The Gortons and Slades - Washington Secretary of State

unhAppy dAys 99
the White House. . . . Political sabotage is something we don’t condone
and won’t tolerate.” 8
While Henry Kissinger was telling reporters “peace is at hand” in Vietnam,
the gubernatorial combatants in Washington State were engaged in
trench warfare. Evans described Rosellini as “one of the most outrageous
frauds” the state had ever seen. Rosellini said Evans was stooping to
“name-calling generalities when he has no justification for the most extravagant,
wasteful and expensive administration in the history of the
state.” Gorton and Dore traded their own jabs over who was more fiscally
conservative and swapped accusations about improprieties. The state Republican
chairman, Earl Davenport, charged that the 45 th District Democratic
Club was using bingo profits to boost Dore’s campaign. Dore angrily
denied he had received so much as a dime from the club.
It was practically patty-cake compared to the governor’s race. With
three weeks to go, some polls had Rosellini ahead by 13 points. Then he
slipped on his own tongue. Democrats maintain to this day that he also
got “wopped.” 9
Seeing no reason to take any chances, Rosellini had been refusing to
debate. On Oct. 14, however, the Post-Intelligencer reported that a Rosellini
campaign spokesman had confirmed that the former governor would be
available to take on Evans that very morning during a Candidates Fair at
North Seattle Community College. The underdog incumbent arrived
with bells on, delighted to see a KOMO-TV crew. Rosellini huffed that he
had not really agreed to a debate. As the debate over a debate heated up,
Rosellini began to click his teeth—a habit when he was agitated. Then he
chided Evans. “Danny,” he said, “I wish you’d quit being childish like you
have been all during the campaign.” Some onlookers booed and one student
shouted “Chicken!” Glowering, Rosellini consented to the debate
and proceeded to repeatedly refer to Evans as “Danny Boy”—a dozen
times, by one count. It was a major mistake, interpreted by many as not
only condescending to a younger man but disrespectful to the office of
governor. That Monday, Ralph Munro, an Evans aide, cranked out a batch
of “I’m for Danny Boy” bumper strips. At their next appearance, before
they cut the cards to see who would go first, Evans quipped, “Is it OK with
Slade?”—a welcome bit of levity in a relentlessly nasty campaign. 10
two weeKs LAteR, the front pages exploded with double-deck banner
headlines and the airwaves crackled when Gorton announced he had suspended
Dysart for conducting an unauthorized off-duty investigation of
Rosellini’s links to Seattle’s notorious Colacurcio family. With their net-