John Hughes, chief historian for the state’s Legacy Washington project, literally wrote the book on Slade Gorton.

“I wrote his biography and covered him from 1966 to his dying day,” said Hughes, longtime editor and publisher at the Daily World. “He was one of the most extraordinarily bright and complicated people I have ever known. Witheringly bright.”

The spotted owl crisis in the 1990s, when federally mandated set-backs to protect the owl dug deep into Grays Harbor County’s timber industry, brought Gorton into the spotlight as someone who was willing to fight for the region’s workers.

“When the spotted owl crisis erupted, Slade Gorton became an absolute champion of Grays Harbor County,” said Hughes, “believing as we did at The Daily World that the set-asides to preserve the spotted owl were way more dramatic than they had to be.”

Hughes and the staff at the newspaper filled it with stories examining alternatives to the set-asides, “but it was Slade who became an absolute champion of Grays Harbor working folks during that period,” said Hughes.

“He said something that really stuck with me,” added Hughes: “‘I can’t promise a victory, but I can promise a fight.’ And he was as good as his word.”

Hughes covered President Bill Clinton’s timber summit in Portland, in 1992. He said he and Gorton, were “stunned in the wake of the testimony that was heard that day about some alternatives to both protect the animals and more jobs, that those alternatives were just absolutely brushed aside.”

Gorton said in a speech to the Senate soon after the summit, Clinton “offered workers and families hope for their jobs and hope for the future. Now those hopes are shattered.”

Hughes’ biography of Slade Gorton can be read for free online at https://www.sos.wa.gov/legacy/stories/slade-gorton/.

Jack Durney, former mayor of both Aberdeen and Hoquiam, “grew up with the Republican party when it was actually considered to be progressive.” He also grew up supporting candidates such as Gorton, and other Republicans of the time like Dan Evans and secretaries of state Sam Reed and Lud Kramer. Gorton served as the state’s attorney general from 1969 until 1981.

“I did a lot of campaigning for Gorton (and the others) and those guys were heroes for me,” said Durney. “I was very proud of them and proud to kind of be a part of that effort.”

Durney referenced a Seattle Times article published Wednesday, in which U.S. Senator Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, said “I only wish there were a few more Slade Gortons in the Senate right now.”

“That’s certainly for sure now,” said Durney. “He understood the issues. Just a real good guy locally.”