OLYMPIA: Gregoire charges racism by critics of gambling deals

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Gov. Chris Gregoire says there’s a current of racism in the lingering controversy over state gambling covenants and tribal campaign spending.

It’s the Democratic incumbent’s strongest reaction yet to insinuations that she gave preferential treatment to tribes who later donated large sums to the state Democratic Party.

“I think this whole thing is racist, and I’m totally offended by it,” Gregoire says in a video of her recent interview with Seattle alternative weekly newspaper The Stranger. “But it just shows you how low they’ll go. It shows you that it doesn’t matter what the truth is, they’re going to trump stuff up.”

Gregoire didn’t specify names, but legislative Republicans and backers of her GOP opponent, Dino Rossi, have been pressing the issue in public for weeks.

The Associated Press