Dino Rossi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dino Rossi
Member of the Washington Senate from the 5th district
In office 1997 – 2003
Preceded by	Kathleen Drew
Succeeded by	Cheryl Pflug
Chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee
In office 2003 – 2003
Born	October 15, 1959 (1959-10-15) (age 49) Seattle, Washington
Nationality	United States
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Terry
Children	Two sons and two daughters
Residence	Sammamish, Washington
Alma mater	Seattle University
Occupation	Real estate
Website	http://www.dinorossi.com

Dino Rossi (born October 15, 1959, in Seattle, Washington, U.S.) is a former Washington State Senator and Republican^[1][2][3][4] nominee for Governor of Washington in the 2004 election, the closest gubernatorial election in Washington's history. Rossi led Democrat Christine Gregoire after two machine counts by 261 votes and 47 votes, respectively, before losing a final manual count by 129 votes. He wrote a book Dino Rossi: Lessons in Leadership, Business, Politics and Life.^[5] He was again the Republican candidate for the 2008 gubernatorial election.^[1][2][3][4]

Contents 1 Background 2 The 2004 gubernatorial election 3 Post-election activities 4 The 2008 gubernatorial election 5 Post 2008 election 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Background

Rossi is the son of John Rossi, an Italian-American teacher at Viewlands Elementary in North Seattle, and Eve Cogo (half Irish, half Tlingit), who had five children from a previous marriage.^[6]

Rossi was raised in Mountlake Terrace and graduated from Woodway High School in Edmonds. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Seattle University in 1982. He became a commercial real estate agent, managing and owning real estate^[7]. He is married, with four children, and lives in Sammamish, Washington.^[8]

In 1983, Rossi joined Capretto & Clark, a Seattle real estate firm, as a salesman.^[9] The firm filed for bankruptcy the following year and, in 1985, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer published a story on the federal corruption investigation into Capretto & Clark's general manager, Melvin Heide.^[9] While many in the sales force left the firm, Rossi stayed behind and eventually followed Heide to Metropolitan Real Estate and, a month later, to Imperial Real Estate in downtown Seattle.^[10] Rossi said he had been unaware of the circumstances behind the collapse of Capretto & Clark, saying that he "didn't take the paper."^[10] He resigned from Imperial Real Estate in 1992.^[10][9]

In 1992, Rossi ran for a Washington State Senate seat in a district representing suburbs east of Seattle, Washington in the Cascade foothills. After winning a divisive Republican Party primary, he lost the general election.

In 1996, Rossi ran again for the State Senate and was elected. Rossi was a relatively low-profile Senator until his 2003 work in negotiating a $23 billion state budget. The plan received support among Republicans and five Democrats.^[11] Most Democrats, however, remained opposed to the loss of state programs and the withdrawal of a voter-mandated pay raise for teachers caused by the budget reductions.^[11]

In 2004, Dino Rossi resigned from the state Senate to run for governor and avoid a ban on fundraising for Legislators in office while the Legislature is in session.^[12]

[edit] The 2004 gubernatorial election

Dino Rossi faced no significant opposition in the Republican gubernatorial primary as all other Republican candidates dropped out shortly after he declared his candidacy. He won the primary with 85% of the vote.

In the November 2 election, over 2.8 million votes were cast for Governor. After the initial vote count, Rossi led Democrat Christine Gregoire by 261 votes.^[13] Washington State law required a recount because of the small margin. After the second count, Rossi again led, but by a smaller margin of 42 votes. After a third count, done by hand, Gregoire took a 129 vote lead (expanded to a 133 vote lead after Justice Bridges' decision threw out 4 votes for Rossi). [1]

King County's election department was sued by the Rossi campaign for its handling of ballots, including untracked use of a "ballot-on-demand" printing machine.^[14] Even before the election date, the U.S. Department of Justice threatened to sue Washington State for failing to mail military ballots overseas, generally assumed to be Republican votes.^[15]

Republican leaders in Washington claimed there were enough disputed votes to change the outcome of the election and sued. On May 25, 2005 the judge hearing the lawsuit ruled that the Party did not provide enough evidence that the disputed votes were ineligible, or for whom they were cast, to enable the court to overturn the election.^[16]

Rossi did not appeal to the state Supreme Court;^[17] Gregoire was declared governor, by a margin of 133 votes.[2]

[edit] Post-election activities

After the election and the ensuing court battle, Rossi returned to his work in real estate and wrote a book, Dino Rossi: Lessons in Leadership, Business, Politics and Life.^[18][19] Rossi and his campaign's spokesperson also established Forward Washington Foundation, 501(c)(4) organization established to continue the goals that Rossi established in his 2004 Governor's election campaign.^[19] Despite encouragement from Republicans in Washington and D.C., Rossi declined to run for U.S. Senate against Sen. Maria Cantwell in 2006.^[20] In 2007, the state Democratic Party filed a complaint with the Washington Public Disclosure Committee (PDC) saying that Forward Washington was "functionally indistinguishable" from a political campaign and as such, is avoiding the state's campaign finance laws.^[21] Rossi responded by saying that he had not declared his candidacy for an office, therefore he was not required to disclose his donors.^[22] Rossi resigned from the Forward Washington Foundation on September 11 2007.^[19] At the end of November, the PDC staff stated it did not find evidence to support the complaint. ^[23] He also has a half-brother named Duncan, they are very close.

[edit] The 2008 gubernatorial election

Parts of this article (those related to section) may no longer be up to date. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information, and remove this template when finished. Please see the talk page for more information.

On October 25, 2007, Dino Rossi officially announced his intention to seek the office of Governor of Washington in 2008. Rossi's campaign was centered on many of the same issues he ran under in the 2004 election, namely controlling the spending of the state's legislature, tax cuts, and improving the business environment within the state.^[24]

In 2004, Rossi was listed on the ballot as a Republican. In 2008, his affiliation was listed as "Prefers G.O.P. Party" as he had filed with the Washington Secretary of State.^{[25] [1][2][3][4]} Washington law allows candidates to identify their party affiliation or preference in any way they please, provided that it is not profane.^[26][27]

Rossi has said pharmacists should not be required to dispense a drug that is against their conscience or religious beliefs when asked about Plan B oral contraceptive. ^[28] Following a ruling by the State Supreme Court that an initiative that limited property tax increases to 1% a year was unconstitutional, Rossi urged Governor Gregoire to call a special session of the State's legislature to re-instate the restriction.^[29]

As of September 2008, the Rossi campaign was reported to have raised $9 million while the Gregoire campaign took in $10 million overall.^[30]

A poll in early October showed Rossi tied with Governor Gregoire in the race for Governor.^[31]. A later poll by the Elway Group showed Rossi trailing Gov. Gregoire by 12 percent.^[32][33][34]

On October 7, a lawsuit was filed against the Building Industry Association of Washington, for allegedly coordinating fundraising activities with Rossi in violation of Washington's public finance laws. Rossi's campaign spokeswoman dismissed the suit as a desperate attempt by Gregoire's supporters to win an election through frivolous legal maneuvering, a claim that was denied by the lawyer that filed the suit. ^[35]

Rossi was endorsed on October 18, 2008 by The Seattle Times.^[36]

Dino Rossi was defeated by Governor Christine Gregoire in the 2008 election and formally conceded at noon on November 5, 2008.^[37] Her margin of victory was 53% to 47%.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Post 2008 election

Following his defeat in the 2008 gubernatorial election has "unplugged from almost everything political" and began working for a commercial real estate firm in Everett, Washington at the beginning of 2009. Rossi role at the firm is to find investors for income producing properties in Washington and four other Western U.S. states.^[38]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Dino Rossi 2008 Gubernatorial Campaign Website