Christine Gregoire

Christine O'Grady " Chris " Gregoire ( born March 24, 1947 in Adrian, Lenawee County, Michigan) is an American politician of the Democratic Party. From 2005 to 2013, it served as Governor of the State of Washington 22.

Early years

Gregoire was born as Christine O'Grady in Michigan. With her ​​parents she moved to Auburn in Washington State. There she went to school and then attended the prestigious University of Washington in Seattle, where in 1969 earned a bachelor's degree in rhetoric and sociology. In 1974 she attended the Law School Gonzaga University in Spokane and graduated there in 1977 successfully.

Political rise

After that she worked as a Deputy Republican Attorney General Slade Gorton. In this role, she is a great especially for children who have been victims of domestic violence. She married Mike Gregoire, with whom she has two daughters. Another child died shortly after birth. In the years 1988 to 1992 she was Head of Ministry of Environmental Protection of the State of Washington, where she was also responsible for the elimination of environmental damage at the nuclear plant of Hanford, before she was elected Attorney General of Washington. In this office it was confirmed twice. Again, she fought for the rights of abused children; they became known above all for their role in the litigation against the tobacco industry, which has been condemned in the late 1990s to pay damages amounting to several hundred million U.S. dollars.

Controversial gubernatorial election

In 2004, she appeared as a candidate of the Democrats for gubernatorial election in Washington against Republican Dino Rossi. Gregoire announced during the election campaign, among others, a reduction in bureaucracy at, they also wanted to promote stem cell research. The election on November 2 proved to be head-to -head: In the first count with 261 votes Rossi was in front ( at about 3 million votes cast ). A second count reduced the lead to 42 votes. On 3 December, the Democratic Party demanded a second recount, the time should be done by hand. The Washington Supreme Court ruled on 22 December that the electoral districts in King County, a check of the evaluated there as invalid ballots should be done. This led to a recount on 30 December announced official results, which Gregoire won the election by a margin of 129 votes. Although the result in the result of the Republican side was criticized, criticized the irregularities with respect to voting stationed soldiers in Iraq, but the victory was finally confirmed Gregoire's highest court in June 2005.

Governor of Washington

From 2005 to January 14, 2013 Governor Christine Gregoire was as in office. In her re-election in November 2008, she sat down with 53.2 percent of the vote again against Dino Rossi by. In 2005 they increased the fuel tax to finance the expansion of roads. According to its program Gregoire wanted to improve, among other childcare further reform the school system to raise the standard of education continue to expand the road network and to provide money for a tsunami warning system.