The Gortons and Slades - Washington Secretary of State

the coALition 55
Howard McCurdy,
the redistricting aide
for the House GOP
Caucus, draws some
lines in 1965. Looking
on intently from left
are Reps. Joel Pritchard,
Damon Canfield and
Mary Ellen McCaffree,
Governor Dan Evans,
Reps. Tom Copeland
and Slade Gorton.
Howard McCurdy
Collection
says. “I’d tell her I had to get some sleep, and she’d be at it past midnight.
She was tireless.” So was 22–year-old Howard McCurdy, a UW grad student
Pritchard had recruited to work for the Republicans during the session.
McCurdy became the GOP number cruncher, reveling in the black
art of district drawing.
On Day 53, the coalition’s redistricting bill finally cleared the House
and was sent to the Senate. Greive had made it clear to Gorton and Evans
that their plan was dead on arrival. The Senate Democrats had ideological
fractures of their own but enjoyed a 32–17 majority. Like O’Brien, Greive
faced a perpetual power struggle in his caucus and wasn’t about to give
away the farm. The press marveled at how he always managed to find just
enough votes to remain majority leader.
Gorton figured that a divide-and-conquer strategy might work in the
Senate, too. That Slade was wooing his enemies made Greive even more
determined. With his horn-rimmed glasses, trademark bow tie and enigmatic
smile, Greive was an astute politician. Representing a lunch-bucket
West Seattle district, he prided himself on “working twice as hard as any-