The Gortons and Slades - Washington Secretary of State

BicentenniAL foLLies 143
Board in 1970 as part of his effort to reform the system. Evans halted
the practice of using “samples” for official entertaining at the Governor’s
Mansion. 7
Gorton finally filed a civil suit against the board members. Many viewed
the charges as a tempest in a cocktail shaker. The Thurston County Superior
Court dismissed Gorton’s case. He appealed, pro forma, and was
handed a 9-0 defeat by the State Supreme Court. “That was one occasion
when I was delighted to lose,” Gorton says. “I was forced to bring that
lawsuit. Jack Hood was a friend of mine, too. Unfortunately, the episode
generated some resentment by Don Eldridge that I regretted and, in retrospect,
was justified on his part.”
coMe noveMBeR, goRton hAndiLy won a third term as attorney general
and Dick Marquardt, a gentlemanly moderate Republican, bounced Herrmann.
Jackson won re-election to the Senate with nearly 72 percent of
the vote and Carter edged Ford, who might have profited from having
Evans as his running mate rather than the acerbic Robert Dole. A Ford stalwart
during the president’s bruising battle with Ronald Reagan at the
Kansas City convention, Evans had been on the short list of vice-presidential
possibles. The Evans delegation headed home deeply disappointed
that Dan wasn’t on the ticket. Evans chose his words carefully but his
body language betrayed his feelings. He took being passed over as a sign
that his decision to take a break from politics was a good one. Jackson,
meantime, was miffed when Carter picked Walter Mondale rather than
him as his running mate and in any case felt better qualified than Carter
to be president. Carter had seriously considered Jackson but concluded,
correctly, that he and the congenial Fritz Mondale were more compatible.
To have had Washingtonians on both national tickets would have been an
interesting twist of fate. 8
Dixy Lee Ray thumped Spellman to become Washington’s first female
governor. Eighteen months earlier she wasn’t even sure whether she was
a Republican or a Democrat. Her aide and confidant, Lou Guzzo, former
executive editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, coaxed her through the
minefield of political realities to the expedient conclusion that she was “a
conservative Democrat.” Shelby Scates, Senator Magnuson’s biographer,
wonderfully characterized Guzzo as “the Henry Higgins to this unfortunate
Eliza Doolittle.” Dixy’s first foray into politics nevertheless was loverly.
Spellman and Ford had the misfortune of facing two quintessential
outsiders in a year where the inside seemed upside down.
Gorton and Evans took cheer in two victories for the old team. Joel