introduction 5blinking incessantly under the Klieg lights at a news conference while
Phil Gramm droned on about the Republican budget, Keister said they
finally determined he was trying to send a coded message: “Help me!
This man has eaten a lot of beans.”
It would be a snap to fill an appendix with all the things they’ve called
Gorton since 1958 when he was elected to the first of five terms in the
state Legislature. Besides “Slippery Slade,” there’s: Slade the Blade. Skele-
tor. Cyanide Slade. The new General Custer. The Darth Vader of North-
west Politics. Living proof that not all cold fish comes in a can. Just about
the coldest, craftiest guy you would ever want to send 3, 000 miles away
to represent you in Congress. An evil genius giving off unmistakable sig-
nals of his inner corruptibleness. As independent as a hog on ice. A kind
of David Bowie of American politics, an agile chameleon who goes out of
fashion only long enough to re-emerge with a new face. Brilliant but enig-
matic. Fiercely partisan. The prickly, patrician scion to the Gorton’s of
Gloucester fish fortune. Pluperfect WASP.
Those are all quotes. Gorton’s good friend from their days in the U.S.
Senate, the effervescent Rudy Boschwitz of Minnesota, doesn’t recognize
that man. To him, Gorton is a “mensch,” kind, decent, admirable; one of
the highest honors Yiddish can bestow. Jamie Gorelick, a Clinton Demo-
crat who served with Gorton on the 9/ 11 Commission, found in him both
a gallant big brother and “a wise bipartisan consensus-builder.” Former
staffers like Kellie Carlson are intensely loyal, proud of having worked for
him. From the summer intern to the chief of staff, he was courteous and
thoughtful. Never “Senator,” always “Slade.”
The son of a feisty, college-educated mother, Gorton began opening
doors for female lawyers during his three terms as Washington’s attorney
general. Women who worked on his U.S. Senate staff have formed the
Gorton Legacy Group to advance the careers of women in law and politics.
It would be inaccurate, however, to call him a feminist. He’s gender and
color blind. What matters is whether you’re smart and willing to work
hard.
Still, if you play Slade Gorton word association, “racist” pops up. For
instance: “This half of the 20 th century leaves history with relatively few
prominent U.S. politicians whose careers, spanning decades, were based
on overt, vile racism. Future museums will show their awe-stricken, re-
pulsed visitors portraits of George Wallace in the schoolhouse door; Jesse
Helms, in the early days, as a ’50s Raleigh TV commentator railing
against the Negro menace; and Slade Gorton’s relentless, despicable at-
tacks on Native America.” So wrote Geov Parrish, a Seattle Web-journal1r.Slade Gorton.indd 5 8/23/11 8:42 AM