geneRAL goRton 89
Although Evans, Spellman and many others of all political persua-
sions shared his concerns over “Las Vegas-type gambling” and the spec-
ter of organized crime creeping into the state through the back door of a
Trout Unlimited casino night, Gorton developed a lingering reputation as
a bluenose nanny. How and where to draw the line was the problem, said
Tom Copeland, the speaker pro tem in the House. Always wary of Gor-
ton, the Republican from Walla Walla nevertheless agreed that “there
isn’t such a thing as being a little bit pregnant.... [W]hat is the definition
of gambling? You put some money on the table and you take your chances.
Some win, some lose, but the majority loses because the odds are against
them. That’s gambling.... In other words, you’re kidding yourself when
you think you’re sterilizing gambling by saying it’s done for non-profit.”
On the other hand, Copeland noted astutely, “hidden behind this gam-
bling issue was the full knowledge on the part of the legislators that gam-
bling in the State of Washington, if taxed properly, could be a revenue-
producing son of a gun!”^22 *
“I have always thought of organized gambling as a vice,” Gorton says.
“People can be addicted to it. It breaks up families.” He pleads guilty,
however, to a double-standard tolerance of his own: He loves horse racing.
None of his proposals targeted pari-mutuel gambling at racetracks. “The
horses are lovely creatures, and the tracks are lovely places. It’s a rural
thing. And as long as you could only bet at the track there was a certain
limitation as to how much money people were going to lose.”
theughho t Ro BReds RAn at Longacres in Renton. The real action was
downtown. The reverberations from a 1967 Seattle Times expose of how
tolerance had corrupted the Police Department led to a federal grand jury,
the tumultuous rise of a new mayor, 34–year-old Wes Uhlman, and the
defeat of Chuck Carroll by Chris Bayley in 1970. Gorton’s hard-charging
former deputy promptly launched a wide-ranging investigation of the
payoff network. Bayley impaneled a grand jury that indicted two dozen
cops and former political leaders. The case generated more headlines
than convictions. Charges against Carroll and some of the others were
subsequently dismissed but Carroll’s political career was over. Seattle was
- Lawmakers were scrambling for revenue when legislation authorizing Washington’s
Lottery was finally signed into law in 1982 by, ironically, Governor John Spellman. Two
years earlier, Bagnariol and Walgren had been caught up in an influence-peddling sting
operation dubbed “Gamscam” that many denounced as the handiwork of Governor Dixy
Lee Ray. She loathed both of her Democratic rivals.