The Gortons and Slades - Washington Secretary of State

102 sLAde goRton: A hALf centuRy in poLitics
now “somewhere incommunicado to nearly everyone except selected
news outlets.” (Translation: the Post-Intelligencer, whose executive editor,
Lou Guzzo, was not a Rosellini fan.) 16
Bouncing fRoM pRess confeRence to press conference with a full head
of seethe, Rosellini had a seemingly inexhaustible arsenal of adjectives to
describe how “despicable” it all was. He was the victim of a “Joe McCarthy
guilt-by-association” “flimsy, fabricated wonderland tale”—a “Watergate
West” “Gestapo” operation and a “terrifying type of terrorism” rooted in
bigotry and innuendo. It was “an obvious conspiracy” by Evans and Gorton,
who would stoop to anything to salvage their sinking campaigns.
“It’s incredible that Evans and Gorton wouldn’t know what the chief
assistant attorney general was doing,” Rosellini fumed. “Now they have
been caught with their hands in the cookie jar and have suspended Dysart
in an attempt to cover up their smear tactics.” Poor Dysart was just the
fall guy for his boss and the governor, Al added, shaking his head. 17
Well, how about those calls to Hawaii? Rosellini acknowledged he
might have phoned an old friend, a Honolulu police sergeant, concerning
the Colacurcios but the friend was also celebrating his 25 th wedding anniversary
and he’d made several calls to offer his best wishes. Pressed for
a clearer recollection of whether they had also discussed liquor licenses,
Rosellini said, “I don’t remember.” Then the former governor paused,
looked into the air and said nothing for several minutes. Finally, he said,
“I would say I did not.” 18
Scoop Jackson, who’d never been chummy with Rosellini, was practically
apoplectic during a Seattle news conference. Usually a model of
Scandinavian-ness, the senator shocked Larsen and the other reporters
by waving his arms in indignation over what they’d done to Al. Jackson
pounded the table with his fist, then slammed it hard with an open palm,
declaring, “I think it’s outrageous that this kind of attack be made against
an individual because of his ancestry.” 19
Gorton was also livid, telling the P-I that Dysart had acted entirely on
his own. “Any candidate certainly has a perfect right to investigate his
opponent,” Gorton said, but his deputy’s activities were “totally inappropriate,”
even during off-duty hours, and a direct violation of his orders to
stay out of politics. Gorton then told the Times that Dysart had been working
on an investigation with KING Broadcasting and the P-I. Spokesmen
for both companies bristled. KING’s pique was justified but the P-I’s protestations
rang hollow. Guzzo had found the Rosellini rumor tantalizing,
verily steeped in truth. He viewed the Colacurcios as “our own little ma-