The Gortons and Slades - Washington Secretary of State

unhAppy dAys 103
fia,” the Corleones, Seattle style. Years later, Guzzo recalled that many in
Seattle’s Italian community refused to believe Rosellini “had trucked
with characters like Colacurcio. Something needed to be done, so I
wrapped up all the charges against Rosellini and ran my own report under
my byline to demonstrate to the Italian community and others that at
least some Italian Americans—me in particular—were on the right side
of the law.” 20
KING detected in the Times’ coverage an inference that the station had
sat on a juicy story. Having done due diligence, McGaffin “was furious
that KING’s ethics had been questioned.” McGaffin and others at Channel
5 “were convinced that they had been used by Gorton, who they believed
knew all along what Dysart had been doing.” 21
Dysart, looking wan, gave Guzzo his exclusive front-page interview on
October 30 and accused Rosellini of obfuscating a continuing relationship
with Frank Colacurcio. Gorton’s suspended deputy labeled Rosellini
“a man of questionable integrity.” He said the transcript of a trial 10
months earlier in which Frank Colacurcio Sr. had been convicted of conspiracy
to violate federal anti-racketeering laws revealed Rosellini’s involvement
with the family. That said, Dysart added that he deserved to be
suspended. “I deliberately kept Slade ignorant of my research activities.
Those activities were not brought to his attention until Thursday, Oct. 26.
When they were, he acted with characteristic decisiveness . . . What I did
I undertook at my own instigation. I am the one who initiated the contact
with Mr. Gilmour of the Dan Evans Committee. For Mr. Rosellini to suggest
that I am the fall guy is just to demonstrate his ignorance of the
facts.” Dysart then added unrepentantly, “I confess in front of the Post-
Intelligencer and William Randolph Hearst if necessary that I’m a Republican.
I think that the facts about Mr. Rosellini’s relationship with Frank
Colacurcio should be known before the people make their choice on November
7.” The next day, Dysart finally gave the Times an interview. He
emphasized that he had not tapped Rosellini’s telephones or tried to secure
confidential telephone records. 22
goRton eMphAticALLy And RepeAtedLy denied he had been in the loop.
“But nobody in the press”—or, for that matter, Fred Dore—“believed me
for a minute. It was ‘How could your number one guy be doing all this and
you not know about it?’” He was, after all, “Slippery Slade.” Usually he just
accepted that as part of being in the political fish bowl. Now the accusations
cut to the quick. Gorton hated it. He felt powerless. “It was awful.” Even
more galling to Gorton was his discovery that Dysart had been recruited by