Posted on 02/07/2005 8:33:58 PM PST by srm913
BELLEVUE, — Dino Rossi was almost ready to throw in the towel, the Republican candidate for governor told reporters at a news conference today.
If a judge had ruled last Friday that Rossi's legal challenge to Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire's election had to go through the Legislature and not the courts, Rossi said he might have given up.
But the judge ruled the Republican's case could proceed. Today, Rossi said he hopes his election challenge will go to trial within a month.
"We'll be able to get to the bottom of these problems with the election," Rossi said. "I believe we have more than enough evidence to show, really, that we'll never know who won this election."
Democrats said the Republican's election challenge will probably take longer than that, quoting a December letter from Rossi saying an election challenge could stretch for months and would cause the state to suffer through a long, drawn-out process.
"Does he think it's worth it to put the state through this?" asked Democratic Party spokeswoman Kirstin Brost.
Rossi, a real estate agent and former state senator, won the first two counts in the governor's election last fall but lost a hand recount to Gregoire by just 129 votes out of 2.9 million cast. He has challenged the election in Chelan County Superior Court, in a case that's expected to make its way ultimately to the state Supreme Court.
Rossi and the state Republican Party argue the election was tainted by illegal votes and election workers' errors. Republicans say they've identified more than 300 votes cast by felons, dead people and double-voters, plus 437 provisional ballots that were mistakenly fed directly into ballot tabulators without being verified.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
You betcha, babe. Democrats have had twenty years already to wreak havoc on the Evergreen State. Someone has to lock up the kennel sooner rather than later.
A good question to ask of those who have undeniably committed election fraud.
Oh, but it was okay to put the state through 3 recounts until you found enough phony votes to get your Democrat hack elected? Just stuff it Kirstin and I hope you have to face the music in court.
And I suppose it was just dandy for Al Gore to put FL and the nation through the grinder in 2000, not to mention the democrats' antics in OH just last year. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Turnabout is fair play.
The voters think it's worth it.
The voters objected to the 3rd hand recount. The voters reject Gregoire as the legitimate Governor. The voters believe Rossi won. The voters want a revote.
Let's see here, just who is going against the will of the people? It would seem to be Gregoire and pack of Dems that would waste our dollars on top of their constant tax hikes and spending sprees to keep hold of a seat they LOST.
I want a revote.
I'm also amused that the Dems think that allowing a legal process to move forward is 'putting the voters through' something so horrific and awful. They, after all, are the party of the trial lawyers and ambulance chasers, and have no problem with putting voters, taxpayers, and everyone else through all manner of needless, litigious harassment.
They are all too happy to put everyone else through the legal wringer until it comes to be their turn, in a matter of blatant corruption and malfeasance. Then, it's a matter of 'oh gee, we can't put the people through that'.
They are all beneath contempt, and have made our state the laughingstock of the entire planet. When people think of 'vote fraud' now, they won't think of Chicago, Louisiana or Florida, they'll think of Washington.
Gee, thank you Democrats. Just don't get too comfy in that Governor's mansion, you aren't going to be there for very long.
At this juncture, if the Democrats win the court case, the Gregoire administration will limp thru four years under a cloud of suspicion.
If they lose the court case, Rossi probably romps and stomps in the re-vote.
Consequently, would it not serve Gregoire to resign from the governorship and join the call for a re-vote? If she could accomplish that feat gracefully (and graciously), she would at least give herself a sporting chance in the re-vote.
I wonder if her Democrat handlers are not now discussing this very possibility...
[barf alert]
http://www.wa-democrats.org/site/Rossi11.htm
Washington State Democrats
For Immediate Release Contact: Kirstin Brost
November 16, 2004
Rossi In Court Trying to Throw Out Votes and Steal The Election
SEATTLE – What right is more important than the right to vote?
What position is stronger than defending the right of voters to be heard?
Dino Rossi’s friends at the Republican Party have just announced that they are going to sue King County to throw out hundreds of ballots.
“Going to court to stop ballots from being counted is disgraceful. George W. Bush did it in 2000 in Florida and now Dino Rossi is doing it in 2004,” said Paul Berendt, Chair of the Washington State Democrats. “Dino Rossi wants a court to stop ballots from being counted because he knows that the ballot count isn’t going his way. Rossi knows that Chris Gregoire will be the next governor if every vote is counted.”
“This is not the Republican Party’s decision. Chris Vance said publicly on Friday that he was opposed to taking legal action. Dino Rossi made the call himself. No one who wants to be governor should be going to court to stop voters from having their votes counted,” said Berendt.
On Friday, Democrats went to court to force King County to release the names of voters whose ballots were being disqualified for technical reasons, including administrative errors. That’s because Democrats wanted these voters to have a chance to make their vote count.
A judge agreed, telling the courtroom “No right is more precious than the right to vote.” He ordered the county to release the names, so their ballots could be saved. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer 11/13/04)
Over the weekend, volunteers contacted hundreds of voters, warned them that their ballots were going to be disqualified, and gave them a chance to save their votes. Many of the voters we helped had never heard from King County, or were unable to make it to the auditors office on their own. On Monday, volunteers delivered hundreds of affidavits to King County in order to keep these ballots from being thrown out.
Here are some of the stories behind these ballots that Rossi is trying to disqualify
o Four individual voters suffering from Parkinsons whose ballots were disqualified because of mis-matched signatures. Their condition also makes it difficult for them to visit the auditor’s office.
o A disabled voter whose ballot was disqualified because of variations in spelling between his registration form and his ballot – variations due to his condition.
o College students who attend school out of state.
o A housebound voter unable to make the trip downtown.
o Numerous voters who were never told their ballots were in question until informed by volunteers.
These are just a few examples. Rossi should stop trying to treat these voters like second class citizens, and let every vote be counted.
“Dino Rossi is asking for votes to be thrown out with the morning trash, just because things aren’t going his way,” concluded Berendt.
# # #
Kirstin Brost
Communications Director
Washington State Democrats
206-281-9124
Paid for by the Washington State Democratic Central Committee. www.wa-democrats.org. This communication not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
Well, DUH. 53% who were surveyed said, "YES". Only 36% said, "no". The rest are don't know who the candidates are let alone what a governor is.
The RATS also tried to stop the fact finding portion of the law suit. They are extremely afraid of the general public finding out about their sneaky underhanded tactics:
Judge’s ruling:
Democrats’ motion to stop fact-finding (“discovery”) until other motions are decided: DENIED.
What Christine Gregoire was desperately trying to stop – an election contest trial – is now going to happen. This is a huge victory for us. In trial we will be able to bring to light all the problems with this election – the illegal and improperly cast votes, and the thousands of votes that can’t be matched to voters.
In the end, we believe the people of Washington will get the opportunity to have a new election and a legitimately elected governor once and for all.
Ah, you democrats tell that to the military personnel in WA State who GAVE YOU THAT RIGHT TO VOTE IN THE FIRST PLACE, but which YOU DEMONICRATS said were ineligible if they were not received in time, even though the attorney general decided to make sure that WA State military ballots would be the last state to deliver them. Who was the Attorney General that did this. Well, well, well if it is the democrat nominee for governor of Washington State....what a coincidence.
I think that this might also be some sort of experiment.
It's as if the Dems are pushing the flim-flam envelope, exploiting a close election in order to test just how much transparent and outright election fraud they can get away with.
Remember, Hillary Rodham is taking notes.
.
Whoops...
That should have said "SHUDDER"
There is no question that this is worth it. Every day that goes by our legislators are busy creating new ways to take our money, take our guns and even monitor our collection of rainwater.
I'd like to see an accused murderer try that line: "Your Honor, does the State think it's worth it to put the family through this? After all, the victim will still be dead."
-PJ
Confronting evil, attempting to right a wrong, standing up to an injustice, are always worth it, in the end. Having the confidence of the people in their electoral process, assuring honest and clean elections, goes to the core of our system of self-governance. Sure, it may cost a few pennies now and then to assure that, but the downside risk of losing everything we have, represents a cost beyond measure. Better to spend a little now than lose everything in the future.
PLEASE don't accept this premise. The three cases are not even comparable.
The challenge in Ohio was simply a sad joke considering Bush won by a healthy 2% margin. With zero chance of success, it was undertaken to appease partisan nut cases.
Florida in 2000 was extremely close, but unlike Rossi, Gore had no reasonable basis for complaint. In the Washington case we are talking about fraudulent ballots, not butterfly ballots. Moreover Rossi is pursuing remedies in the law as it existed prior to the election, not asking the state supreme court to make up new laws and procedures which allow for additional recounts with lighter ballot requirements but only in counties that seem to favor him.
Let me get this straight, not counting purely fraudulent ballots is disgraceful. But, as we learned in Florida 2000, attempting to throw out military absentee ballots cast correctly and on time by armed serviceman (based on the excuse the post office failed to put a postage stamp on the envelope) is A-OK.
Ah, the nuance of left wing morality.
Let’s say you drive all the way up to Paradise to get a beautiful photo of Mount Rainier. You set your camera on a tripod and while you wait for the sun to move out of the clouds, someone comes up and, without you noticing, smears Vaseline on the lens. After using an entire roll of film, you go home and send the film in for processing.
Upon getting your photos back, you discover they are out of focus as a result of the Vaseline. You would be quite upset because somebody ruined the time and trouble you took to get a beautiful picture. Those who cause such trouble are anarchists who do not value another man’s property.
We in Washington are upset because we found Vaseline smeared on our election process by anarchists who prevented us from getting a perfect picture of the will of the people. What would you do? You would clean up the lens and go back and retake the picture.
That is what the voters of Washington want. We want to revote the election with a clean lens.
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