Gregoire says state economy strong, buy a house

OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire, urging potential home buyers to put aside their worries about the national economy, said Thursday she’s reminded of Franklin Roosevelt’s old line that the only thing to fear is fear itself.

Addressing the politically powerful Washington Realtors, the Democratic governor said she sometimes wishes people wouldn’t watch the evening news because of all the “doomsday” talk of a home mortgage meltdown and a pending recession.

Gregoire said that in actuality, the state economy has seldom been so strong, with record low unemployment, 222,000 new jobs created in the past three years, and national publications praising the business climate here.

She conceded that the national news is having a psychological effect on home buyers, even though there are relatively few mortgage failures here.

“This is a very frustrating time,” the governor said, adding “Our economy is strong – buy your home. … There is no good reason for a slowing of home purchasing in the state of Washington today.”

The decision by the Federal Reserve Board to lower the prime interest rate and the possibility of another downtick could revitalize home sales and economic activity here, Gregoire said.

The governor said her economic advisers say virtually every sector of the state economy is doing fine except for new housing starts.

“We need to turn that one indicator around,” she said.

Gregoire’s Republican challenger, Dino Rossi, appeared before the group a day earlier with a campaign speech sharply critical of the governor’s handling of transportation, education, public safety and other core services.

Gregoire made no mention of either Rossi or the campaign, but some of her comments seemed to respond to some of his criticism.

“We’re trying to cut through the bureaucracy, get things done and make sure we’re business-friendly,” the governor said.

She talked about an economic turnaround on her watch and praised progress in the areas that Rossi mentioned, education, highways and public safety. She also talked about “quality of life” improvements, including better financing of state parks and the initial work on cleaning up Hood Canal and Puget Sound.

A day earlier, Rossi accused Gregoire of sitting on recommendations for changes in the state Growth Management Act that are needed so more housing can be built closer to where people live. The governor said she supports that concept, particularly because it would ease some traffic congestion in urban areas.

Land-use policies aren’t off limits for refinement, she indicated. She didn’t give specifics, and Rossi didn’t either.

“Don’t let the barriers of yesterday get in our way, but be thinking really progressively about what we want to look like tomorrow,” Gregoire said.

The Realtors’ group, which bills itself as the state’s largest professional trade group, with 25,000 members statewide, endorsed Rossi four years ago.

Rossi was a commercial real estate salesman for years before entering politics, and he now handles his own property investments.

A leader of the association, Sam Pace of Kent, said the group is bipartisan and that it isn’t inevitable that Rossi will win the group’s nod again this time. Both Rossi and Gregoire will be invited to an interview panel and the endorsement will be made in July, he said.