Washington Business Spring 2018 | Washington Business | Page 45

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to agree on the facts, many disputes disappear. He fought making
a decision on an emotional basis. When you went in his office, he
had yellow legal pads everywhere. He would write everything
down and that helped him think about issues.
Gov. Spellman was very knowledgeable about local, state and
the federal government. He knew what government could and
could not do and what government did and did not do well.
That meant he usually had more background on the details of
government programs than anyone else in the room, including
his staff. I should add Gov. Spellman loved his time in county
government and really enjoyed the county officials and staff he
worked with around the state.
Described as a statesman of a different generation, he
worked in a bipartisan manner and made an environmental
decision that is heralded still today. What do you think
shaped that kind of collaboration and foresight?
In his almost 13 years at King County, he worked collaboratively
with Democrats and Republicans on the county commission
and county council. He was not a partisan person. The last two
years of his governorship, the Democrats held the majority in
the House and he had a good relationship with Speaker Wayne
Ehlers. He never thought about policy in partisan terms. That
may have been a problem the first two years of his governorship
when the House was controlled by Republicans. It was very
natural for him to work with people with a different viewpoint
or party affiliation. Some of that may have come from the fact
earlier in life he had been a labor lawyer and worked closely with
unions. He originally got into politics — he finished fifth in a ru n
for mayor of Seattle in 1964 — because of his support of “open
housing laws.” There was serious housing discrimination in 1965
in Seattle. There were many neighborhoods in the city where
some buyers could not purchase houses. He wanted to end that
practice.
His environmental work started when he was King County
Executive. At that time, King County was starting to have the
growth that now is accelerating. He wanted to preserve open
space. He worked with Jim Ellis and others to develop a program
that bought development rights from farmers and preserved
farmland. County Executive Spellman and the County Council
put the program on the ballot three times before it was approved.
The program was a success and led to other efforts to preserve
open space in the Puget Sound area. One of the things he has been
recognized for as governor was vetoing the effort to put an oil
pipeline under Puget Sound. This was an administrative decision
and the governor had the final say. There were strict procedural
rules regarding his review of the record — he could not talk to
gov. john spellman at a glance
John Dennis Spellman was born in Seattle in 1926 to a family with deep roots in the Pacific Northwest. He was the middle child of three. A
self-described “goofball,” his friends called him “Spelly.” He graduated from Seattle Prep, then went on to attend Seattle University where he
graduated valedictorian. He later earned a law degree from Georgetown University School of Law in Washington, D.C. He served in the U.S.
Navy during World War II before returning to his home town to practice law. Spellman met his wife, Lois Murphy, at Seattle University. They
married in 1954.
From 1967 to 1969 he served as a King County Commissioner. In 1969, he was elected the first King County Executive and served in that role
until becoming governor in 1981. During his time as county executive, Spellman served as vice president of the National Association of Counties,
giving him a broad understanding of local government issues.
Spellman, a Republican, first ran for governor in 1976, losing to Dixy Lee Ray. In 1980, Spellman ran again and defeated his Democratic opponent,
State Sen. Jim McDermott. Sworn in in 1981, he took office during one of the worst economic downturns since the Great Depression. Despite
running on a no-new-taxes platform, Spellman’s deep faith compelled him to muster bipartisan support in the Legislature to increase the state
sales tax by one cent to keep critical government programs for the vulnerable afloat as the economy sputtered.
Spellman’s work as governor also left a legacy of environmental stewardship. He fought against construction of an oil pipeline under Puget
Sound and over the Cascade Mountains, secured Superfund dollars to clean up Tacoma’s Commencement Bay and signed the first Interstate
Nuclear Waste Compact.
He served only one term as governor, losing his reelection bid to Democrat Booth Gardner in 1984. Spellman is Washington state’s last
Republican governor.
His public life at an end, Spellman returned to Seattle, where he went into private practice at the law firm known today as Carney Badley
Spellman, P.S. His life is chronicled in the book, “John Spellman: Politics Never Broke His Heart,” written by John C. Hughes.
He passed away Jan. 16, at age 91. Lois Murphy Spellman, his bride of 63 years, passed away just nine days later. She was 90. They had six
children and six grandchildren.
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