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Home / Washington Business - March/April 2004 / Dino Rossi: A Fiscal Conservative with a Social Conscience |
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Dino Rossi: A Fiscal Conservative with a Social Conscience |
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Written On: January 12, 2004 |
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On Jan. 9, former Issaquah State Senator Dino Rossi met with AWB leaders to discuss his upcoming campaign for governor. Rossi is one of two announced Republican candidates. The other is Federico Cruz of Tacoma.
The Rossi meeting was the second in a series of AWB leadership meetings with gubernatorial candidates. In November, Association leaders met with Attorney General Christine Gregoire, one of three Democrats announced for governor. The other Democrats are former Supreme Court Justice Phil Talmadge and King County Executive Ron Simms.
Rossi is scheduled to meet again with AWB members in Olympia on Feb. 5 from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. at our Association headquarters. (For a complete list of the gubernatorial and attorney general candidate meetings with AWB members in Olympia, please go to www.awb.org or contact Shannon Garland (ShannonG@awb.org) .
We have invited all the gubernatorial candidates to participate in a forum May 19 at AWB’s Spring Member Meeting in Spokane. Also, in each of the 2004 editions of Washington Business Magazine, AWB will publish a story about the candidate interviews. The Gregoire interview will be published in the next issue followed by the Rossi interview in the March-April issue.
Fiscal Conservative with a Social Conscience
A Seattle University graduate who worked his way through college as a janitor, Rossi characterizes himself as a fiscal conservative with a social conscience. As evident of that claim, the former Issaquah Senator who chaired the powerful Senate Ways and Means Committee last year, said his budget implemented the Priorities of Government and Price of Government (POG) recommendations, and when Governor Locke decreased funding for the developmentally disabled, Rossi restored it.
“I want to build a philosophical majority, not a partisan majority,” Rossi said pointing to the bipartisan coalition he pulled together to pass a no-new tax budget that lived within the state’s available revenue. “We need to treat the state budget much like our families treat their own. There is only so much money, and we have to make the best of what we have and set priorities of what we need to do.”
Rossi indicated the problem with the state budgeting process before last session is “you took the previous budget, added an inflation factor and new programs, and then figured out how to pay for things.”
Grow the Tax Base by Providing Jobs and Economic Growth
A key core principle for Rossi is growing the economy so the private sector provides jobs and economic growth brings in additional taxes to fund government. “Too many governors and lawmakers look only to taxes when times get tough. That is why the POG was so important because it sets the priorities on what government needs to spend its money.”
Rossi believes that if the bipartisan group he pulled together in the Senate had not stuck to the POG, Governor Locke would have unveiled the so-called “Book II” budget which increased taxes to fund higher state spending and the House, controlled by Democrats, would have raised taxes by at least $700 million.
Not Worried About Re-Election
Rossi, who is married with four children ranging from three to 13 years old, believes he brings a different perspective to managing state government. “You have a totally different approach to things when you have to sign checks to pay people, taxes and your bills than you do when you just endorse the back of a check to deposit in your bank account.” His background is in commercial real estate.
“I’m not worried about re-election,” he stated emphatically. “I never have been. I have a business to go back to or I can do like I did when I graduated from Seattle U - start all over again.”
Rossi believes that candidates who worry about re-election often find it difficult to stick with a set of core principles. “It is much easier to fund programs and tell people ‘yes’ as opposed to taking a hard stand saying ‘I’m sorry’ we just can’t fund it. I had to make at least 125 tough decisions each day when we put the budget together last year. We did the best with the information we had, but we made tough decisions and that is what I’ll do as governor.”
Get Rid of Gotcha Attitude in Government
When Rossi announced for governor, he drove to 17 communities around the state to talk with people. He said people complain about the “Gotcha Attitude” of government. He pledges to put the best people heading state agencies who realize the taxpayer is the customer and they need assistance, not a constant set of hurdles to overcome.
He believes 20 years of Democrat control of the governor’s office has left an entrenched set of bureaucrats. He promises to change that and not worry about political patronage when appointing his cabinet, the board of regents and other key state appointed positions. Rossi believes the private sector can offer a cadre of great leaders and managers to turn state government around.
Rossi said he isn’t afraid to take hard tax votes either. “There was a strong case for the five-cent-a-gallon gas tax, and I voted for it. But I am watching the Dept. of Transportation to make sure they use the money wisely and show the taxpayers they put their money to good use.
Don’t Micromanage Higher Education
The Republican said the state’s community colleges, colleges and universities need more flexibility to manage their institutions and to raise the money needed to provide additional enrollment growth to meet the state’s population growth among college age students.
“We don’t have the budget capacity at the state level to meet the enrollment growth projections so tuition-setting flexibility is necessary and we can’t say to higher education, ‘we’ll give you the authority to manage differently’ and then micromanage them.”
Rossi would emphasize ways to make sure students who need financial assistance to attend community colleges or universities would have access to it. “I would look at financial assistance much like I did helping the developmentally disabled in the budget last year. I would look for ways to bypass the bureaucracy and send more money to the people who need it.”
Along those lines, Rossi, a strong proponent of contracting out, would work to remove the hurdles which prevent it. As a sponsor of legislation to allow the state to contract out unencumbered by collective bargaining agreements, Rossi figures that the state could save up to $900 million each biennium and that money could go to more enrollment slots. By removing contracting out from collective bargaining, it also would allow colleges and universities to save money; something college presidents have consistently requested.
Hiatus on Initiatives
On initiatives, he said the problem is lack of trust and leadership in Olympia. Rossi wants a chance to build confidence and trust in his leadership. “People need to know that you stand for something and are willing to risk being thrown out of office.”
He concluded that leadership is about having a core set of principles, selling them to the voters and having the courage to make the tough decisions even if it means he is not re-elected as governor.
“I’m looking at a four-year run to turn this state around so our family and children can live and work here,” he concluded. “And if four years from now, the voters decide I’m not the governor they want for another term, I’ll go back into business.”
To Contact the Dino Rossi for Governor—GOP campaign, go to www.dinorossi.com.
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