Judge laid out the rules, and GOP strategy failed

Dino Rossi was under- standably disappointed last week that his lawsuit to be declared the rightful governor was cut off at the knees. But does that justify a cheap shot at the state Supreme Court?

Rossi said he was ending his quest without appealing the loss in Wenatchee “because of the political makeup of the Washington state Supreme Court, which makes it almost impossible to overturn this ruling.” That suggests the appeal could be decided on politics, rather than the law – which is what some folks thought about the state GOP’s initial decision to file the case in Chelan County, which doesn’t have an elected Democrat anywhere in the courthouse.

As Superior Court Judge John Bridges pointed out in his ruling, the real problem for Rossi was with the evidence, not the politics. No proof of fraud, no ballot-box stuffing, no evidence that felons voted overwhelmingly for Chris Gregoire instead of Rossi, no legions of voters who reside in cemeteries rather than condos, no armies of illegal aliens or Martians who tipped the balance to the Democratic side.

There were some problems and some dumb mistakes, the kind that probably go unnoticed in other elections and need to be cleaned up before the next election, not just the next nail-biter. But Bridges told the Republicans what they’d have to prove under his interpretation of the statutes and the case law to win their contest, and they didn’t.

They anted up for this game of Evergreen State Hold ‘em, and knew the house rules. It’s a little late to complain that the dealer wouldn’t be an activist judge and change the game to blackjack after the first two cards were dealt.

In bowing out last Monday, Rossi also said Bridges’ ruling had something missing: “a clear decision as to who actually won the election and got the most legal votes.”

Maybe he hadn’t yet read Bridges’ whole ruling – it had only been released about eight hours earlier – but the judge said there was no evidence that Gregoire got ANY illegal votes, although there was evidence that Rossi got four. Thus, because she got the most votes, by the judge’s own logic, she got the most legal votes.

In a democratic republic, having the most votes determines who wins the election. Or, as Bridges said near the end of his ruling: “The certification of Ms. Gregoire as governor is confirmed.”

Translation: “She actually won.”

Who’s giving them advice?

How long does it take Washington Democrats to turn a win into a PR black eye? About 48 hours, it would seem.

Two days after winning the political court battle of the year (decade? century? millennium?), Democrats asked Washington state to give them back the $730,000 they ponied up for that hand recount back in December. State law requires a challenger to pay some of the recount costs; it also requires the challenger to get the money back if the recount produces a new winner.

The state had been holding off on the refund check until the legal challenge was settled, on the theory that Gregoire’s win could have been overturned by the courts.

No question the Democrats have a legal right to have the money back. It might have been a great political coup to tell the state to keep the money and spend it on election equipment in poor red counties, but times are tough and we can all use some extra cash.

The crazy thing they did was demand 12 percent interest on the money the state’s been holding.

What’d they do, put the recount on their Visa card?

Secretary of State Sam Reed said they’ll get the 2 percent the money earned.

Count on it

Stevens and Spokane county elections officials recounted the Deer Park School District bond issue last week after it came up about 10 votes shy of the supermajority needed to pass.

They did it by hand. Some political observers with medium-term memory may recall the great debate about six months ago, during another close election, whether recounting ballots by hand was more or less accurate than recounting by machine. In that election, a recount by machine showed Candidate A ahead by 42 votes; the hand recount showed Candidate B ahead by 129.

Guess whose supporters were most critical of machine recounts? Which most critical of hand recounts?

But back to the present. When all the votes were counted originally from the May 17 special election, there were 1,528 yes votes and 1,025 no votes.

When they were recounted by hand, there were 1,528 yes votes … and 1,025 no votes.

From this we can conclude one of two things: Either the machine and hand-recount systems improved in six months … or it’s easier for two counties to count and recount 2,500 votes than it is for 39 counties to count and recount 2.9 million votes.