CounterIntel

Sinking the schip

Speaking to a packed room of supporters in the 500-seat Village
Theatre in Issaquah on the morning of October 25, Dino Rossi kicked off
his long-anticipated do over.

Since losing to Governor Christine Gregoire by just 133 votes in
2004, Rossi, 48, a real-estate broker and former state senator, has
been running a nonprofit called Forward Washington, which seemed
suspiciously like a campaign front group.

His announcement, which got a few standing ovations and lots of
supportive shout-outs, played up standard GOP themes: the Democratic
incumbent has raised taxes, released felons, and increased government
spending.

That last point was picked up by the mainstream press, which
parroted Rossi’s sound bite: Under Gregoire, state spending has gone up
30 percent. No mention in the mainstream press that
revenues—thanks to remarkable job growth (not tax
hikes)—have also gone up 30 percent.

Rossi says he would fight to give those extra revenues back to the
people. Unless those people are children, I guess.

Indeed, Rossi’s campaign told me this week that Rossi supports
President Bush’s veto of a bill that would expand children’s
health-care coverage, SCHIP. The SCHIP program would bring in about $90
million to Washington State—helping fund our state’s own
children’s health care expansion. Last session, the State legislature
(at Gregoire’s insistence) passed a bill that—working in tandem
with the feds—would expand children’s health coverage, eventually
adding 65,000 children to state Medicaid coverage.

Governor Gregoire has taken a strong position on the federal bill
(she sent a letter to members of our delegation urging them to override
Bush’s veto).

This brings me back to Rossi’s speech in Issaquah, where he bashed
Gregoire’s blue ribbon health care study. “Have you seen your
health-care costs come down? If you were to read the news releases from
the governor’s office, you would think our health-care problems were
solved.”

After the speech, I asked Rossi if he thought Congress should
override President Bush’s veto to save the bill passed in Olympia. He
told me, “I’m not in Congress.”

A few days later, coming out in support of Bush’s veto, Rossi’s
campaign summarized his position: “The majority of children that are
going to be coming on are either illegal or currently have health
insurance from the private sector.”

Actually, there are 26,000 kids in our state without health
insurance who wouldn’t get it if Bush’s veto stands. The State admits,
for what it’s worth, that it doesn’t know how many are “illegal.”