Rossi says he won't appeal judge's decision

Republican says future is wide open

BELLEVUE (AP) — Now that his unprecedented governor's election challenge is over, Republican Dino Rossi says his future is wide open.

"My kids have swim team practice, but beyond that I don't know what the future holds," Rossi said as he conceded the election Monday night — seven months after Election Day.

Rossi is frequently mentioned as a possible challenger to first-term U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, if he doesn't save himself for a 2008 rematch with Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire.

"I'm definitely not going anywhere," Rossi promised. "We'll see you again."

Gregoire, meanwhile, celebrated her victory at the Capitol in Olympia with her staff, her family and her dog.

"You're still the first dog," Gregoire reassured Franz the Pomeranian. Free of the legal challenge that shadowed her first five months in office, Gregoire said she's delighted to be able to move on at last.

"The cloud is over and I think it's time for Washington state to move on and to make sure we set this behind us," Gregoire said.

Ruling Monday after a two-week trial, Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges of Wenatchee thoroughly and systematically repudiated Republicans' claims that election workers' errors, illegal votes and fraud swayed Gregoire's 129-vote victory over Rossi. Bridges not only dismissed Rossi's election challenge with prejudice, he even deducted four votes from Rossi's total — saying the only proven illegal votes in the whole case came from four felons who said in sworn depositions they voted for Rossi, and one who said he voted for Libertarian Ruth Bennett.

Gregoire's now-133-vote victory is still the smallest percentage margin of any governor's race in U.S. history.

"Unless an election is clearly invalid, when the people have spoken their verdict should not be disturbed by the courts," Bridges said. "There is no evidence in this record that Ms. Gregoire received any illegal votes."

The election included 1,678 illegally cast ballots, Bridges found. He said Republicans failed to prove that Rossi would have won had those votes been thrown out.

But Bridges didn't say the state should completely forget the election challenge. He criticized serious mistakes in the election, referring to a "culture of problems" described by King County Elections Director Dean Logan, who said in depositions that he didn't know whether the election results in his county were accurate within 129 votes. Workers in his office acknowledged submitting an inaccurate mail ballot report because their system lacked the ability to account for all ballots.

"Almost anyone who works in state or local government knows exactly what this culture is," Bridges said. "It's inertia, it's selfishness … it's not taking responsibility."

But Bridges said he's not the one to fix it.

"The voters are in a position to demand of their legislative and executive bodies that remedial measures be taken immediately," Bridges said.

Secretary of State Sam Reed said Monday he agrees with Bridges' criticism of the culture.

"What happened was definitely unacceptable and we need significant changes in this state," Reed said. "I do think the public needs to be vigilant."

Democrats and Republicans agreed that the failure of Rossi's challenge may deter future election challenges, though of course they disagree on whether that's a good thing.

"It always was the centerpiece of any election challenge — you've got to show Rossi won and would have been certified but for illegal votes," Democratic attorney Kevin Hamilton said. "We're not going to see these sorts of armies of lawyers come out after every election night."

Rossi spokeswoman Mary Lane said the judge's interpretation of state law would make it nearly impossible to challenge an election successfully.

"It's going to make it a lot more difficult," she said.

Republicans had been hoping the judge would nullify the election, opening the door for a new vote in November, or declare Rossi the winner outright. Rossi said he decided to abandon his challenge after reviewing the ruling with his attorneys.

Gregoire, a three-term attorney general, was considered the front-runner against Rossi, a commercial real estate agent and former state senator. But Rossi won the first count by 261 votes, and a machine recount by 42 votes. In the final, hand recount, Gregoire won by 129 votes.

Five days before Gregoire's inauguration, Rossi sued to contest the election.

Political leaders toe party lines following ruling

By Brad W. Gary

Herald staff writer

GRANT COUNTY — Party leaders are standing behind their own this week, in the wake of a Monday court ruling upholding last November's gubernatorial election for Christine Gregoire.

Chelan County Judge John Bridges denied Republican claims that election errors, illegal voters and fraud stole the election from candidate Dino Rossi. Rossi beat out Gregoire in the first two tallies of the election, but Gregoire took a slim lead following a hand recount.

Grant County Republican Chair Tom Dent said he hadn't yet the read the specifics of the ruling, called it a "sad day," after being taken aback by the decision. Dent sits on the state Republican Committee and said he couldn't say what would happen next.

"I'm not sure," Dent said of what state officials will do following the ruling, "Attorneys will analyze today's ruling."

Rossi later announced the end of his bid for governor, telling supporters Monday evening that he wouldn't appeal the ruling.

Grant County Democratic Party Chair Ellie Webb was pleased by the decision, saying "the system works."

"I'm thrilled," she said, "I think that the process was vindicated."

She added that the county party would continue to raise money for the defense in the trail if needed, also switching gears toward the 2006 elections. Webb said she was anticipating an appeal in the race, but said she hoped the ruling would conclude the process.

"We should be getting on with the business of government," she said.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.