Rossi recently got himself in trouble addressing the Association of Washington Business, when he let slip that he would like to establish a sub-minimum "training wage" in Washington state. In a previous article, we described Rossi's subsequent damage-control efforts, his false outrage over the criticism he has faced, and his demonstrated history of support for lowering Washington's minimum wage.

Dino Rossi has also told business groups that he would cut both Unemployment Insurance and Workers' Compensation benefits.  

As with the minimum wage, his stance comes as no surprise to those who have looked at his voting record on working families' issues.  In 2003, then-State Sen. Dino Rossi voted for the biggest cut in unemployment benefits in state history, which targeted construction and other intermittent workers with cuts of more than $200 a week. After that legislative session, an exuberant Rossi told AP reporter Paul Queary that those unemployment benefit cuts were "just the first step. We have to do more. We have to go farther." 

Fortunately, over the years since 2003, Gov. Chris Gregoire and the Democratic-controlled State Legislature have gradually restored those benefits nearly to pre-2003 levels. But now, Rossi is telling business groups he would like to cut those unemployment benefits again, at a time many in Washington face layoffs because of the national economic crisis. 

Speaking at the Port Angeles Yacht Club in September, the Peninsula Daily News reports that Rossi told a local builders' group that he wants to cut unemployment benefits again. He has reiterated that position in comments before regional Chambers of Commerce around the state.

It's another example of Rossi's trickle-down economic philosophy -- one that has failed spectacularly on a national level.  He wants to reward the very richest people and corporate special interests, while ignoring the needs of low-income and middle-class working families, assuming they will eventually benefit from more money at the top of the economic scale.  But Rossi's lack of compassion for families victimized by layoff would end up harming the very businesses he purports to serve.

One of the main purposes of unemployment benefits is to provide economic stability to counter the effects of unemployment and recession.  The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that for every $1 of unemployment benefits, $2.15 of purchasing power is created in local economies.  That means that during the recent recession in 2002, $2 billion in state and federal UI benefits paid in Washington state created purchasing power on Main Street of $4.3 billion, keeping a significant number of small businesses afloat.

In other words, as we enter a national recession in 2008 is the worst possible time to cut unemployment benefits if you want to mitigate the impact on small businesses in Washington.

Dino Rossi's lack of compassion for injured workers is especially disturbing. 

Rossi is very careful and deliberate when he says and repeats the phrase that our state workers' compensation system has "the third highest payouts in America." He wants his audience to assume that high benefits must mean that employers pay high taxes. 

They don't. In fact, Washington employers pay demonstrably less than employers in most other states. And Dino Rossi knows this.

Washington has one of the few workers' compensation systems remaining in the United States that has resisted privatization.  Our State Fund it is considered a model system among other states.  Why?  The system's most recent comprehensive performance audit found it to rank in the top 25% of states in terms of benefits paid, and the bottom 25% in terms of employer costs. Subsequent state-by-state rate studies have consistently ranked our state in the bottom third in terms of workers' compensation costs for employers.

High benefits, low costs. That's the best of both worlds. Right?

Not if you are Republican Dino Rossi and you are trying to convince voters that Gov. Chris Gregoire and the Democratic legislators have made Washington a horrible place to do business.  It's the same "Washington Sucks" mentality used by business lobbying groups in Olympia to get their special-interest tax breaks and deregulation amid the constant threat of taking their business -- and their jobs -- elsewhere.

Any objective look at Washington's business environment and economy argues the opposite. While we maintain worker-friendly policies -- like our voter-mandated minimum wage that is the highest in the nation -- our economy has fared better than many states around the country. Our unemployment rate is lower than the national rate. Analysts from outside the "Washington Sucks" echo chamber consistently rank our state as a great place to do business. (Forbes magazine says we're 3rd best in the nation.)

That makes candidate Dino Rossi's position all the more despicable. Here's a real estate salesman turned politician aiming to score political points by portraying workers who are injured on the job as harming our state's business climate with their exorbitant benefits. Clearly he has no understanding of what it is like to lose your income due to injury and no compassion for those who receive benefits that temporarily and partially replace their family's lost income.

Shredding their safety net is the kind of change Republican Dino Rossi wants for Washington.

For more information on others changes Republican Dino Rossi would bring to Washington, check out his voting record as a State Senator. His 6% voting record with the Washington State Labor Council ranks among the worst -- and most partisan -- of any state legislator during his 1997-2003 tenure in the State Senate.

Copyright © ^{2008 --  Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO}