The Wall Street Journal's Take On Our Governor's Race

I was originally going to write a piece to post here on Christine Gregoire's pathetic attempts to subvert the legal system to muzzle her pit bull detractors at the Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW).

But in researching the facts, I came across the editorial posted below that ran in this morning's Wall Street Journal. It profiles our Governor's race and the blatant abuse of our legal system by Gregoire and her minions as they attempt to use the courts as a way to eliminate free speech in opposition to her re-election bid. This is the second time the WSJ has weighed in on this issue, so it goes without saying at this point, that the actions taken on behalf of Gregoire by her supporters, have become a national embarrassment. Yet she has refused to move to bring it to a halt.

There is seemingly nothing too demeaning for her and her supporters when it comes to making sure she stays in office, because if Dino Rossi is elected, things as the Olympia establishment knows them — and has known them for the past quarter century — will change.

As Rossi has repeated in all his campaign speeches, "This election isn't about Christine Gregoire. It isn't about me. It isn't about 2004. It's about changing the culture in Olympia — for a generation." And that's exactly what scares the crap out of the Democratic Party establishment.

I thought this particular editorial was provocative, and right on point. You can find the original here:

Scoundrel Country II

Further Evidence Campaign-Finance "Reformers'" Muzzles Free Speech

If you're wondering why business groups tend to stay neutral in elections these days, take a look at the Building Industry Association of Washington. That trade group's liberal opponents continue to harass it with lawsuits because it won't stay mute.

The BIAW recently won a court battle over whether it could continue to use profits from its workers' compensation program to support Republican Dino Rossi for Washington state Governor. Attorneys allied with Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire filed a class action suit that was nakedly aimed at robbing the BIAW of its free-speech rights. State Judge Christine Pomeroy refused to bar the BIAW from spending.

The same lawyers are now back for another go, and this time they aren't even hiding behind the workers' comp fig leaf. The activists have filed suit on behalf of two former state Supreme Court justices who support Mrs. Gregoire and who claim the BIAW illegally coordinated with the Rossi campaign in developing a multimillion-dollar spending effort. What makes the suit more outrageous is that only recently the state's Public Disclosure Commission dismissed these accusations, claiming the evidence was "vague" and that there was no "smoking gun."

The lawyers' aim is, once again, to shut down BIAW political spending in the final weeks of the election. At the very least they hope to turn this suit into a media circus, forcing Mr. Rossi to submit to a deposition and suggesting malfeasance in the heat of a close election. The losers are voters, who are stuck reading about frivolous lawsuits, and, should the Gregoire activists succeed, will lack the information that the BIAW's ads provide. Mark it down as further evidence that the goal of campaign-finance "reformers" is to muzzle political speech.