Free Republic

Today Governor Christine Gregoire sent US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales a bill for $50 million—Washington's cost of imprisoning criminal illegal aliens in Fiscal Years 2005 and 2006. Bravo! It's about time Washington state requested the federal government fulfill its obligation on this issue. The Governor correctly demanded "the US government fulfill its legal duty to reimburse Washington State taxpayers for the cost of carrying out this federal function."To help the feds do their job on immigration control, Gregoire should also put an end to the fleecing of Washington taxpayers by eliminating state services and benefits for the state's non-incarcerated illegal...

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Gov. Chris Gregoire sent an invoice of nearly $50 million to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Monday, saying the federal government needs to reimburse the state for the cost of housing criminal illegal immigrants. Gregoire said that even though it's the federal government's responsibility to incarcerate illegal immigrants who have committed crimes, the state has been doing it for years. From July 2004 to June 2005, Gregoire said the state paid more than $27 million to house 995 prisoners. The Department of Justice has only reimbursed the state $1.7 million, and still owes $25.3 million. She's seeking an...

WENATCHEE -- Reeling from a courtroom rout, Republican Dino Rossi decided today not to press ahead to the state Supreme Court with his legal challenge to the 2004 election of Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire. With today's decision, and because of the political makeup of the Washington State Supreme Court, which makes it almost impossible to overturn this ruling, I am ending the election contest," Rossi said at his campaign headquarters in Bellevue. Rossi and the GOP sued in January in Chelan County Superior Court to set aside the closest governor's race in the nation's history, which Gregoire won by 129...

A small, weekend item in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer was missed by many, yet it's another example of a dubious trend: liberal Democrats switching between journalism and partisan political positions..... (AND) Election Decision Live Blogging GOP Loses First Round In Gubernatorial Challenge...

A Washington state judge found that more than 1600 votes were illegally cast in the gubernatorial election last year. They were nearly all cast in overwhelmingly Demonrat-controlled regions, and constitute several times the margin of "victory" by the Demonrat candidate, Christinie Gregoire. The judge acknowledged the injury due to the fraud. But, he found that as defined by the Washington State election statute the fraud provided no basis for overturning election. The statute states that the challenging party would have to not only demonstrate that fraud occured, but that the perpetrators of the fraud intended to commit fraud. Merely being...

A judge on Monday upheld Washington's 2004 gubernatorial election, rejecting Republicans' bid to nullify the 129-vote victory of Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire. Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges denied Republican claims that election errors, illegal voters and fraud stole the election from GOP candidate Dino Rossi. He announced his decision in court, saying the state's election process was flawed but that he was not the proper person to remedy those flaws. "This court is not in the position to fix the deficiencies in the election process," Bridges said. "However, the voters are in a position to demand of their...

A state judge has upheld the election of Washington Governor Christine Gregoire. In turning back the Republican challenge to the Democrat, Judge John Bridges says there was no evidence of fraud in last fall's election. The judge did find there were more than 1,600 illegal votes, but he says it's up to voters to fix errors in the state's election system. Republicans have said they will appeal to the state Supreme Court.

OK, this thread may be partially vanity...but it looks like breaking news based upon what I'm reading on the soundpolitics web site. Go there and read it for yourselves...but it looks like the county jdge isn't gonna allow a new election. This looks bad for democracy. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Live thread, discuss.

WENATCHEE, Wash. (AP) -- The state elections director yesterday testified that he thinks the problems in Washington's incredibly close 2004 gubernatorial election were innocent mistakes. "I saw inadvertent mistakes and errors of human beings who were working their hearts out," said Nick Handy, who was appointed to the post. He said he disagrees with his boss, Secretary of State Sam Reed, a Republican who has called the problems in heavily Democratic King County "appalling." Mr. Handy testified as a trial to determine whether the results of the election should be thrown out entered its second week. Democrats are trying to...

WENATCHEE, Wash. - The state elections director testified Tuesday that he believes the problems in Washington's incredibly close 2004 gubernatorial election were innocent mistakes. "I saw inadvertent mistakes and errors of human beings who were working their hearts out," said Nick Handy, who was appointed to the post. He said he disagrees with his boss, Secretary of State Sam Reed, a Republican, who has called the problems in heavily Democratic King County "appalling." Handy testified as a trial to determine whether the results of the election should be thrown out entered its second week. Democrats are trying to defend the...

WENATCHEE, Wash. -- An expert witness for Republicans challenging the 2004 election of Gov. Christine Gregoire testified Thursday that when illegal votes are subtracted, the GOP candidate was the rightful winner. The state Republican Party and candidate Dino Rossi challenged the election after Gregoire's 129-vote victory, the closest margin of any governor's contest in the nation's history. The challengers are alleging fraud and worker errors, and want the court to nullify the election, which would lead to a new race between Rossi and Gregoire. Cal Tech political science Professor Jonathan Katz testified the way to tell who really won the...

p>Union membership has its benefits, including a crime-free life. So says Paul Berendt, chairman of the Washington state Democrat Party, who was quoted on May 23 by the New York Times: “The Republican base has always been nonunion, white, blue-collar males, and that’s who the felons are in the state of Washington.” Perhaps this explains recent actions by the Washington Legislature and Governor Christine Gregoire. By funding a contract that forces tens of thousands of state employees to pay union dues, the Democrat-controlled legislature may have been attempting to push more workers toward a crime-free lifestyle. Delaying the pay raise...

WENATCHEE, Wash. - The judge hearing a challenge to Washington state's 2004 gubernatorial election agreed Tuesday to let Republicans introduce evidence that Democratic-leaning King County recorded several hundred more votes than it could account for. Republicans allege errors and possible fraud in the county, which includes Seattle, helped Democrats steal the election for Christine Gregoire, who beat Republican Dino Rossi by 129 votes out of 2.9 million cast. "The evidence is overwhelming that there was unbelievable neglect in King County and, we believe, outright fraud by high-ranking King County officials," GOP attorney Dale Foreman said Monday. Democrats had tried to...

The trial to determine whether Christine Gregoire stole the governor's election last November began today at 9am Pacific time. (I can save everyone a lot of time . . . SHE DID! . . . . but for some reason the lawyers insist on playing their silly games. My link is to TVW (essentially local C-SPAN), which is broadcasting the trial live on regional cable, and streaming on their website. More coverage is available here on NWCN as well. This is a landmark trial, as it looks to expose massive 'Rat corruption and voter fraud.

WENATCHEE, Wash. (AP) -- Even though Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire has been in office for months now, the legal battle over how she got there is still far from over. Republican Dino Rossi is challenging Gregoire's 2004 victory in the closest statewide election in national history, alleging widespread problems including illegal votes cast by felons and dead people. The challenge was to go to trial Monday. Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges moved the case to the county auditorium to accommodate the scores of attorneys, reporters, politicians and spectators who planned to attend. Rossi, a former state senator and...

For months, state Republicans have insisted that hundreds of votes cast illegally by felons put Democrat Christine Gregoire in the governor's mansion. But a Seattle Times analysis finds that even if those votes were disqualified, Gregoire would still prevail over GOP challenger Dino Rossi. That finding undercuts what has been the most prominent element of the Republicans' case to overturn the election. The case moves to trial in Wenatchee tomorrow. Gregoire won the election by a scant 129 votes — and only after Rossi finished ahead in the first two of three vote counts. ...

Gregoire: 'No meek and mild' for this embattled governorBy DAVID AMMONS AP POLITICAL WRITER OLYMPIA, Wash. -- In recent days, Gov. Christine Gregoire has signed a passel of "sin taxes" and the largest gas-tax hike in state history. She has sacked 1,000 middle managers and sent a number of Gary Locke's appointees packing. The activist rookie was an unexpectedly effective dealmaker in the Legislature, showing the timing and finesse of a seasoned card sharp, even her critics said. On a parallel track, she was prodding the bureaucracy and looking for concrete ways to hold agencies accountable. She threw some sharp...

More and more reports are emerging of the extent to which Democrats were willing to go to try to influence the 2004 election. Well, their tactics worked in Washington State. Our Republican candidate for Governor, Dino Rossi, actually won the election. Then he won the recount. Then Democrat-controlled King County "found" 566 new votes just in time for the second recount, enough to overturn the results of Election Day and the first recount. The new result? Dino Rossi "lost" by 129 votes. But consider the following facts in Washington state; 943 felons illegally voted 49 dead people voted 3 people...

Office of Governor Christine GregoireFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - May 18, 2005 Contact:  Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136 Gov. Gregoire, schools superintendent join president of Mexico in launching online-learning program OLYMPIA – May 17, 2005 – Gov. Christine Gregoire and Terry Bergeson, state superintendent of public instruction, yesterday joined Mexico’s President Vicente Fox and others in launching a web site and online resources that will allow 55,000 Latino students in Washington to take school classes online in Spanish. The curriculum, which will include basic literacy and high-school-level subject matter that can apply toward graduation, has been produced in Spanish by the government...