Locke gives endorsement to Gregoire for govenor

OLYMPIA – Gov. Gary Locke on Thursday endorsed Christine Gregoire as his successor, praising her as a strong leader and an “incredibly bright” woman who has the right stuff to be governor.

The Democratic chief executive, stepping down after eight years in the governor’s mansion and 22 years in public life, made his unusual preprimary endorsement in an interview with the Associated Press.

Locke had praise for Gregoire’s rival for the Democratic nomination in the Sept. 14 primary, King County Executive Ron Sims.

But he said Gregoire wins his support by her lifetime of achievement, her intelligence and her willingness to tackle tough problems.

“Plus, with all these years of guys running the state, maybe it’s time for a woman,” Locke said.

“Christine can probably bring a better perspective for the operation of the state and the concern of working people than us guys have.”

Washington’s only previous female governor was conservative Democrat Dixy Lee Ray from 1977 to 1981.

Gregoire was delighted and said many voters value the opinion of a popular governor who was twice elected by landslide margins.

“His endorsement is important and means a lot to us,” she said.

She said the timing of the endorsement and all the effusive praise came as a surprise and that the two haven’t met to discuss his role in the campaign.

She said Locke has run a successful, scandal-free administration and that she’d try to build on that. She added, however: “I’m going to be Governor Gregoire. I will be unlike any other governor I have seen.”

The Sims campaign had no immediate comment, other than to say that Locke has made no secret of his support for Gregoire.

A spokeswoman for Dino Rossi, the presumptive Republican nominee, said Locke’s popularity won’t necessarily boost Gregoire.

“Nothing against Gary Locke personally, but the state economy over the past couple of years has not performed well and we have one of the highest unemployment levels in the nation,” said spokeswoman Mary Lane.

The tie to Locke could actually hurt Gregoire and cement her image as a status-quo candidate, she said.

Locke made explicit what political insiders have known for months: that he wants Gregoire to succeed him.

He and former Govs. Booth Gardner and Albert D. Rosellini quietly held a fund-raiser for her last month and another is planned.

Locke said he’ll stump with Gregoire, cut TV ads, raise money or whatever the campaign requests.

Locke and Gregoire haven’t done an endorsement event, but the governor agreed to make it official in the AP interview.

“Yeah, I’m endorsing her,” he said.

“I’ve seen and worked with Christine and Ron all through the years and know them both very well and admire them both.

“But I’ve seen Christine work to solve problems that people said could never be tackled, from the tobacco settlement to the agreement with the federal government for cleanup of Hanford.”

He said he has followed Gregoire’s career as deputy attorney general, Ecology Department director and, for the past 12 years, the state’s first woman attorney general. He said he considers her a trusted adviser on legal matters and policy issues.

“I have the greatest admiration for Christine,” Locke said.

“She is one of the smartest people I’ve ever come across, a quick study – and very decisive and willing to make tough, tough decisions.”

Locke, who rose from poverty as the son of Chinese immigrants, said Gregoire had humble beginnings and worked as a clerk-typist before going to law school.

“Her background and her accomplishments are just awesome,” he said.

“Her life experiences, her personal struggles, her taking care of her mom when she was so sick, her own mastectomy last year, all give her greater understanding and appreciation of working families and the struggles they go through to put food on the table, get the kids through college, take care of elderly parents and deal with health care problems.”

Locke said he has no problem if Gregoire occasionally whacks at him.

“Oh, Christine is very different from me, make no mistake about that. She’s her own person. We’ve had our disagreements … over budget proposals and whether we should sell off some of our rights to future tobacco settlement money. In hindsight, she was right.”

He said he hasn’t anything negative to say about Sims.

He praised Sims’ energy and passion, and said his endorsement of Gregoire isn’t because he thinks Sims is too liberal or because he dislikes Sims’ income tax proposal.

Gregoire and Locke both are centrist Democrats.

Locke made only glancing criticism of Rossi, saying Gregoire has the better jobs proposal and that, unlike Rossi, she supports abortion rights.