Governor's race upheld by court

Published 12:19 pm Thursday, December 11, 2008

By Dennis Box

The Courier-Herald

Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges turned back a Republican suit Monday morning to reverse the 2004 gubernatorial election of Gov. Christine Gregoire.

The ruling, which was a shock to Republicans and Rossi supporters, upheld a razor thin 129-vote win for Gregoire, a Democrat.

The Wenatchee judge ruled that while there were more than 1,600 illegal or improper votes cast, it could not be clearly proven those people voted either for Rossi or Gregoire.

A high ranking Republican official, who asked to not be identified, described the ruling as surprising.

Rossi's spokesperson Chris Hanzeli said there would be no comment until a 5 p.m. Monday press conference. Details of the press conference were not available by press deadline.

Gregoire released her statement in a press release stating, "This is great news. Judge Bridge's ruling means that the state can finally move on."

Rossi won the first count in the race by 261 votes, but lost in a hand recount.

There is speculation by officials from both the Democratic and Republican party the case will be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

Dennis Box can be reached at dbox@cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/courierherald.