Mercifully, months of negative campaigning in our state’s race for governor won’t be followed by weeks of legal wrangling. This time around, voters delivered a relatively decisive victory to Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire in her rematch against Republican Dino Rossi.
Gregoire was quick to seize on the momentum of her second-term win on Wednesday, announcing that she’ll soon propose an economic stimulus package aimed at creating jobs through infrastructure projects that are ready to start. She was also quick to reaffirm her campaign pledge not to raise taxes.
Navigating Washington through the rough economic waters that lie ahead will take all the creativity and political fortitude Gregoire can muster. In her first term, she showed that she can lead effectively when times are good. Now her challenge is to do the same when times are tough, and likely getting tougher.
That will mean making difficult choices, ones that will necessarily disappoint people and interest groups that helped her win a second term. An example is the Service Employees International Union, which ran third-party ads supporting her and spearheaded Initiative 1029, the home health-care training measure that will cost the state some $30 million over the next two years. Assuming no increase in taxes, that money will have to come out of existing programs, a bad option when the state already faces a budget shortfall of at least $3.2 billion, and probably more, in the next biennium. Nor is money in hand to fund a paid-maternity-leave bill that was backed by Gregoire supporters. The governor is going to have to use the word “no” a lot in the coming months.
And as for job creation, perhaps the most urgent work that needs to be done is in the state’s vital and troubled aerospace sector. Gregoire has shown good mediation skills, bringing sides together on several tough issues. With speculation brewing that Boeing may already have decided to move some of its commercial airplane manufacturing to a lower-cost state, now is the time for the governor to lead a concerted effort to forge a better long-term relationship between Boeing and its unions here, and to explore other ways to keep aerospace thriving in Washington.
Setting priorities against a backdrop of a sour economy won’t be easy, and Gregoire’s leadership abilities are likely to face a sterner test in her second term as governor than ever before. With a difficult campaign behind her, it’s good that she’s ready to get right to work.
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