The attacks on Dino Rossi (“Rossi’s partisan politics don’t belong in Congress,” Feb. 5) are unfounded and baseless. In that letter, a political activist claims that Dino Rossi is a partisan legislator. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Here’s one fact that the author leaves out: Every single bill that Dino Rossi ever got passed into law had to make it past a Democratic governor, and most were also passed by a Democratic House. In 2003, when he balanced the largest budget deficit in state history without raising taxes, he got Democratic Governor Gary Locke and the Democratic House to sign onto his fiscally responsible budget. Dino knows how to work with people who are different than him without compromising his principles – something Congress has in short supply.

This activist claims that the legislature starting passing more bills because Dino left, but he seems to have missed the fact that the Democrats took control of the entire legislature, and that they can pass whatever bills they want to without compromising with Republicans.

This attack on Dino Rossi’s strong record of bipartisanship is laughable. In every campaign he’s ever ran, Dino has had the support of grassroots and elected Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. That’s because he walks the talk and solves problems. If you ask me, Congress could use a little bit more of that.

Joseph Merritt

North Bend