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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