The Gortons and Slades - Washington Secretary of State

54 sLAde goRton: A hALf centuRy in poLitics
“dishonest and immoral” conduct that endangered the very fabric of the
two-party system. “There should be a code of ethics, even among legislators,”
he declared. Henceforth, there should be party loyalty oaths. “I
think a price was paid here today and we are going to suffer by it. . . . We
didn’t like your platform either, and I can tell you people right now you
are in for the most interesting 60 days you have ever had.” 13
Adele wrote that “as he continued to rail at the Republicans and the
Democrats who’d thwarted him, voices rose and the man who once was
king was obviously just another House member talking too long.” It reminded
her of Nixon’s bitter press conference two months earlier after he
was defeated in his comeback bid for governor of California. 14
When they adjourned to their caucus room, several shell-shocked Republicans
asked almost in unison, “Now what?” “Redistricting,” Slade
said with a confident smile. But he had underestimated O’Brien’s ire
and Bob Greive’s wily intransigence. Redistricting would take two more
years.
Styling themselves as “the Loyal 43 of ’63,” the O’Brien Democrats assailed
“the appalling perfidy” of the dissidents and their co-conspirators.
By choosing “to skirt close to the shores of anarchy” they had “transformed
an ordinarily orderly House into a travesty on the traditional twoparty
system.” 15 (Translation: The bastards outsmarted us.)
The coalition hit Olympia’s watering holes that night and slept in on
Sunday. Come Monday, however, and for weeks to come more delaying
tactics stalemated the House. Permanent rules weren’t adopted until January
30 and not much got done until they were well into February.
with census tRActs, MAps and Magic Markers, Gorton and Mary Ellen
McCaffree spent many nights poring over the state’s 49 legislative districts,
precinct by precinct. It turned out that the maps from Shell service
stations were the most accurate. In those halcyon days when a service station
actually offered service, the maps were free.
The goal was to create enough strategically placed Republican swing
districts to give the party a fighting chance in lean years and a majority in
good ones. No mean feat. One squiggly line bisecting a neighborhood
could spell defeat or victory.
McCaffree was surprised when Gorton told her she was going to be the
bill’s sponsor. Huh? A freshman? He explained that he was a lightning
rod for the suspicious Democrats, while she hadn’t been around long
enough to make anyone really mad. Rarely in Washington legislative history
has a rookie played a bigger role. “Mary Ellen outworked me,” Gorton