose valid absentee ballots were mistakenly left in their original envelopes. The uncounted ballots were discovered between March...

A small, weekend item in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer was missed by many, yet it's another example of a dubious trend: liberal Democrats switching between journalism and partisan political positions..... (AND) Election Decision Live Blogging GOP Loses First Round In Gubernatorial Challenge...

A state judge has upheld the election of Washington Governor Christine Gregoire. In turning back the Republican challenge to the Democrat, Judge John Bridges says there was no evidence of fraud in last fall's election. The judge did find there were more than 1,600 illegal votes, but he says it's up to voters to fix errors in the state's election system. Republicans have said they will appeal to the state Supreme Court.

WENATCHEE, Wash. - The political fate of Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire hangs in the balance this weekend while a small-town judge decides whether her paper-thin victory was valid. During two weeks of trial, Republicans argued election errors, illegal votes and fraud stole the election from GOP candidate Dino Rossi. Democrats countered that the errors were innocent mistakes and said Republicans lacked enough evidence to justify tossing a governor out of office. Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges will announce his decision Monday. The stakes could not be higher for Gregoire, who has pursued her agenda in the Capitol as...

WENATCHEE, Wash. - Both sides delivered closing arguments Friday in Washington state's disputed governor's race, with Republican lawyers insisting the results must be thrown out to restore public faith in the system and Democrats asking a judge to uphold Gov. Christine Gregoire's 129-vote victory. On Monday, Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges will decide who's right — and who is rightfully governor of Washington state. During the trial, Republicans argued election errors, illegal votes and fraud stole the election from GOP candidate Dino Rossi. Democrats countered the errors were innocent mistakes and said Republicans lacked enough evidence to justify...

WENATCHEE, Wash. (AP) - A judge said he would rule Monday on whether the 2004 gubernatorial election should be nullified. Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges' announcement came Thursday, as Democrats were nearing the end of their defense of the disputed election, which Democrat Christine Gregoire won by just 129 votes. Republicans challenging Gregoire's victory have focused on errors in the Democratic stronghold of King County, the state's most populous and home to about a third of the total votes statewide. They contend the errors indicate fraud and want the election overturned to allow a new contest between Gregoire...

WENATCHEE, Wash. - The state elections director testified Tuesday that he believes the problems in Washington's incredibly close 2004 gubernatorial election were innocent mistakes. "I saw inadvertent mistakes and errors of human beings who were working their hearts out," said Nick Handy, who was appointed to the post. He said he disagrees with his boss, Secretary of State Sam Reed, a Republican, who has called the problems in heavily Democratic King County "appalling." Handy testified as a trial to determine whether the results of the election should be thrown out entered its second week. Democrats are trying to defend the...

WENATCHEE, Wash. - A judge Friday refused to throw out a Republican challenge to the election of Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire, saying voters deserve a full accounting of how the balloting was conducted. The Democrats asked for a dismissal after the Republicans rested their case following four days of testimony aimed at proving that errors, illegal votes and fraud combined to deprive GOP candidate Dino Rossi of victory last fall. The Republicans are asking Superior Court Judge John Bridges to nullify Gregoire's 129-vote victory and open the way for Rossi to be declared the winner or a new election held....

WENATCHEE — The King County elections employee who first admitted to producing a falsified ballot report will be the Republicans' leadoff witness today as they try to show the county bungled the vote count so badly that the governor's election should be overturned. Nicole Way, the county's absentee-ballot supervisor, was subpoenaed to appear today. Republicans have high hopes for her testimony, saying she will begin to draw a link between the false report and higher-level elections officials, including elections Superintendent Bill Huennekens. She is on suspension from her job as the county investigates uncounted absentee ballots found long after the...

Judge Allows New GOP Allegations of Fraud in Washington Governor's RaceBy Rebecca Cook Associated Press Writer Published: May 24, 2005 WENATCHEE, Wash. (AP) - A top King County elections official on Tuesday denied knowing about an absentee ballot report allegedly falsified by county workers while counting ballots in the 2004 governor's election. Elections Superintendent Bill Huennekens, testifying in a challenge to Washington state's 2004 gubernatorial election, said the Democratic-leaning county that includes Seattle had absentee ballots but added: "I don't know that we have an exact number." He also acknowledged the report did not include 96 unopened, uncounted ballots that...

WENATCHEE, Wash. - The judge hearing a challenge to Washington state's 2004 gubernatorial election agreed Tuesday to let Republicans introduce evidence that Democratic-leaning King County recorded several hundred more votes than it could account for. Republicans allege errors and possible fraud in the county, which includes Seattle, helped Democrats steal the election for Christine Gregoire, who beat Republican Dino Rossi by 129 votes out of 2.9 million cast. "The evidence is overwhelming that there was unbelievable neglect in King County and, we believe, outright fraud by high-ranking King County officials," GOP attorney Dale Foreman said Monday. Democrats had tried to...

The trial to determine whether Christine Gregoire stole the governor's election last November began today at 9am Pacific time. (I can save everyone a lot of time . . . SHE DID! . . . . but for some reason the lawyers insist on playing their silly games. My link is to TVW (essentially local C-SPAN), which is broadcasting the trial live on regional cable, and streaming on their website. More coverage is available here on NWCN as well. This is a landmark trial, as it looks to expose massive 'Rat corruption and voter fraud.

WENATCHEE, Wash. (AP) -- Even though Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire has been in office for months now, the legal battle over how she got there is still far from over. Republican Dino Rossi is challenging Gregoire's 2004 victory in the closest statewide election in national history, alleging widespread problems including illegal votes cast by felons and dead people. The challenge was to go to trial Monday. Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges moved the case to the county auditorium to accommodate the scores of attorneys, reporters, politicians and spectators who planned to attend. Rossi, a former state senator and...

King County's absentee-ballot supervisor has testified that she collaborated with her boss when she filled out a report that falsely showed all ballots were accounted for in the November election. Nicole Way said in a deposition Friday that she and assistant elections superintendent Garth Fell agreed to the misleading report because officials didn't know how many absentee ballots were returned by voters. Way is the first employee to link an upper-level manager with a practice that failed to meet state ballot-auditing regulations. ~snip~ Way said she and Fell agreed that adding together the number of ballots accepted and rejected was...

More and more reports are emerging of the extent to which Democrats were willing to go to try to influence the 2004 election. Well, their tactics worked in Washington State. Our Republican candidate for Governor, Dino Rossi, actually won the election. Then he won the recount. Then Democrat-controlled King County "found" 566 new votes just in time for the second recount, enough to overturn the results of Election Day and the first recount. The new result? Dino Rossi "lost" by 129 votes. But consider the following facts in Washington state; 943 felons illegally voted 49 dead people voted 3 people...

State Democrats say their latest research shows that Republican Dino Rossi cannot overcome Gov. Christine Gregoire's 129-vote victory under any theory proposed in court. Even using the GOP's method of analyzing alleged illegal votes in the November election, the Democrats claimed, Gregoire would win by 67 votes. Former two-term Gov. Gary Locke -- the man Gregoire replaced in the Statehouse -- accused Rossi of "fighting for himself at the expense of the citizens of this state." He and state Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt called a news conference yesterday to urge Rossi to drop his lawsuit. Our question is, 'Why...

GOP Wins Election Challenge in Washington By REBECCA COOKThe Associated PressMonday, May 2, 2005; 2:03 PM WENATCHEE, Wash. -- The Republicans won an important victory Monday in their legal challenge to the election of Gov. Christine Gregoire when a judge allowed them to use a type of statistical analysis to try to prove illegal votes swayed the race.Republican Dino Rossi is trying to have the election results from November declared invalid. Rossi won the first count and a machine recount, but his Democratic opponent won by 129 votes in a hand recount of 2.9 million ballots.The trial is set for...

Republicans win right to challenge Wash. state election: Republicans have won a victory in their challenge to the election of Governor Gregoire. The judge says Republicans will be allowed to use "proportional analysis" to prove their case that illegal votes swayed the election.

``My focus is running for governor and being governor of the state of Washington and turning the state around. So I'm not running for the U.S. Senate. I'm running for governor.''

Dino Rossi on Wednesday said he will not run for the U.S. Senate, citing his desire to have an impact on the political culture of Washington state and the impact that serving in the other Washington would have on his young family. Rossi, a Sammamish real estate investor, narrowly lost the race for governor last year to Christine Gregoire by 129 votes after a third recount of ballots. Since then, Republicans have challenged that outcome and trial is set to begin May 23 in Chelan County Superior Court. It's been widely speculated that if Rossi loses his bid for a...

Olympia – The Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF) today called on King County Executive Ron Sims to fire elections supervisor Dean Logan immediately. “In light of the information contained in Mr. Logan’s deposition in the election challenge court case, Sims should fire Logan immediately,” Bob Williams, President of EFF said. “It is time for somebody in King County to start following the law or paying a price for not doing so. “Sims needs to clean up his shop, change the culture of hiding problems and call for a criminal investigation,” Williams said. “Logan is copping out when he says he didn’t...

OLYMPIA—On April 20, Governor Christine Gregoire issued a press release highlighting the state being a finalist for Harvard’s “Innovation in Government Award.” Washington was nominated for the award because of its use of the priorities of government (POG) budget model in crafting a no-new-taxes budget in 2003. Then-Senator Dino Rossi used POG to write the 2003-05 budget, which he prioritized within available revenue despite facing more than a $2 billion budget deficit. Gregoire’s release read in-part: “Washington’s pioneering budgeting method—which follows a process to prioritize state services within available resources—is among 18 government initiatives from across the nation to emerge...

Without ballots cast by felons, dead voters and non-citizens, Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire would have lost the 2004 election to Republican Dino Rossi by about 100 votes, according to a statistical report cited by the GOP in its legal challenge to Gregoire's victory. But it's uncertain if the courts will buy the statistical arguments, which are a key to the GOP effort to overturn Gregoire's 129-vote win. Democrats say state law doesn't allow such arguments. The analysis was part of recent legal filings by the Republicans listing the votes they intend to attack as improper in the election trial, which...

If English bookies were handicapping the Washington election contest, they would be revising the odds in Dino Rossi's favor. After last week, I'd take those odds. Secretary of State Sam Reed, who had been seen as defending King County during most of the five months since the election, is now calling for an investigation and suggesting there's been a cover-up. After discovering 94 uncounted ballots, King County admitted last week that the canvassing board certified the November election on the basis of documents that falsely showed that all ballots were properly accounted for. And then there's what I might find...

(Olympia) – In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the Evergreen Freedom Foundation presented evidence of possible election fraud and civil rights violations in Washington’s 2004 election, and voiced EFF’s support of a request by members of the King County Council for a federal investigation. The letter was sent April 7th. “Faced with apparent indifference by election officials to registration and voting fraud and outright cover-up of their own errors, it has been necessary to rely on private organizations and citizens to investigate, analyze, and gather evidence,” EFF President Bob Williams wrote. After listing 12 areas worthy of...

I, unfortunately, have to work tomorrow, but for those of you who have the day off and/or live in the Olympia area, you might be interested in going to this: GRASSROOTS WASHINGTON ACTION ITEM: There will be a “Real Reforms” rally on Monday to urge House leaders to pass meaningful election reform legislation. We need you to be there! Real Reforms Rally This Monday, April 11 10 a.m. on the Capitol steps. Invited guests: Bob Williams, Evergreen Freedom Foundation Chris Vance, Republican Party State Chair Lt. Bryan Suits, Iraq War hero and disenfranchised military voter Mike Siegel, KTTH radio host...

The discovery of uncounted ballots in a King County elections facility could change the tenor of the governor's-election lawsuit, and it comes just as Republicans fine-tune their case in the final weeks before trial and drop some previously high-profile claims. Already, attorneys for both sides say the news of 94 uncounted, valid absentee ballots means scrambling to change plans for last-minute collection of evidence. They will expand the list of officials they want to question under oath and will change the nature of questions they'll ask King County's top two election officials, who were already scheduled for depositions. News of...

If the Republicans could somehow convince Dino Rossi to throw his hat into the Washington State Senate race, it may help give the Republicans an unexpected, but welcome, pickup opportunity in 2006. Here are the head-to-head results from the latest poll from Strategic Vision WASHINGTON SENATE Dino Rossi 49% Senator Maria Cantwell 40%Cantwell 49% Jennifer Dunn 39% Cantwell 50% George Nethercutt 40% Cantwell 52% Chris Vance 37% This poll was done March 19-21 of 800 registered voters.

Wednesday March 02, 2005--Dino Rossi, the man who narrowly lost the race to be Washington's Governor last November, holds a slight lead over incumbent Senator Maria Cantwell in a hypothetical Election 2006 match-up. Rossi attracts 47% of the vote to Cantwell's 44% in a survey of 500 Likely Voters conducted February 22, 2005. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Rossi leads by 7 points among men and trails by 1 among women. A Republican victory in the "Blue State" of Washington would go against the recent trend of Senate elections...

OLYMPIA — Democrats sound a confident tone in their public statements about the governor's election lawsuit. For instance, one party attorney said Republicans' list of alleged illegal voters would end up as toilet paper "in an outhouse on Blewett Pass" on the mountain highway route that leads to the Chelan County courthouse, where the case will be heard. But the state Democratic Party's new fund-raising solicitation has a much more alarming tone. "This is no joke! Don't stop reading until you've finished this letter," pleads the two-page mailing, sent to Democrats this week by state party Chairman Paul Berendt. Fear...

Today's update on King County's magical binder of precinct-by-precinct reconciliation worksheets, which the lunatic-fringe blogs tell us are "sitting down there at KC Elections for anybody to inspect". The punchline is: the lunatic-fringe bloggers are living in a sick fantasy world (but you knew that). The binder is not now, nor has it ever been, available for public inspection. King County is perpetrating a cover-up. Two things happened today: First, County Councilmember David Irons confirmed to me that he's been asking for these documents for the last six weeks but that the Elections office has still not made them available...

Attorneys for Republican Dino Rossi yesterday released the names of more than 1,000 people who allegedly cast illegal votes in November's disputed gubernatorial election. The list of alleged felons, people who voted twice and dead people recorded as voting is at the heart of a lawsuit Republicans filed to overturn the November election of Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire. Rossi spokeswoman Mary Lane said the list — given to Democratic attorneys late yesterday in response to a subpoena and released to the media — is based on extensive research. While she said Rossi and his attorneys are confident in the "overall...

I've revised my analysis of the King County vote discrepancy, based on some slightly improved source data files. The differences from my earlier analysis are minor, but this does represent the best analysis based on the data that King County has released. I've also added some new illustrative statistics. My conclusion: Former Attorney General Gregoire "won" with the help of hundreds of unexplained ballots (along with all those felons, dead people, double voters, non-citizen voters, etc). The election was genuinely stolen. If King County and its cult-like apologists on the lunatic-fringe dispute these findings, then the ball is in King...

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation has released its Analysis of the 2004 Governor's Election. Ignore the crap from the former Attorney General's "Task Force on Symbolic Gestures Designed to Bamboozle the Citizens Into Thinking They're Getting Election Reform". The EFF's report is the real deal.

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Republicans have released 1,135 names of alleged felons who they say illegally cast ballots in the governor's race that Democrat Christine Gregoire won by 129 votes. The list turned over to Democratic Party lawyers on Thursday contained the names and addresses of the alleged felons, along with 45 people who Republicans say died before the Nov. 2 election but who were listed as having voted. "It's one more significant piece of evidence that this past election was not only deeply flawed but that we don't know who won," said Mary Lane, a spokeswoman for Republican opponent...

OLYMPIA, Wash. - A task force has found that public trust in Washington state's election system was damaged by last year's tight gubernatorial race that took two months to resolve, and it recommended a package of reforms. The task force, created by Gov. Christine Gregoire in the wake of her razor-thin victory, recommended moving the primary date to earlier in the year, requiring voter identification at the polls, and color-coding provisional ballots so they won't be counted before voters' registration is confirmed. In a 23-page report obtained by The Associated Press, the task force declared that imperfections and mistakes in...

Wash. Dems face massive fines for inaccurate reports 05:33 PM PST on Tuesday, March 1, 2005 By ROBERT MAK / KING 5 News SEATTLE - Washington state’s Democratic party could face thousands of dollars in fines for failing to file accurate reports during the 2004 campaign. The penalties could be stiff because this is not a first offense. The Democratic party is already stretched thin with the governor's recount and the growing legal bills. Penalites could run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. The party acknowledges it made some serious mistakes. In September last year Democrats knew early on that...

Washington voters turned out in large numbers and with constructive attitudes at a series of public hearings sponsored by Gov. Christine Gregoire’s election reform task force, chaired by Secretary of State Sam Reed. When the task force reports its findings on March 1, there are several things all of us should hope to find. If we do not find them, it will be clear that the task force was little more than a smokescreen to preserve the status quo under the guise of meaningful reform and that ineligible voters will continue to be a factor in our state’s future elections....