Dino Rossi makes quick stop in Basin

Tour of BBCC, fund-raiser in Soap Lake among activities for GOP gubernatorial candidate

With his enthusiasm intact after months of campaigning, former state Sen. Dino Rossi, the Republican candidate for governor, took a short time to visit the Columbia Basin.

During his stop in Moses Lake Friday, and on his way to a fund-raiser in Soap Lake and a next-day parade in Bremerton, Rossi met with Terry Brewer, the executive director of the Grant County Economic Development Council, and later with Bill Bonaudi, the president of Big Bend Community College, listening to both men's concerns and ideas.

Brewer expressed his worries about the shape of the state's economy saying people in business deserved to have an advocate of business at the helm of the state.

Rossi agreed with Brewer, saying that state leaders and legislators "had done a poor job" in the area of economic development.

The relationship between government and business in Washington state was a focal point of their talk. Both Rossi and Brewer focused on what they saw as the lack of businesses coming to the state.

"We can't have a company say 'if you [state] do this, then we can come," Brewer said. "We have to be ready."

The basis for that readiness, Brewer noted, is the training and education of the work force, and having programs available to put in place in local communities, not necessarily in the larger cities that are farther away. State assistance is important in this area, he added.

The competition to land industries that bring jobs and revenue to an area is very aggressive, Brewer told Rossi, that finishing a close second to Everett in the race for the Boeing 7E7 was not enough. Brewer underscored what he described as a lack of tools in the Grant County tool box to help lure these businesses.

"We have so few tools that if these were gone we would be left with 'we have sunshine and blue skies,'" he said. "We are so small that the state should be the lead, and they are not doing it."

Rossi said that voting for his Democratic opponent, state Attorney General Christine Gregoire, would not bring many improvements to the Washington business climate.

"She just had a fund-raiser at the home of the director of Labor and Industries," he said. "What makes you think anything would change?"

After meeting with Brewer, Bonaudi and a number of faculty members from BBCC gave Rossi a tour of existing and future facilities of the college, all the while underlining the hopes and achievements of the institution.

At the flight school, Bonaudi said the college leaders hoped to someday have the means to replace the fleet of planes, which is nearing its quarter-century birthday and which has tallied up about 14,000 flight hours.

"Our maintenance is excellent and it keeps them running," Bonaudi said, "but we never thought we would put that many hours."

Both Bonaudi and aviation instructor John Swedburg said that airlines nowadays are picking students with four-year degrees, leading BBCC students to make up for lack of experience with academic knowledge.

The challenge when it comes to replacing the fleet is that planes today are not as durable as those built in the 1970s and 1980s, which is when the current fleet was built.

The school is also facing challenges in other areas, Bonaudi said, while touring the construction of the Advanced Technology and Education Center.

"Every baccalaureate institution is not accepting any more students," he said. "So a student spends two years here and still can't get into them."

Bonaudi expressed his hopes that as governor, Rossi believes in the importance of two-year colleges to the world of higher education in the state of Washington.

Reviewing his quick stop in Moses Lake, Rossi said that hearing the needs of those in small business and in the field of education did not frustrate him. On the contrary, it helped him see what needs to happen to turn around the state.

"This is not any more difficult than putting together the no-new-taxes budget when my own staff said it could not pass," Rossi said, of the state's budget he has been widely credited with engineering.

As governor, Rossi said that appointing directors to state departments will have a lot to do with changing the attitude in the state. Another step would be creating the Governor's Office of Regulatory Reform, making sure that agency rules and guidelines being enforced are indeed necessary, or if they can be rightfully enforced.

Before departing for a fund-raiser in Soap Lake, Rossi had a positive review and forecast of his campaign. "We are ahead of schedule," he said, "We will have raised $3 million by (today)."

As far as his chances to win, Rossi is equally optimistic. "I bring a different perspective," he said. "one that is long overdue."