MARYSVILLE — Despite a disclaimer, there was some question about just who was addressing the Greater Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce on Friday.
Was it Dino Rossi the speaker on Washington state’s business climate or was it Rossi the gubernatorial candidate?
Actually, it sounded like a little of both.
Rossi, who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2004, hasn’t announced his plans for next year. But under the expectation that he’s about to do just that, chamber officials e-mailed a statement Thursday making it clear that Rossi’s presence was not an endorsement by the organization.
“Our chamber would like to be very clear that tomorrow’s program and speaker, booked late last spring, is for the sole purpose of bringing to the business communities that we serve the message that is the basis of the Forward Washington Foundation: improving the business climate for small and medium businesses across the state of Washington.”
Rossi, who has made many talks on business as part of his foundation, talked a lot about the state’s business climate, raising many concerns that government spending now could mean that business taxes will be raised in the future to cover deficits.
“There is phenomenal growth in state government,” Rossi said. “It has the largest surplus the state has ever known. Expect a shortage by 2009.”
Rossi, a Republican, said former Gov. Gary Locke, a Democrat, had set priorities in government to help decide how to spend state dollars. Without mentioning the name of Democrat Chris Gregoire, who won by only 133 votes against Rossi in 2004 after three recounts and a court challenge, Rossi said the current administration has dramatically increased government spending without the same priority system and at a faster rate than money is coming in.
Rossi talked about a number of factors that hurt businesses, saying:
The business share of the state’s tax burden in Washington is eighth in the nation.
Washington is 14th on the list of states that are the most expensive in which to do business.
Unemployment costs are the highest in the nation.
The state’s estate tax is scaring away entrepreneurs who want to hand their businesses down to their offspring.
“Chasing entrepreneurs out of the state makes no sense whatsoever,” he said.
Sounding a lot like a candidate, Rossi discussed how he was the last of seven children and that he drank a lot of powdered milk while growing up in Mountlake Terrace. He also discussed holding down a raft of jobs while putting himself through college in business administration and working as a janitor at night to establish himself by day in commercial real estate.
He also spoke of his previous role as chairman of the state Senate Ways and Means Committee and how he established a budget in tight times that included many cutbacks but kept programs for the truly needy.
Rossi never mentioned Gregoire by name or attacked her performance as governor.
His comments were limited to the administration, which he repeatedly said was overspending in good times in a way that can’t be sustained when the economy diminishes.
Rossi also talked about needed fiscal reforms, which could be viewed as a campaign platform as much as a series of steps to help business.
That included:
Real education reform.
A mandated rainy day fund.
Restoration of state spending limits.
A focus on Washington competitiveness for businesses.
A reassessment of collective bargaining contracts.
State pension system reform to deal with unfunded liabilities.
Repair of the state’s parks system.
Rossi noted that fixing the parks was important. “For the rest of the world, this is what we are,” he said.
Mike Benbow: 425-339-3459; benbow@heraldnet.com
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