GOP corruption accusations make national news

The Washington state gubernatorial race got some more national attention Wednesday when FOX News Special Report reported on the conflict of interest allegations being made by some state Republicans over Gov. Chris Gregoire's negotiations with the Service Employees International Union while they help sponsor television ads that attack Dino Rossi, and large donations from some state tribes to the state Democratic Party. Both negotiations, as the report mentions, were deemed legal by Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna.

Rossi himself was interviewed on the program, where he raised the idea of corruption by the state's majority party.

"When you have one party," Rossi told FOX, "whether it is Republican or Democrat, that is in power so long you end up with the appearance of institutional corruption, and that is what this looks like."

Ferndale Republican state Rep. Doug Ericksen, the state caucus' deputy minority leader, also chimed in on the report.

"You drive up a $2.7 billion dollar budget deficit by treating those very, very well that contributed to your campaign and your re-election," Ericksen said, "that is where the red flags go up."

Gregoire, for her part, has the aforementioned McKenna decision on her side and furthermore says that the use of tribes specifically is a veiled form of racism.

"I think this whole thing is racist, and I'm totally offended by it," Gregoire told The Stranger. "But it just shows you how low they'll go. It shows you that it doesn't matter what the truth is, they're going to trump stuff up."

Rossi has Alaskan Native heritage on his mother's side.

Video of the report is here.