Attorney General Rob McKenna hadn’t even announced his candidacy for governor when he picked up support from fellow Republican Rep. Dave Reichert, himself mentioned as a gubernatorial candidate.
Reichert
“I’m excited: We have a great candidate for governor. I’ll be there to help however I can,” Reichert told seattlepi.com when asked about McKenna’s announcement later on Wednesday.
Reichert and Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., appeared before the Downtown Seattle Rotary at lunch, playing up collegiality, mutual respect and opportunities for bipartisan collaboration.
But the 2012 gubernatorial race was on the minds of both congressmen. Inslee said he is waiting for an announcement of plans by incumbent two-term Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire before disclosing his own intentions.
“I expect it (Gregoire’s decision) fairly shortly,” Inslee said. “I think it’ll be in a month or so . . . I’ve been respectful. We have a government to run.”
Inslee chose a quip when asked about McKenna throwing his hat in the ring. “Democracy is a great thing,” he said with a broad smile, “and it’s great to see it in action.”
News out of Washington, D.C., has of late been loaded with acrimony, sex scandals across party lines — Sen. John Ensign, R-Nevada, and Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-New York — with partisan commentators shouting on Cable TV news.
Before the TV attack ads of 2012, however, Inslee and Reichert briefly formed what Inslee called “a mutual admiration society.” Inslee even found kind words for GOP Speaker John Boehner, saying Boehner has “done some things to encourage debate” in Congress’ lower chamber.
Asked about President Obama, America’s leading Democrat, Reichert reciprocated, saying: “I really admire his work to get a Korea treaty” and praising the president on other trade-related issues.
Inslee acknowledged that the left-wing group MoveOn.org — which has run maladroit radio ad campaigns against Reichert — is right some of the time, and wrong some of the time.
“The Tea Party has given voice and on occasion, they have been wrong and extreme,” said Republican Reichert.
Asked about Rep. Weiner’s confession of impropriety and untruth, Inslee replied: “This is bipartisanship we do not wish to share.” Reichert allowed that: “We’re human beings like anyone else . . . These things are happening in our own world.” But he described Weiner’s actions as “reprehensible.”
Reichert, as always, talked about being a former King County Sheriff and his 33 years in law enforcement. “I’m sort of the Joe Friday kind of congressman,” he said. “Just the facts, please.”
The Rotary audience on Wednesday consisted largely of business leaders, who have been required to change strategies and product lines and advertising campaigns in the course of their careers. With officeholders, however, a potentially lethal charge is that someone has “flip-flopped.”
Inslee and Reichert took up the subject — gingerly.
“I opposed the Iraq War: I felt very strongly about that,” said Inslee. The congressman said his worries were borne out by events. But he also opposed President Clinton’s intervention in Kosovo — and saw the President’s policy stop ethnic cleansing.
“Have you to courage to change as you learn?” Inslee added.
Reichert found a target in the Fourth Estate. “The media sometimes portrays us as flip-flopping, and it is incumbent on folks to check out the facts,” said the four-term Republican.
Inslee and Reichert both voiced pride on work to expand the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, adding the Pratt River valley east of North Bend. The legislation has passed the House but stalled in the Senate.
Inslee voiced frustration that energy legislation stalled in the Senate, leaving America “watching China’s gains” in development and application of new energy technologies.
