Gregoire Sworn in as Governor

Christine Gregoire became the state’s 22nd governor January 12 with a call for unity, but Republican legislators were a brooding presence during her inaugural address. For her part, the new governor reached out to Republicans in the address, talking about how much of an ordeal the election was and thanking state Senator Rossi, her Republican challenger, and his family. She said she plans to create a task forced headed by the secretary of state to come up with recommendations on how to improve the election system.

The governor talked briefly about creating a $1 billion Life Sciences Discovery Fund, paid in part with tobacco-settlement money, to do research on diseases and agricultural crops. She also mentioned setting a goal of providing health care to all children by 2010 and creating a new program to hold state agencies accountable. The governor also told lawmakers, after stressing the need for teacher and state-worker pay raises, that the state “must not promise more than we can deliver,” a nod to the fact the state faces a projected $1.8 billion budget deficit. She did not mention taxes, a subject broached by her predecessor, former Gary Locke, when he rolled out a budget proposal December 16 calling for $600 million in new taxes.

GOP lawmakers were bitter that Democrats defeated their efforts to delay the swearing-in by two weeks to give courts time to consider a challenge by Republican Dino Rossi, who lost to Gregoire by 129 votes in a hand recount in one of the closest statewide races in U.S. history. Republican leaders downplayed the bitterness, saying they recognize, for now, that Gregoire is governor. (The Seattle Times, January 13, 2005) (HMF/1/13/05)