Senator: Rossi’s criticism of governor hypocritical

Re: “Did Gov. Jay Inslee’s campaign get ‘millions’ from state worker unions during contract negotiations?” (TNT, 3/12)

Regarding Dino Rossi’s criticism of Governor Inslee: First of all, Rossi lied. Inslee did not receive millions from unions, it was about $710,000. Secondly, Rossi received millions in campaign funds from special interest sources in his 2010 Senate bid: He got 3.6 million from American Crossroads and 1.3 million from American Action Network, both of which are funded primarily by corporations which, unlike the unions, hide their PAC donations from the public by using innocuously named conduits. They do not, however, hide their donations from the candidates they support, which is why Republicans like Rossi cater to their every wish.

Unions primarily represent millions of working people trying to modestly support their families. Corporations primarily represent multi-millionaire overpaid CEO’s and a handful of primary stockholders. Rossi and his fellow Republicans hate unions because, as union members are busy producing the corporation’s wealth, they have the audacity to expect that workers are paid a reasonable wage.

Governor Inslee would support the unions regardless of how much money they give him because he knows it is the right thing to do. Anyone brought up with reasonable ethical standards should know that supporting overpaid, tax-dodging, greedy corporate leaders is not the right thing to do.

This story was originally published March 22, 2017 at 4:38 PM with the headline "Senator: Rossi’s criticism of governor hypocritical."