WSLC Political Education -- The Truth About Dino Rossi

Meet Dino Rossi. He's a Republican real estate salesman and a former State Senator who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2004. Now he's running again. But this time, he's received millions of dollars in corporate special-interest cash -- some of which Rossi may have illegally helped raise -- paying to bombard Washington voters with misleading or false TV and radio advertisements attacking incumbent Gov. Chris Gregoire and portraying Dino Rossi as a compassionate agent of "change."

Union members are urged to learn the facts for themselves, and not allow their votes to be influenced by manipulative ads -- by either side -- in this important race.

Delegates representing labor unions across the State of Washington voted UNANIMOUSLY to oppose Rossi's candidacy and support Gov. Gregoire for re-election. Why? Read on, and find out for yourself. And then DECIDE FOR YOURSELF who deserves your vote based on the facts, not the garbage you see or hear in these advertisements.

In Dino Rossi's case, "change" starts with switching from a "Republican" to a "GOP" candidate, although it means the same thing. Rossi's strategists know that about one in four Washingtonians don't know that GOP means the same thing as Republican, so ballots will not have the word "Republican" next to Rossi's name. Polls show that gives Rossi a 4-point boost he wouldn't get if everyone knew he was a Republican.

THE LATEST ON ROSSI

Here are the latest headlines about Dino Rossi, Republican candidate for governor:

October 31 -- Revisionist Rossi still claims credit for budget he didn't write

October 24 -- Specter of "Dino Dollars" shadow Rossi on campaign trail

October 23 -- Dino Rossi wants to cut benefits for laid-off, injured workers

October 16 -- Dino Rossi's false outrage, flip-flop on the minimum wage issue

October 7 -- Rossi faces new charges he broke campaign laws with BIAW

October 3 -- Washington's minimum wage to go up, but Rossi wants to lower it

October 1 -- Rossi attempts to skirt law banning coordination with BIAW PAC

Like George Bush before him, Dino Rossi calls himself a "compassionate conservative." But there's no compassion in his voting record on working family issues. He voted for a lower minimum wage, against letting people use sick leave to care for ailing family members, and against unemployment benefits for victims of domestic violence. Rossi wrote a budget cutting 40,000 kids in low-income families off health insurance while renewing -- and expanding -- special interest business tax breaks.

That's just for starters.

Rossi's 6% voting record with the Washington State Labor Council ranks among the worst -- and most partisan -- of any legislator during his 1997-2003 tenure in the State Senate. He managed only five positive votes in 77 chances, and those were on issues with which labor, business and the leadership of both parties were all in agreement. For example, his one positive vote out of 15 in 2003 was to approve the 5-cent gas-tax increase to fund transportation improvements.

Union members can download fliers comparing Rossi and labor-endorsed candidate Christine Gregoire on important bread-and-butter issues, and highlighting some of Rossi's most egregious anti-worker votes. Distribute these fliers to your fellow union members!

On all other labor issues, Sen. Rossi has voted with his party leadership and against the interests of Washington's working families every time, including when other moderate Republicans sided with Democrats to approve legislation. Here are a few examples (click on the years to see more detail on that year's WSLC Voting Record):

2003 -- Rossi voted for changes to the unemployment system that dramatically cut benefits for workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own; for cutting workers' compensation benefits for victims of job-related hearing loss; for repealing the workplace ergonomic safety rule; for freezing the state minimum wage; for adopting federal wage-and-hour standards (in anticipation of the Bush administration proposal to exclude some 8 million Americans from the right to overtime pay); and for authorizing charter schools.
2002 -- Rossi voted against granting collective bargaining rights to state employees, 4-year college faculty and UW academic student employees; against the prescription drug utilization bill to create a "buying pool" negotiating lower drug prices in Washington; against allowing use of sick time or other paid leave to care for sick family members; and against allowing dues deduction for home-care workers who choose to join a union.
2001 -- Rossi voted against granting unemployment benefits to victims of domestic violence who are forced to quit their jobs to flee their attackers (at an annual estimated cost of just $144,000); against implementation of the state ergonomic safety rule; and against prohibiting public employers from firing or misclassifying employees to avoid providing benefits.
2000 -- Rossi voted against the retraining bill designed to assist laid-off Boeing Machinists, timber workers and others; against providing unemployment benefits to workers locked out of their jobs (like those at Kaiser Aluminum); against promoting apprenticeship on public-works projects; and against empowering health care workers to avoid and prevent needlestick injuries. He voted for privatization of certain ferry runs.
1999 -- No labor voting record that year.
1998 -- Rossi voted against increasing agency home-care workers' wages to an average $8.50 an hour and against a "pay gap" measure designed to grant bigger raises to state employees whose wages lag behind their private sector counterparts.
1997 -- Rossi voted for overturning a unanimous Supreme Court decision (Birklid v. Boeing) granting legal immunity to employers that intentionally injure workers; for partial privatization of our state workers' compensation system; for lowering state standards protecting workers from secondhand smoke; and for granting legal immunity to job site contractors who negligently injure workers who are not their employees.

For more information about these and other anti-labor votes taken by Dino Rossi, contact David Groves at 206-281-8901.