Parties attack: Dems mock Rossi on secrecy, Repubs hit Gregoire on children

Frequently the things politicians want to say wind up staying trapped behind their tongues in order to appear above the fray. That is where interest groups and state parties come into play.

Some of the hardest-hitting attacks so far in the governor's race have come from the state Democratic and Republican Parties, who have maintained their anti-Dino Rossi and anti-Chris Gregoire messages throughout the spring and summer. So it continues.

One of the recurring messages from the Washington State Republican Party, along with a lack of transportation leadership and a failure to acknowledge a projected budget deficit, has been that the Gregoire administration has failed to properly account for child welfare.

Now with Gregoire airing television commercials touting her success on that very topic, the Republicans have revamped their angle. The state party has sent out two press releases in the last week going after Gregoire on foster care.

Responding to a story in The Olympian about child abuse cases, the Republicans blamed Gregoire.

"This isn't just failing to turn in paperwork;" the release said, "it's failing to pay attention to vulnerable children, their families, and staff members who work with them. That kind of tardiness isn't acceptable, which is why this week we give Christine Gregoire an ‘F'."

They came back four days later and went after Gregoire again on foster care.

"Caring for and monitoring children in state-supervised foster care is never an easy task, but unfortunately for Gov. Gregoire it's proven to be an almost impossible one," said Washington State Republican Party Chairman Luke Esser. "No matter how many new bureaucracies she creates or how many new people she hires, Gov. Gregoire seems incapable of making the changes necessary to really make foster kids safe."

Meanwhile state Democrats are continuing with their theme that Dino Rossi is, despite outward appearance, far too similar to President George W. Bush for the citizens of Washington. Issues aside, they point in particulary to certain Rossi campaign events that have blocked access to Democrats, his ties to the building industry lobby and his refusal to discuss some issues and release financial documents.

"Republican Dino Rossi's continued stonewalling and evasion - on everything from his out-of-step issue positions to the George Bush-style conflicts of interest that made him rich - continue to take new and unbelievable turns almost daily, once again begging the question: what is Republican Dino Rossi hiding from Washingtonians?" said Kelly Steele, spokesman for the Washington State Democratic Party in a press release. "After 8 years of deception and lies from George Bush, the last thing Washingtonians need is a Bush Republican like Dino Rossi in the governor's mansion."

To help illustrate their point, they created a video earlier this week to coincide with the recent release of "The X-Files" movie. Their video is called "The Rossi Files" and makes use of the television show's distinctive music and FBI-style lettering to paint Rossi as a secretive and shady politician.

In the parlance of weekly television shows, stay tuned. The truth is out there.