Dear HCN,
As a former 18-year
resident of Washington state (1982-2000), journalist and
participant in politics there, I found Steve Stuebner’s article on
Slade Gorton a disappointing concoction of free advertising for
tribal and environmental biases.
The article had
its moments in viewing a tight race for the Senate, featuring a
strong Democratic candidate who is intelligent and savvy. She may
win. The coalition of anti-Gorton interests will make the contest
interesting, and there was a shade of balance in the discussion of
the senator’s initiatives on tribal issues. Gorton has asked for
their enmity, and now he has a basket-full on his doorstep. (The
same positions have also gained support for Gorton.) Such is
politics.
Unfortunately, the writer displays an
error-prone understanding of Washington state (it is Ron Sims, not
Simms, and he was a county councilman in 1994, not a city
councilman; the Elwha dams were purchased from Daishowa paper
company, not Fort James), and an unnerving lack of factual
information about Gorton’s committee work. (Gorton is sixth in
Republican seniority on the Appropriations Committee, not the
senior Republican. There is no Appropriations subcommittee on
Indian Affairs. Gorton is a member of the Committee on Indian
Affairs, but not chair. He is, as stated, chair of the Interior
Subcommittee.) How can you believe the assessment of Gorton’s
impact if the writer can’t put him in the correct
seats?
Stuebner has delivered, to a sympathetic
audience, a forum for Indian and Sierra Club political trash-talk,
not an assessment of an important Western Senate race. Would you
expect Sierra and the preponderance of tribes to be on Gorton’s
team? Once their positions have been stated, the point is made. (To
his credit, Stuebner found environmentalists and Indians who have
not joined the bash-Slade movement.) However, in response to
Gorton’s refusal to be questioned, the writer chose to penalize the
senator by repeating the opponents’ complaints. This article needed
an editor.
Robert E.
Hartley
Westminster, Colorado
The writer is a former publisher of the Journal-American in Bellevue, Washington.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Gorton story a disappointment.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
