SEATTLE – Democratic gubernatorial rivals Christine Gregoire and Ron Sims shook hands and stayed cordial Friday in their last debate before Tuesday’s primary, agreeing on most things except how they would pay for their proposals.
Their mostly friendly tone stood in sharp contrast to their last joint public appearance, when Gregoire accused the King County executive of egging on an outcry over her membership in an all-white college sorority decades ago.
Sims, the state’s highest-ranking black politician, reiterated that he had nothing to do with a news story about Gregoire’s involvement with the sorority.
Stopping short of apologizing, Gregoire said she wished Sims had heeded her call to denounce local NAACP leaders for suggesting she was a racist – an assertion the group later retracted.
“I think it’s time that we moved on, it’s time that we stop talking about something 38 years ago and talk about the next four years,” the three-term attorney general said.
Sims said he had made himself clear by publicly stating that his opponent is not a racist. He agreed it was time to move on.
Sims answered few questions without touting his four-pronged tax-reform plan, calling it the only way to pay for improvements to education and other programs.
Gregoire countered that any plan with an income tax is as good as dead in the Legislature, where it would need the backing of two-thirds of both the House and Senate.
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