“As a mom, and as a pediatrician who has cared for the children of this district for nearly two decades, Dr. Kim Schrier is deeply rooted in this community and committed to bettering the lives of Washington’s families. Dr. Schrier’s story of working with families of all stripes and backgrounds is a strong contrast with out-of-touch career politician Dino Rossi, who she is well positioned to defeat this fall.” – DCCC Chairman Ben Ray Luján
To: Interested Parties
From: Drew Godinich, DCCC Regional Press Secretary
Date: August 13, 2018
RE: The Case Against Dino Rossi
In primaries all across the country, primary voters have been nominating Democratic outsider candidates with strong personal stories of service and races focused on lowering the cost of healthcare. Dr. Kim Schrier is no different. A first-time candidate and a pediatrician with nearly two decades of serving the families of the 8th Congressional District, Schrier is powerfully positioned to continue her campaign into the fall.
Meanwhile, Republicans have nominated career politician Dino Rossi, who has lost every race he’s run in the 21st Century– all against women. And that’s just the first layer of swamp grime covering this extreme and out-of-touch career politician. Rossi has taken tens of thousands of dollars from corporate special interests like the Club for Growth, the Koch brothers, and even President Trump and Vice President Pence. Moreover, Rossi has already said that he would have voted to repeal protections for pre-existing conditions like asthma, cancer and diabetes, and is on the record in support of the devastating GOP tax scam.
Democrats are well-positioned to take this district for the first time since its creation. The party in the White House has not held an open House seat that they lost in the previous Presidential election since 1990. And despite carrying this rapidly- changing district by ten points in 2010, and representing parts of the district for decades in the state legislature, polls show Rossi failing to crack 50% in a general matchup, and show Kim, in her first run for public office, within the margin of error. Rossi’s incredibly overwhelming performance in the primary, where Republicans combined for only 47% of the vote, bodes poorly for the general, where higher turnout has historically boosted performance for Democrats in Washington.
Dino Rossi has not won a race since the 90’s. In the interim, he has lost three consecutive races to women. This November, he will extend that losing streak.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
“The Issaquah pediatrician might have healed your kid; now she’s running for Congress with a big war chest.” [Sammamish Patch, 08/22/18]
“It won’t be surprising if Rossi starts out with a polling lead over the eventual Democratic nominee thanks to his universal name ID. But it’s been 28 years since a president’s party has defended an open House seat the president failed to carry two years earlier. Democrats are also optimistic they can cast the Club for Growth-backed Rossi as too far right for the 8th CD and shed new light on his real estate dealings. It’s a Toss Up.” [Cook Political Report, 07/27/18]
“Schrier, 49, who was diagnosed with diabetes at age 16, has used her personal experience with a pre-existing condition to highlight the benefits of Obamacare, which Republicans attempted to repeal last year.” [Bloomberg, 05/06/18]
“The wealthy, militantly conservative Club for Growth PAC has thrown its support to Republican Dino Rossi in his campaign for the House seat of retiring 8th District Rep. Dave Reichert.” [Seattle PI, 02/02/18]
HEADLINE: Fact Check: Dino Rossi Did Not Balance the Budget While Protecting the Vulnerable In 2003 [The Stranger, 02/08/18]
DINO ROSSI: ANOTHER EXTREME POLITICIAN, PUTTING HIMSELF AHEAD OF YOU
Minor League Swamp Creature Looking to Break Into the Majors
Dino Rossi can’t seem to say no to the buffet of corporate cash that special interests and lobbyists are dangling in front of him. Maybe that’s because he’s one of them. In 2007, Rossi purchased a minor league baseball team, then just four months later, used his position to earmark more than $400,000 in taxpayer dollars for his team. A conservative think tank even highlighted this as one of the worst examples of government waste that year.
It gets worse – Rossi took millions of dollars from ‘Washington’s Bernie Madoff,’ Michael Mastro. He then lied to state regulators about $50,000 in loans he’d taken from Mastro for years. And Mastro threw $2 million into a real estate deal in the 90’s, when Rossi and two of his friends – both lobbyists – teamed up on a sweetheart real estate deal that made Rossi $600,000.
As if that wasn’t enough, Rossi spent much of his career working with a man named Melvin Heide, who was indicted by a federal grand jury on 18 counts, including bank fraud. Rossi continued to work with him even after Heide was indicted and sent to jail.
No one’s batting an eye that the Koch brothers, the far-right Club for Growth, and Kevin McCarthy are working overtime to elect Dino Rossi. They know he’ll be a rubber stamp for their agenda in D.C.
Exploding the Deficit, Passing Tax Cuts for the Wealthy, Handing Seniors the Bill
Despite his outward posturing as a fiscal hawk, Dino Rossi co-sponsored the biggest tax increase in Washington State history, and said he would’ve voted for the disastrous GOP tax scam, which is slated to increase the deficit by $1.9 trillion and Republicans plan to pay for by slashing Social Security and Medicare.
Rossi’s and the Republicans’ tax scam gives 83% of its benefits to the wealthiest 1% of Americans and increases incentives for companies to move jobs overseas — all while millions of middle-class families pay more over time.
Supports Allowing Healthcare Premiums to Skyrocket in Washington State, Jeopardizing Constituents’ Health Care
Dino Rossi has been saying for years that he supports the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, which would raise health care premiums, gut pre-existing condition protections like asthma, cancer and diabetes, jeopardize health insurance for 32,500 people in WA-08, and impose an age tax on older Americans. Even Dave Reichert voted against this same Republican repeal and ripoff bill, an issue Rossi refuses to come clean on.
And in the state legislature, Rossi was the chief architect of a budget that kicked 46,000 Washington children off of their health insurance.
THE PATH TO VICTORY
Democratic presidential candidates have carried this swing district every year since 1980, and Democrats have eyed Washington’s 8th Congressional District for years. With the retirement of Dave Reichert, this district is ready for a change in leadership.
In a change election, Dino Rossi represents everything that is wrong with politics – his penchant for saying one thing to voters and doing the opposite in Olympia, and his insatiable appetite for corporate and special interest money.
Despite his universal name recognition, Dino Rossi had a disastrous primary night last week. Despite the backing of hundreds of thousands of dollars in special interest money, Rossi has failed to pull away in this race, finding himself statistically tied with Dr. Schrier who is making her first run for public office. But her impressive fundraising and professional campaign propelled her to victory in a hard-fought primary, and they will propel her to victory this November.