Controversy continues over bill signing window

The timeline continues to fill in on the fundraising back-and-forth in the state's governor's race, with another round of criticism, this time by Dino Rossi.

Back in February, Rossi called on Chris Gregoire to withhold any campaign fundraising during this nearly month-long bill signing period that ends April 5 which was off limits up until last year, calling the time period a loophole. A week later Gregoire announced that she would not personally raise any money during this time. Then on March 12, Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz further defended Gregoire in a press release and called on Dino Rossi to release all of the donors to his Forward Washington Foundation, which Pelz also called a loophole.

Last weekend the Tri-City Herald's Chris Mulick reported that Gov. Chris Gregoire's campaign was cashing unsolicited checks sent to them, a move Gregoire had earlier said she had not thought about.

This brings the timeline to March25, when still more fuel was added to the fire in the Seattle P-I where Dino Rossi gave his response to the news.

"(Gregoire) shouldn't really be doing anything that gives the appearance of doing something underhanded or shady," Rossi told the paper.

He then added that the notion that she was not personally soliciting money was no excuse for the unethical appearances the contributions made. "That clearly is not enough," Rossi said. "If she has someone's legislation sitting on her desk, I guarantee that they know it. And some of them may think that they can gain favor -- whether that is accurate or not -- by contributing."

Updates undoubtedly on the way...