The Dirty Little Secrets Tying Gregoire To The Politically-Motivated Anti-Rossi Lawsuit

Bellevue, WA -- If there’s one thing Christine Gregoire and her allies have learned, it’s that stealing an election after the votes are cast is a messy and uncertain affair. When they did it in 2004, they were just barely able to eke out a “victory” through a series of tainted recounts and questionable King County court rulings.

This time, their machine is much more well-oiled. Gregoire & Co. are using similar tactics to 2004, but now they’re employing them before Election Day. Additionally, they have created a multimillion-dollar network of liberal groups, lobbyists and activist lawyers who can do Gregoire’s dirty work for her.

The current BIAW lawsuit and the push to depose Dino Rossi during the final days before the election is clearly part of an overall strategy to unethically affect the outcome of the governor’s race.

The people and organizations behind this legal circus have benefited financially from the Gregoire Administration. They don’t want the gravy train to end, and so apparently are willing to use any means necessary to keep their benefactor in office.

Here’s a rundown of who makes up the pro-Gregoire/anti-Rossi network:

Evergreen Progress, headed by lobbyist Rick Desimone

• Evergreen Progress has spent millions in attack ads against Rossi. It is funded by the Democratic Governors Association and multiple labor unions which made large contributions while engaged in closed-door, taxpayer-funded salary negotiations with Gov. Gregoire.
• Rick Desimone is the chairman of Evergreen Progress. He rarely, if ever, makes himself available to the press. Probably for good reason, since his source of income is as an executive with Washington, D.C. lobbying firm McBee Strategic. He undoubtedly doesn’t want to risk acknowledging that his company has benefited from a $200,000 state contract with the Gregoire Administration, and that in turn he and his colleagues have donated generously to Gregoire’s campaign.
• Evergreen Progress has also paid McBee Strategic more than $90,000 for consulting. So McBee and Desimone have not only made money from the Gregoire Administration, they’re getting themselves richer from the anti-Rossi campaign as well.
• Evergreen Progress on Oct. 13 gave $35,000 to Fuse, which is promoting the BIAW lawsuit and Rossi deposition.

Fuse Washington

• Fuse is a left-wing advocacy group that is focused almost exclusively on defeating Rossi. It has not come clean on its exact role in the lawsuit although it has served as the main conduit for the propaganda campaign behind it.
• Fuse’s Board of Directors is made up of various left-wing activists including those with ties to labor unions, MoveOn.org and other liberal causes.
• As noted above, Evergreen Progress two weeks ago gave a $35,000 “political contribution” to “Fuse Votes.” Why else would such a contribution be made if not to help fund or defray the costs of the anti-Rossi lawsuit and propaganda campaign?

Knoll Lowney, attorney

• As we have noted before, Mr. Lowney has a proven track record of filing last-minute, left-wing lawsuits that get dismissed after an election is over. That’s why he’s seems so comfortable with the current trumped-up litigation against BIAW and Rossi.
• In an attempt to get an initiative passed in Seattle that would have raised water rates, Lowney enlisted the help of his sister-in-law, a self-described “stealth millionaire” and “pagan” who dressed herself and her children up as sea turtles during the WTO riots and, along with Lowney’s brother, “used to participate in small Wiccan rites venerating the four elements -- fire, earth, air and, of course, water.” (Seattle Times, 8/1/01)
• Lowney was the lead attorney on a lawsuit to remove the Qwest logos on Qwest Stadium because he claimed they were too big and would “pollute the skyline.”

Given the extensive involvement these people and organizations have had in the governor’s race, they have received remarkably little scrutiny from the press or anyone else.

With a week to go until Election Day, however, we believe it is time to shine a spotlight on these characters and let the public know about their motives and the money trail they have left behind them.