Governor candidate Dave Reichert makes campaign stop in Dayton

DAYTON–Former King County Sheriff and Eighth Congressional District Congressman Dave Reichert made a campaign stop here June 25, outlining what he'll do for Washington state if elected to some three dozen local people.

Reichert is one of seven Republican candidates for the governorship and he stated he's polling well on the west side against Democrat Bob Ferguson. There are 28 candidates on the Primary Election ballot.

Prior to serving in Congress for 14 years, Reichert was sheriff of King County and was the lead investigator who brought the Green River serial killer, Gary Ridgway, to justice.

He is optimistic about his chances against Ferguson in the Democrat-leaning King-Pierce-Snohomish counties corridor. "If we can get in the high thirties or low forties in King County," Reichert said, "I believe we can win the governor's mansion."

The Washington State Republican Party, Reichert believes, is fractured. "We've got to bring our party together and understand that we have a responsibility to the people of this state to give people choices-good choices-for the offices we're electing people for," he said.

Reichert spoke to a number of issues, starting with the need for law and order.

"I worked patrol," he said. "I was stabbed and my throat slit in 1973 on a domestic violence call. I had 45 stitches on the side of my neck. I saved a life but he jumped me and slit my throat. I won't tell you the whole story but you get the idea.

"This is stuff our cops are doing every day in this state," Reichert said. "Not every day...one guy...one gal...but around this state are facing a life-and-death decision. At least one cop in this state somewhere is facing a life-and-death decision; a split-second moment where they got to make that decision: do I attack? Do I jump? Do I handcuff? Do I put my knee in their back? Do I bend their arm up around the back of their neck until it's almost broken? All of those things...you can use that force that's necessary to protect yourself or protect others.

"That's one of the reasons I got into this race is that I just felt like my brothers and sisters that are out there on the street needed some backup in the governor's office because this governor care about the cops on the street, and neither does the guy who thinks he's going to be the next governor from the Democrat Party," he said. "He [Ferguson] thinks that cops should be charged with a crime and he's done that before."

In King County Sheriff's Office, Reichert's duty included the jail, hostage negotiator, which he quipped came in "very handy when I was in Congress," and he believes those skills will come in "very handy when we're in Olympia because it's going to create an opportunity; I think we're going to have a 'D' House and a 'D' Senate, and they're going to, at some point, after we veto some bills, especially tax bills, and more regulation...we're going to veto those bills. And when we keep vetoing, guess what? They're going to want to come talk to me. They're going to have to come talk to the hostage negotiator. And we'll see how that goes.

"I think we have a chance to set an example for the rest of the state, finally, instead of our Republican friends in the House and the Senate not being listened to, they will have a bigger voice with a Republican governor," he said.

"But we're also going to talk to the other people in the House and the Senate, the Democrats and the Independents. We're going to talk to them."

"I think that starts to set an example across this state because we have to work together. We have to learn to respect each other. We have to hold each other accountable. We have to obey the law. There are consequences for bad actors. All of those values and standards that you all grew up with, and I grew up with, are disappearing. We live in an upside down world where we blame victims today and excuse criminals. That's crazy! We blame victims...we excuse criminals."

He was sheriff during the World Trade Organization (WTO) protests in 1999. Seattle's mayor and police chief advised sheriff's help was unwanted. Reichert was informed to keep his officers away from downtown Seattle. "I said 'Mayor, the sheriff has concurrent jurisdiction in the city and if you need help, we'll be there," Reichert said. "'No, we're not going to need your help.'"

Reichert positioned 350 deputies in the basement of the courthouse at Third and James. "Monday afternoon, guess who called me?" he asked. "The police chief. 'We need help.'"

He deployed his deputies onto Third Avenue "and we started making arrests."

"I tell this story because it's about the right to free speech, but you don't have the right to stomp on the rights of other people," Reichert said. "A few months ago, you had 500 people on the freeway, blocking the freeway for hours and miles, and no one took any action..."

"And think about the lives happening in each and every one of those cars," he said. "Whether there's a young child who might be on his or her way to Children's Hospital for some sort of treatment. Maybe someone's on their way for dialysis, or they're on their way to a funeral, or you name it.

"There's lives going on in each one of those cars, and these 500 people said 'screw that, my life, my word, my voice is more important than anyone else's on that freeway. And that's not right," Reichert emphasized.

"That's not America, and we need to do something about that," he said.

Reichert said he would've called the chief of the State Patrol and ordered him to send troopers to take care of it, and if there weren't enough troopers, then call surrounding departments for additional manpower.

"Five hundred people...bring the buses, bring the tow trucks and clear the freeway and let people go about their business," Reichert said. "That's accountability. That's consequences for your actions and that's protecting the rights of everyone in Washington state, not just the few who have an ideological stance that want to express to everyone else.

"As long as they're peaceful and don't interrupt other people's lives, and they don't block freeways, I've got no problem with it," Reichert said.

"You don't break windows; you don't bust into businesses, you don't burn cars and you don't burn dumpsters and you don't turn over garbage cans. You just don't do that in a civil society.