{"id":611,"date":"2018-03-11T11:18:39","date_gmt":"2018-03-11T15:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=611"},"modified":"2018-03-12T11:26:14","modified_gmt":"2018-03-12T15:26:14","slug":"dino-rossi-downplays-trump-factor-in-congressional-race-i-am-not-running-to-be-the-apprentice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=611","title":{"rendered":"Dino Rossi downplays Trump factor in congressional race: \u2018I am not running to be The Apprentice\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"article-header \">\n<div class=\"article-dateline\"><time class=\"line published dt-published\" datetime=\"2018-03-11 06:00:48\">Originally published March 11, 2018<\/time><\/div>\n<div><span class=\"byline-copy\">By\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"p-author h-card hcard url fn\" style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.seattletimes.com\/author\/jim-brunner\/\" rel=\"author\">Jim Brunner<\/a><span style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"name vcard\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"title vcard\"><span class=\"p-author fn\">Seattle Times political reporter<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"featured-media default\">\n<div class=\"image-single-wrapper image-10741904-157962093 \">\n<figure id=\"image-10741904\" class=\"article-figure align-none \"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" height=\"520\" width=\"780\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static.seattletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/03092018_dinorossi_130434-780x520.jpg?resize=780%2C520&#038;ssl=1\" sizes=\"(max-width: 767px) calc(100vw - 20px), (max-width: 854px) calc( (100vw - 20px) * .565), (max-width: 1019px) calc(100vw - 360px), 630px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.seattletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/03092018_dinorossi_130434-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/static.seattletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/03092018_dinorossi_130434-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.seattletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/03092018_dinorossi_130434-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/static.seattletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/03092018_dinorossi_130434-780x520.jpg 780w, https:\/\/static.seattletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/03092018_dinorossi_130434-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https:\/\/static.seattletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/03092018_dinorossi_130434-1560x1040.jpg 1560w, https:\/\/static.seattletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/03092018_dinorossi_130434-320x213.jpg 320w, https:\/\/static.seattletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/03092018_dinorossi_130434-480x320.jpg 480w, https:\/\/static.seattletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/03092018_dinorossi_130434-640x427.jpg 640w, https:\/\/static.seattletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/03092018_dinorossi_130434-960x640.jpg 960w, https:\/\/static.seattletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/03092018_dinorossi_130434-568x379.jpg 568w, https:\/\/static.seattletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/03092018_dinorossi_130434-1136x757.jpg 1136w, https:\/\/static.seattletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/03092018_dinorossi_130434-375x250.jpg 375w, https:\/\/static.seattletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/03092018_dinorossi_130434-750x500.jpg 750w, https:\/\/static.seattletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/03092018_dinorossi_130434-667x445.jpg 667w, https:\/\/static.seattletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/03092018_dinorossi_130434-1334x889.jpg 1334w, https:\/\/static.seattletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/03092018_dinorossi_130434-414x276.jpg 414w, https:\/\/static.seattletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/03092018_dinorossi_130434-1242x828.jpg 1242w, https:\/\/static.seattletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/03092018_dinorossi_130434-736x491.jpg 736w, https:\/\/static.seattletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/03092018_dinorossi_130434-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" alt=\"Congressional candidate Dino Rossi at his campaign headquarters in Issaquah last week. (Ken Lambert \/ The Seattle Times)\" data-caption=\"Congressional candidate Dino Rossi at his campaign headquarters in Issaquah last week. (Ken Lambert \/ The Seattle Times)\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 767px) calc(100vw - 20px), (max-width: 854px) calc( (100vw - 20px) * .565), (max-width: 1019px) calc(100vw - 360px), 630px\" \/><figcaption class=\"article-figure-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">Congressional candidate Dino Rossi at his campaign headquarters in Issaquah last week. (Ken Lambert \/ The Seattle Times)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"ad-right-top\" class=\"ad right ad-right-wrapper\">\n<div id=\"ad-right-top-full\" class=\"ad-placeholder-full ad half-page\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-right\" class=\"dfp-ad dfp-right\" data-google-query-id=\"CIal5qCK59kCFcy9swodTfIIzg\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/81279359\/seattletimes.com\/seattle-news\/politics_1__container__\"><span style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">Rossi&#8217;s back again, making his fourth bid for major public office. The former Washington state senator from Sammamish is on arguably easier turf this time as he seeks to succeed retiring Republican Congressman Dave Reichert in the 8th Congressional District.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The last time Dino Rossi ran for office, Barack Obama was in the White House but Republicans had national momentum as a conservative tea-party movement arose for the 2010 midterms. That wave crested before hitting Washington state, and Rossi\u00a0<a class=\"content-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.seattletimes.com\/seattle-news\/rossi-concedes-sen-patty-murray-wins-fourth-term\/\">fell short<\/a>\u00a0of unseating Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray.<\/p>\n<p>Rossi\u2019s back again, making his fourth bid for major public office. The former state senator from Sammamish is on arguably easier turf this time as he seeks to succeed\u00a0<a class=\"content-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.seattletimes.com\/seattle-news\/politics\/u-s-rep-dave-reichert-says-he-wont-run-for-re-election\/\">retiring Republican Congressman Dave Reichert<\/a>\u00a0in the 8th Congressional District, which has always been held by Republicans.<\/p>\n<p>But as the 2018 midterms take shape, Republicans and Democrats have in some ways flipped positions compared with 2010. Polls and special-election results show a potential blue wave brewing in congressional races as energized Democrats look to capitalize on President Donald Trump\u2019s\u00a0<a class=\"content-link external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/epolls\/other\/president_trump_job_approval-6179.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sagging job approval<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Washington Democrats are sure to highlight Trump\u2019s controversial behavior and the White House\u2019s\u00a0<a class=\"content-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.seattletimes.com\/nation-world\/john-kelly-willing-to-resign-as-scandal-roils-white-house-officials-say\/\">burgeoning scandals<\/a>\u00a0as top issues.<\/p>\n<p>How will Rossi respond? In an interview with The Seattle Times last week, he downplayed the Trump factor, using lines voters are likely to hear repeatedly in the coming months.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor me, the most important part is I am not running to be \u2018The Apprentice.\u2019 I am running to be the congressman from the 8th Congressional District,\u201d Rossi said. \u201cThe way I am going to treat Donald Trump is just the same way I would have treated George W. Bush or Barack Obama. If I agree with them I agree with them, and if I don\u2019t, I don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rossi said he will not spend his time reacting to the president\u2019s frequently controversial tweets. \u201cHe\u2019s had 2,811 tweets since he was president up to now. If I answer for one I am going to have to answer for all. I am not going to get into that spiral,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"teadsNative-mobile\">\u00a0As a delegate for Trump at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Rossi clashed with some other Washington Republicans who participated in\u00a0<a class=\"content-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.seattletimes.com\/seattle-news\/politics\/states-anti-trump-delegates-in-failed-rebellion\/\">a last-ditch, failed fight to deny Trump the GOP nomination<\/a>. He said at the time Trump was his least-favorite choice in the GOP field, but that he was still better than allowing Hillary and Bill Clinton, \u201ca habitual liar and a sexual predator, back into the White House.\u201d<\/div>\n<p>That\u2019s a different stance than the one taken by the 8th District\u2019s incumbent, Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Auburn, who called Trump\u2019s candidacy \u201ca joke\u201d and refused to endorse or vote for him. Reichert\u00a0<a class=\"content-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.seattletimes.com\/seattle-news\/politics\/u-s-rep-dave-reichert-says-he-wont-run-for-re-election\/\">announced his retirement in September<\/a>\u00a0and is supporting Rossi.<\/p>\n<div id=\"promo-left-full\" class=\"marketing-placeholder-full article-subscribe\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-promo-left\" class=\"dfp-ad dfp-promo-left\" data-google-query-id=\"CPXG5qzX39kCFU15YgodeDAI8A\">\n<p>In the interview last week, Rossi said he voted for Trump in 2016 largely because he trusted him more than Hillary Clinton when it came to choosing Supreme Court justices. Rossi said Trump came through with the nomination of conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch.<\/p>\n<div class=\"teadsNative\">\u00a0\u201cThat was the most important piece for me,\u201d Rossi said, saying he wants judges \u201cwho look at the Constitution and follow what it says and not what they wish it says \u2026\u00a0If you have a rule of law that just blows in the wind, you have no law. It\u2019s just based on popular culture at the moment. It\u2019s not a rule of law.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>He did not name any particular U.S. Supreme Court ruling he disagreed with, but pointed to the Washington State Supreme Court\u2019s McCleary decision, which found the state had failed to adequately fund public schools, as well as the court\u2019s Hirst decision restricting water-well drilling, as examples of what he views as judicial overreach.<\/p>\n<p>Asked to name a Trump policy that he would push back on, Rossi cited the president\u2019s recent announcement of tariffs on foreign aluminum and steel, which critics argue could spark a trade war harming U.S. companies and consumers. He said Trump\u2019s national-security justification for the tariffs made no sense.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think anybody wins a trade war,\u201d Rossi said. \u201cEighty percent of our steel is made domestically. We also import from friends like Australia and others. I am not really convinced that somehow it is national security if 8o percent of your steel already comes from America.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd so I am hoping it is more posturing \u2026 that\u2019s how he negotiates. He wants 100 and he asks for 200 and then he gets 110 and complains,\u201d Rossi said, adding that he does agree with the notion that international trade agreements like NAFTA need to be revised periodically to ensure they are fair.<\/p>\n<p>Rossi also weighed in on several other topics in the hourlong interview at his campaign headquarters, set up in an Issaquah office suite with drawn window blinds and no visible campaign signage outside.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" class=\"article-content entry-content\">\n<p>At his desk, Rossi keeps an enlarged quote from one of the Democratic candidates who dropped out of the 8th District race earlier this year. That candidate, Mona Das, noted that among the Democrats, \u201cnot a single one of us has any experience. That to me is really shocking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some highlights:<\/p>\n<p><strong>On gun control and the National Rifle Association<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Democrats have criticized NRA spending of $400,000 in support of Rossi in his 2010 U.S. Senate run. Rossi said that was an independent expenditure over which he had no control. \u201cI didn\u2019t even know it happened,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Rossi said he\u2019s \u201cwilling to talk to anybody and listen to anybody that comes up with solutions that are effective and constitutional.\u201d He said laws like a ban on bump stocks make sense, because it stops people from getting around the existing ban on machine guns.<\/p>\n<p>But he declined to endorse a new ban on assault weapons or high-capacity magazines. He pointed to failures of law enforcement in the Feb. 14 massacre of 17 high-school students and adults in Parkland, Florida. \u201cHow many people saw something and said something and nothing happened?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>On the Republican tax-cut law<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\u201cAll my opponents on the other side are all on record of being against it. I guess they can explain that themselves. It\u2019s an average of $3,357 per family in the 8<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Congressional District \u2026 I know that some of them have called it crumbs, along with Nancy Pelosi. I don\u2019t know how rich these people are but that\u2019s real money to most people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>On the Mueller investigation and Russia<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\u201cLet it play itself out. To this point I haven\u2019t seen any evidence of collusion. Of collusion by Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\u201cWhat I read was that apparently they helped fund an anti-Trump rally and an anti-Hillary rally. So they were trying to just cause trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>On climate change<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cHonestly, with seven and a half billion people in the world, it\u2019s not out of the question that human element can have an impact on the environment and those issues. To what degree, I don\u2019t know. I\u2019ll let the scientists argue about that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>On DACA and border security<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\u201cI just don\u2019t think you are going to round up 690,000 or 1.8 million people and send them back to a country they know nothing about. It\u2019s not even logical \u2026\u00a0You\u2019ve go to do something to make sure it doesn\u2019t happen again. Our immigration system is broken. There needs to be an orderly way for people to come here, where we know who they are and we know there aren\u2019t issues where they come from.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of people who are concerned about this think Democrats are just using these people as political pawns.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>On raising the retirement age or other changes to Social Security and Medicare<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\u201cThere isn\u2019t going to be any change for anybody who currently gets it or is nearing the time to get it. That\u2019s not going to happen \u2026\u00a0It would have to be a whole package. You\u2019d have to see what they propose. Any changes \u2014 a lot of them would probably be for people who aren\u2019t even born yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>On partisanship<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\u201cI am willing to work with anybody, I really am. That\u2019s the way I was in Olympia. I am willing to work with anybody that wants to work in good faith, to try to solve these problems. It\u2019s not theory, it\u2019s not talk. I\u2019ve done it before. That\u2019s really the difference here. Everyone else I am running against, it\u2019s all theory and talk \u2026 They\u2019re all part of the angry crowd is what it looks like to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>On holding town halls if elected<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cYeah. I would. Especially if it was productive. If people want to behave like adults and have an adult conversation. But if it\u2019s just a yelling match on one side \u2026 if that\u2019s what it is, it\u2019s not a conversation and there is no way I am going to learn anything from that.\u00a0I\u2019ll try it. Absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"most-read-small-mobile\" class=\"most-read-placeholder-small-mobile\"><span class=\"name\">Jim Brunner<\/span>: 206-515-5628 or\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:jbrunner@seattletimes.com\">jbrunner@seattletimes.com<\/a>;\u00a0<span class=\"\">on Twitter:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Jim_Brunner\">@Jim_Brunner<\/a><\/span>. Seattle Times political reporter Jim Brunner covers state, local and regional politics.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"extended-byline\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Originally published March 11, 2018 By\u00a0\u00a0Jim Brunner\u00a0 Seattle Times political reporter Congressional candidate Dino Rossi at his campaign headquarters in Issaquah last week. (Ken Lambert&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":612,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state-politics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-12_11-23-17.jpg?fit=526%2C351&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8VBh7-9R","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=611"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":615,"href":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611\/revisions\/615"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}