264 sLAde goRton: A hALf centuRy in poLitics
Industry groups that opposed the Endangered Species Act helped Gor-
ton draft the legislation. They had contributed more than $50,000 to his
1994 re-election campaign. Ralph Nader’s consumer advocacy group
asked the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate. Gorton was cleared of
any wrongdoing. “No Senate rule prohibits a senator from seeking advice
on legislative issues from individuals or organizations outside the Sen-
ate,” the committee’s chief counsel wrote. “Such exchanges are common
and acceptable Senate practices.” Gorton said he was never reluctant to
accept help from experts, noting that environmental groups “do the same
thing.”^31
Greenpeace cranked out a thousand posters: “Wanted—Slade Gorton—
for threatening the survival of our nation’s wildlife and forests.” He wel-
comed their enmity. On the other hand, he still wanted to get re-elected.^32
George H.W. Bush did, too. But the recession had the country in a
funk. Caught between Clinton’s Baby Boomer vitality and Ross Perot’s
cornpone charisma, Bush came across as an amiable relic. “Did you see
Bush look at his watch last night during the debate?” Gorton asked an edi-
torial writer at a luncheon. The writer nodded. “He may not have fully
realized it,” Gorton said, tapping his watch crystal, “but he was saying,
‘It’s all over.’”
Clinton was promising to convene a “timber summit” to find middle
ground for man, birds and beasts. “He’s going to win,” Gorton said, “and
that may be the best possible outcome for timber communities. A centrist
Democrat might be able to achieve a compromise.”
A few months after taking office, Clinton convened the forest summit
in Portland. Vice President Gore and several members of the cabinet lis-
tened intently as a parade of witnesses told of the toll. Larry Mason said “a
whole way of life” had been destroyed. Hoquiam Mayor Phyllis Shrauger
said unemployment on the Harbor was 19.5 percent and climbing.
Late in 1994, with mixed emotions because he believed it was barely
legal, Judge Dwyer signed off on Clinton’s Northwest Forest Plan and
lifted the injunction. “Option 9” was actually the least draconian of the
plans presented to the administration, but it still reduced logging in fed-
eral forests by three-quarters. Gorton was incensed. Timber communi-
ties had trusted the president, he said. They gave him their votes. “They
proposed compromises that would impose pain on themselves, and they
were patient when every month of further deliberation meant another
month of unpaid bills. Amid fear and anxiety, they fought to hold their
families together as they waited and waited for a decision.... Mr. Presi-
dent, where is the balance in a plan that reduces by nearly 80 percent