It’s Governor Gregoire

OLYMPIA – Christine Gregoire, a clerk-typist who rose to become the state’s top lawyer, was sworn in Wednesday as Washington’s 22nd governor.

“Ladies and gentlemen: her excellency, Gov. Gregoire,” said Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, as beaming Democrats filled the House of Representatives chambers with applause and cheers. The crowd included four former Democratic governors, labor leaders, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski and consuls from more than a dozen nations.

Gregoire vowed to build “a legacy of opportunity, prosperity and optimism.” She said she’ll push to cut government red tape and help business grow. She said she’ll work to reinforce the public’s faith in government, to pay teachers and state workers more, and to get health care for every child in Washington.

“Our divisions are not nearly as deep as others may think or write,” said Gregoire, 57.

There was a clear division in the room, though. Many Republican lawmakers sat, stone-faced and silent, through most of the governor’s inaugural address. Democrats rose repeatedly with standing ovations; Republicans for the most part stayed in their seats.

“None of us on the Republican side believe she’s the legitimate governor of the state of Washington,” Rep. John Ahern, R-Spokane, said afterward.

Ahern is one of many Republicans who believe that errors in the ultra-close race – which Republican Dino Rossi lost by just 129 votes out of nearly 2.9 million – mean that no one can be sure who truly won. Republicans want a revote – and they’re suing to throw out the results of this, the closest-ever statewide election in Washington’s history.

Republican legislative leaders, however, later downplayed their tepid reception to Gov. Gregoire.

“We’re ready to work with her. But like all governors, that doesn’t mean that we agree with absolutely everything she says” in a speech, said Senate Minority Leader Bill Finkbeiner, R-Kirkland.

In the 40-minute speech, Gregoire said her life was shaped by several key people, including her mother, daughters and husband, Mike Gregoire, who will be the first “First Gentleman” in the history of Washington state. Gregoire also thanked the late Fred Faber, a Moses Lake businessman who paid her tuition to attend law school at Gonzaga University in the mid-1970s.

She said she’ll form a committee to propose election reforms and another to suggest efficiencies and “long-term funding solutions” for early education, schools, and the state’s colleges. She said the state must give cost-of-living increases to teachers and must create more room for college students.

“Translation: huge tax increases,” said Ahern.

As Gregoire spoke in the House chamber, a family of four stood outside on the Capitol steps. They held an American flag and several Rossi signs.

This was his first-ever protest, said Ben Pedersen, a 29-year-old sales representative from Olympia. Pedersen said he and his family – wife Marika and daughters Alexis, 5, and Amber, 2 – were spending his lunch hour in the cold damp weather to stand up for fair and honest elections.

“There are reports of dead people voting, of extra votes,” he said. “The right solution would be to have a revote.”

But first, he said, every voter should reregister.

“If it took till April or May, I don’t think that would be out of the question,” he said. “I don’t think you put a time frame on fairness.”

Inside the Capitol, Gregoire repeatedly alluded to the rift left by the campaign and subsequent bitter eight-week battle over the election.

“Many have asked how I can govern without a clear mandate from the voters,” she said. But her mandate, she said, is to overcome partisan differences and solve the problems facing the state.

“The challenges we face are not Democratic challenges or Republican challenges,” she said. “In fact, they are not political challenges at all. They are fiscal challenges, and educational challenges, and the challenges of figuring out how to take care of each other and create a future worthy of all our children.

“It is healthy to have differences of opinion about how to rise to these challenges,” she continued. “It is unhealthy to let those differences paralyze us.”

“I thought it (the speech) set a good tone,” said Rep. Timm Ormsby, D-Spokane. “She reached out and acknowledged the difficulty of the experience.”

“She knows she’s got some fence-mending to do,” said Rep. Alex Wood, D-Spokane.

Earlier in the week, Gregoire said she plans to head out on a statewide trip to meet with Washingtonians and try to heal the political rifts left by the race.

Some Republicans scoffed at that.

“The people of Washington state don’t need to be healed. They need to be heard,” conservative talk-radio host John Carlson said at a Republican rally Tuesday.

As for Rossi, he spent the morning and early afternoon at home with his family and the rest of the day in his Bellevue campaign office. In a statement, he cited many of the election problems that Republicans will raise in their lawsuit.

“I agree with the current governor that every vote should be counted but with an important distinction,” he said. “Every legal vote should be counted, and every vote should have a voter. I don’t think that’s too high a standard to ask for.”

Rossi and his wife, Terry, did not attend the inaugural ball, spokeswoman Mary Lane said. Instead, they invited their campaign staff to come to their house “for a little get-together.”

Asked whether Republicans will work with Gregoire if Republicans lose their court fight, Ahern said “We’ll have to. You work with what you’ve got.”