washington business
anyone involved in the proposal. He read the record himself at home and made the final call. He had a room in the Mansion where he kept the documents he was reviewing and his notes.
What is your strongest memory of Gov. Spellman?
I can remember this like it happened today. I told you Gov. Spellman was very low key. Sometimes he was so low key and soft spoken you were not sure exactly what he was trying to tell you. He was elected governor in the fall of 1980 and then went back to work as King County executive and to prepare for the transition for the governorship. At that time, he was starting to get a full understanding that Gov. [ Dixy Lee ] Ray had spent all the reserves. There were no reserves and there was probably going to be a big financial problem to face. I recall one day in late November 1980 heading to my office in the King County Executive suite and seeing a guy in the waiting room and wondering who he was. I was told,“ Oh, that guy runs the Washington Public Power Supply System.” Little did I know, he told Governorelect Spellman the Supply System was in a serious financial situation and soon might not be able to pay their bondholders. The Supply System’ s financial situation deteriorated over the time Spellman was governor. At the same time state revenue was going down fast, and the state’ s bond rating was negatively impacted. At one time, the state came close to paying employees with warrants. Meaning instead of state employees getting their
issues were decimating the port’ s mainstay charter fishing industry. The Port of Ilwaco was close to not being able to pay their bond holders. Former Senate Majority Leader Sid Snyder, then Secretary of the Senate, lived in Long Beach, near Ilwaco. Fast forward, Gov. Spellman and I were attending a meeting in Spokane. Gov. Spellman turns to me and says, and it was very direct,“ I do not know what you have to do, but the Port of Ilwaco cannot go bankrupt. If the New York markets find out that we now have local governments going bankrupt, we are going to have a terrible problem. Whatever you have to do, as long as it is legal, the Port of Ilwaco cannot go bankrupt.” That was not the kind of thing he usually said to me, so I knew the situation was serious. Sid Snyder and I worked out a plan where the city of Ilwaco basically bought the port with funds from the state. The Port of Ilwaco did not go bankrupt. A few years ago, the port made their final payment on the debt. Today, the Port of Ilwaco is thriving. Go visit.
What things did people not know about Gov. Spellman?
In the office, he was formal and serious. Outside the office he was relaxed and very funny. He was very loyal to his friends. He did not forget about people particularly if they fell on hard times. That was a very endearing quality.
What could today’ s political leaders learn from Gov. Spellman’ s time in public office?
monthly paycheck, they would get an“ IOU.” We were in bad shape. Wall Street was not happy |
Photos courtesy of the Washington State Archives |
When people have written about him, they talk about
John Spellman as being from
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with Washington state. These events were seriously impacting the credit worthiness, not only of the state, but also of every city, county and special district in Washington state.
Now, let’ s talk about what was happening at the Port of Ilwaco in Pacific County. The port had issued debt to pay for infrastructure improvements. The revenue to repay the bonds was the lease payments boat owners would pay to tie up at the port. With the economy so bad, few boat owners were tying up and environmental
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a different era. He valued listening to people and trying to help.
He was careful to not put himself front and center. He looked at the bigger picture. He wanted to see the data, know the facts.
He was a long-term player and made decisions to provide longterm solutions. Gov. Spellman stayed away from actions that would provide a short-term benefit but have negative long-term consequences. He had these basic guiding principles. They sound pretty good to me.
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46 association of washington business