Opinion - Top opinion

POSTED: Sunday, Oct. 19, 2008

Chris Gregoire has earned second term as governor

Four years ago, The Bellingham Herald's editorial board endorsed Chris Gregoire to be Washington's governor despite also believing that Dino Rossi could do the job.

Half of our board has changed since then, but our stance has not. We recommend voters re-elect Gregoire in this election, though we remain comfortable that if Rossi were to win the election he would also serve the state well.

Our decision to back Gregoire a second time is simple. She has done a good job leading our state the last four years. We can find no reason to "fire" her and "hire" Rossi instead.

We met with both candidates separately earlier this month.

In her interview, Gregoire spelled out what she had accomplished since 2005 and what can be accomplished in the future.

On education, for example, Gregoire pointed out that about half of the increase in government spending in her first four years was for schools. She funded teacher raises and smaller classroom sizes that were demanded by state citizens through initiatives, initiatives the previous administration and Legislature had just ignored.

On business and economic development, she said that under her leadership the state Department of Labor & Industries had raised its insurance rates for businesses only 4 percent over four years. It had gone up 45 percent in the two years previous to her election. She also said that exports from Washington were worth $66 billion this January, up from $33 billion from when she took office in January 2005.

On higher education, she said the state has created thousands of new openings for students at state colleges and universities in the past four years, including 500 at Western Washington University.

On transportation, she said that the state Transportation Department is getting more jobs done today now that the Legislature has tasked the governor with transportation. The department has completed 167 jobs since July 2005, compared to just 13 in the year before that.

Officials estimate the state could face a $3.2 billion budget deficit between 2009 and 2011, the state's next two-year budget cycle. While Rossi and his supporters have made a lot of political hay about that, we don't see how Gregoire can be blamed.

The state's deficit is a direct result of a slowing economy. It would have happened no matter who was governor.

Gregoire should get credit, on the other hand, for being the first governor to push for and sign into law a rule that requires the state set aside money in a "rainy day fund" during good years for use when times get tough. The state currently has about $529 million in reserves. That's not enough to cover the projected deficit, but we salute Gregoire for supporting creation of the fund.

We liked a lot of what Rossi said during his interview.

He talked of finding ways for the government to become more supportive of businesses, especially by streamlining regulations. He said that he would oversee a simplifying of health insurance rules and requirements to encourage more companies to offer health insurance in our state.

But Rossi lacked specifics when talking about how he would tackle the future budget deficit. He promised that as governor, he would "open up the lid on the agencies" and be able to look inside and find cost savings. But despite repeated questions, Rossi could give no examples of what programs or agencies he would cut in order to balance the budget. We were surprised.

Not only is Rossi familiar with the state's budget from having written the state Senate version in 2003, but he has been running for governor basically full-time since 2004. After he lost that year's close election, it was obvious that he was planning on challenging Gregoire again this year. In all that time you would think he would have thought of some obvious proposals for state programs that could and should be trimmed.

Gregoire, meanwhile, is right in the middle of her goal of revamping the state government and finding new ways to do things.

The governor has worked to fix everything from a dysfunctional Transportation Department to a Child Protective Services division that was not protecting kids. When Gregoire took office, the agency would answer calls of potential children in danger sometime within 10 working days of a report. The offices are now open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and are responding to calls the day they are made.

If re-elected, she promises to continue to reform Olympia. And she promises to do so without raising taxes.

We believe Gregoire has done an admirable job for the past four years. Voters should elect her again to continue that good work.