Slade Gorton

Thomas Slade Gorton III (January 8, 1928 – August 19, 2020) was an American lawyer and politician from Washington. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a member of the United States Senate from 1981 to 1987, and again from 1989 to 2001. He held both of the state's U.S. Senate seats in his career and was narrowly defeated for reelection twice, first in 1986 by Brock Adams and again in 2000 by Maria Cantwell following a recount, becoming the last Republican senator to date for each seat.

Early life and education

Gorton was born in Chicago, on January 8, 1928, and raised in the suburb of Evanston, Illinois, the son of Ruth (Israel) and Thomas Slade Gorton, Jr., descendant of one of the founders of the companies that would become Gorton's of Gloucester, and himself the founder that year of Slade Gorton & Co., another fish supplier.<ref name = SladeGortons>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name = APObit>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> His younger brother is Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He attended and graduated from Dartmouth College and subsequently from Columbia Law School. Gorton served in the United States Army from 1945 to 1946 and the United States Air Force from 1953 until 1956. He continued to serve in the Air Force Reserve Command until 1980 when he retired as a colonel.<ref name = APObit/>Template:Citation needed

Early career

Gorton practiced law and entered politics in 1958, being elected to the Washington House of Representatives, in which he served from 1959 until 1969, becoming one of its highest-ranking members.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name = APObit/> He then served as Attorney General of Washington<ref name = APObit/> from 1969 until he entered the United States Senate in 1981. During his three terms as attorney general, Gorton was recognized for taking the unusual step of appearing personally to argue the state's positions before the Supreme Court of the United States, and for prevailing in those efforts.Template:Citation needed

In 1970, Attorney General Gorton sued Major League Baseball for a violation of anti-trust laws after the loss of the Seattle Pilots, who were moved to Milwaukee after the league declined a bid from local ownership group. He hired trial lawyer William Lee Dwyer to oversee the case and eventually withdrew following the league's approval of a second expansion team—the Seattle Mariners, who began play in 1977.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Times-Mariners">Template:Cite news</ref>

Years later, he approached Nintendo President Minoru Arakawa and Chairman Howard Lincoln in his search to find a buyer for the Mariners. Arakawa's father-in-law, Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi, agreed to buy a majority stake in the team, preventing a potential move to Tampa.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Gorton later helped broker a deal between King County officials and Mariners ownership on what is now called T-Mobile Park.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

U.S. Senate campaigns

File:President Ronald Reagan shaking hands with Senator Slade Gorton.jpg

Gorton with President Ronald Reagan at the White House

1980

Template:Main In 1980, Gorton defeated longtime incumbent U.S. Senator and state legend Warren Magnuson by a 54% to 46% margin.

1986

Template:Main Gorton was narrowly defeated by former U.S. Representative and United States Secretary of Transportation Brock Adams.<ref name = APObit/>

1988

Template:Main Gorton ran for the state's other Senate seat, which was being vacated by political ally Daniel J. Evans, in 1988 and won, defeating liberal Congressman Mike Lowry by a narrow margin.<ref name = APObit/>

In the Senate, Gorton had a moderate-to-conservative voting record, and was derided for what some perceived as strong hostility towards Native tribes.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news Template:Dead link</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His reelection strategy centered on running up high vote totals in areas outside of left-leaning King County (home to Seattle).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref>

1994

Template:Main In 1994, Gorton repeated the process, defeating then-King County Councilman Ron Sims by 56% to 44%.<ref name = APObit/> He was an influential member of the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services as he was the only member of the committee during his tenure to have reached a senior command rank in the uniformed services (USAF).

Gorton campaigned in Oregon for Gordon H. Smith and his successful 1996 Senate run.Template:Citation needed

In 1999, Gorton was among ten Republican senators who voted against the charge of perjury during the Impeachment of Bill Clinton, although he voted for Clinton's conviction on the charge of obstruction of justice.Template:Citation needed

2000

Template:Main In 2000, Democrat Maria Cantwell turned his "it's time for a change" strategy against him and won by 2,229 votes out of nearly 2.5 million cast.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news Template:Dead link</ref><ref name = APObit/>

Furthermore, Washington's Native tribes strongly opposed Gorton in 2000 because he consistently tried to weaken Native sovereignty while in the Senate.<ref name="Federal Indian Law">Getches, David H., Charles F. Wilkinson, Robert A. Williams, Jr. Cases and Materials on Federal Indian Law (2005). St. Paul: Thompson West. 5th ed. p. 29.</ref>

Twice during his tenure in the Senate, Gorton sat at the Candy Desk.Template:Citation needed

Later career

In 2002, Gorton became a member of the 9/11 Commission, which issued its final report, the 9/11 Commission Report, in 2004.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name = APObit/>

In 2005, Gorton became the chairman of the center-right Constitutional Law PAC, a political action committee formed to help elect candidates to the Washington State Supreme Court and Court of Appeals.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Gorton was an advisory board member for the Partnership for a Secure America, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to recreating the bipartisan center in American national security and foreign policy. Gorton also served as a Senior Fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Gorton served on the board of trustees of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, which is a museum dedicated to the Constitution of the United States.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Gorton represented Seattle in a lawsuit against Clay Bennett to prevent the Seattle SuperSonics relocation basketball franchise, in accordance to a contract that would keep the team in Climate Pledge Arena until 2010. The city settled with Bennett, allowing him to move the team to Oklahoma City for $45 million with the possibility for another $30 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2010, the National Bureau of Asian Research founded the Slade Gorton International Policy Center. The Gorton Center is a policy research center, with three focus areas: policy research, fellowship and internship programs, and the Gorton History Program (archives).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2013 the Gorton Center was the secretariat for the ‘Commission on The Theft of American Intellectual Property’, in which Gorton was a commissioner.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Gorton was also a counselor at the National Bureau of Asian Research.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2012, Gorton was appointed to the board of directors of Clearwire, a wireless data services provider.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Gorton was a member of the board of the Discovery Institute, notable for its advocacy of the pseudoscience of intelligent design.

Gorton was also of counsel at K&L Gates LLP.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Gorton opposed the candidacy of Donald Trump for President of the United States in 2016, instead writing in Independent candidate Evan McMullin.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He praised the first impeachment of Trump, urging other Republicans to join him.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Personal life and death

He married the former Sally Jean Clark on June 28, 1958. They had three children, Sarah Nortz, Thomas Gorton, and Rebecca Dannaker, as well as seven grandchildren. Sally Gorton died on July 20, 2013, one day before her 81st birthday.<ref name="seattletimes">Template:Cite web</ref>

Gorton died after a brief illness with complications of Parkinson's disease on August 19, 2020 at the home of his daughter, Sarah Nortz in Clyde Hill, Washington, age 92.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Further reading

• Hughes, John C., Slade Gorton: A Half Century in Politics (2011) (authorized biography) Template:ISBN?

External links

• Congressional Bio
• Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP ("K&L Gates") Lawyer Bio
• The Next Ten Years of Post-9/11 Security Efforts, Q&A with Slade Gorton (September 2011)
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