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The Building Industry Association of Washington - a trade association of ultra-conservative developers and the state's most powerful conservative special interest - is dragging Washington voters through the mud early this year. It's only June, but the BIAW is spending $500,000 this month on deceptive and misleading ads accusing Governor Chris Gregoire of being soft on sex offenders and cutting funds for foster children. We believe this kind of dirty politics is just plain bad for democracy.
Washington voters deserve a better campaign than this, and there's a simple way to stop these corrosive attack ads immediately. Dino Rossi simply has to call on his good friends and business partners at the BIAW to stop the ads. They are such close political allies that it's impossible to believe that they would ignore him if he called on them to stop the mudslinging.
Please sign our petition today urging Dino Rossi to call on the BIAW to stop their deceptive campaign. Help us deliver a powerful message about the kinds of campaigns Washington voters expect and demand.
http://www.fusewashington.org/page/s/stopmudslinging
Dino Rossi has refused to criticize the ads, which make misleading and ominous sounding claims about sexual predators and foster homes. One ad accuses the governor of vetoing $3 million in spending on foster care programs without noting that foster care funding was actually increased by $12 million in the last session. The other accuses Gregoire of making it easier for sex offenders to perpetrate their crimes, despite her long track record of the opposite as both Attorney General and Governor.
This isn't the first time the BIAW has been caught misleading voters with dirty ads. In 2004, Comcast pulled one anti-Gregoire BIAW ad off the air because it contained "inaccurate statements" about the Governor. In 2006, the BIAW spent more than $600,000 on ads for a State Supreme Court race that were so dirty, the Tacoma News Tribune said they "left a stain on the state's most important court."
The BIAW is Dino Rossi's biggest political supporters, starting with his election to the State Senate in 1996. They spent close to $1 million promoting Rossi's bid for governor in 2004 and have already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on his 2008 campaign. In return, the BIAW says Rossi backed their legislative agenda 99% of the time. Rossi's relationship with the BIAW has been personal as well as political. While a state senator, Rossi purchased a multi-million dollar apartment building and co-founded a bank with BIAW lobbyists.
Please sign our petition today urging Dino Rossi to call on the BIAW to stop their deceptive mudslinging. Washington voters deserve better.
http://www.fusewashington.org/page/s/stopmudslinging
Thanks for all you do!
