The Gortons and Slades - Washington Secretary of State

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himself in the middle of the caucus to be closer to the 26 GOP freshmen.
They included some faces that would become familiar in the months and
years to come, notably Sid Morrison, Tom Swayze and Tim Hill. The eight
freshmen Democrats included Gordon Walgren, John Bagnariol, Ed
Heavey and Bob Charette, who’d bounced from Senate leadership to a
back bench in the House in the wake of redistricting. Greive was happy to
have the independent Aberdeen lawyer out of his hair but Gorton gained
a frequent ally across the aisle.
neXt to RedistRicting, the highlight of Gorton’s 10–year career as a
Washington State legislator is his relentless effort in the 1967 session to
push a dozen “Forward Thrust” bond propositions through the House for
Jim Ellis. Forward Thrust was an offspring of Metro, Ellis’ program to
clean up Lake Washington. In 1956, the Metro speakers’ bureau was
Slade’s first foray into civic life in his adopted home state. Nine years later,
he heard Ellis deliver one of the landmark speeches in Seattle history. Appearing
before the Downtown Rotary Club, the visionary activist challenged
the city’s movers and shakers to help him inspire the voters to
make a down payment on a vibrant, livable King County for tomorrow.
The alternative, Ellis said, was gridlock, smog, clogged storm sewers,
farmland succumbing to cookie-cutter subdivisions and a city bereft of
greenery, recreational opportunities and affordable housing. Seattle was
at a crossroads, Ellis emphasized: It could become one of the world’s great
international cities or pave paradise and put up a parking lot. His critics
called it the full employment act for bond attorneys.
Before they could go to the voters, the proposals needed legislative approval.
The push began in the Senate, where Ellis had an ally in his old
friend, Joel Pritchard, who’d moved over from the House in the ’66 election.
Greive, however, was no fan of Ellis and he’d been re-elected yet
again as leader of the Democratic majority.
The Forward Thrust bills squeaked out of the Senate in the waning
days of a marathon session. Gorton went to work. Directing floor action
and telephoning instructions to the speaker’s rostrum, “I got every damn
one of them passed without change in those three days for my friend and
mentor,” he says with pride and satisfaction. “Slade was magnificent,”
says Ellis. “It was a spectacular job.”
At the polls in February of 1968, King County voters backed a $40 million
bond issue for a multipurpose stadium that came to be called the
Kingdome. Another $118 million was approved to boost parks and recreation,
including 25 swimming pools and a world-class aquarium. The