In at least one measurable way, John Spellman outlived his legacy. The former Washington governor, the most recent Republican elected to the office, died Monday at the age of 91.
As with any prominent official, it is instructive to look upon Spellman’s career and ponder how he helped us arrive at where we are now. For Spellman, perhaps the largest monument to his public service was the Kingdome, the concrete indoor stadium he championed while serving as King County executive during the 1970s.
The Kingdome opened in 1976, and the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Mariners soon moved in. Attracting the National Football League and Major League Baseball to the region helped mark Seattle as a big-league city and helped usher in decades of growth that have defined it as a world-class city.
The Kingdome was built for a paltry $67 million ($288 million in 2017 dollars — a stark contrast to the billion-dollar stadiums that are common today), and Seattle got what it paid for. The stadium was demolished in 2000 and replaced with more modern venues for the Seahawks and Mariners, but the teams remain as testaments to Spellman’s impact upon the state.
In 1980, Spellman was elected governor as part of a national Republican wave that swept Ronald Reagan into the presidency, and his lone term in office brings to mind a current Clark County issue. In 1982, Spellman went against the Reagan administration and business interests in rejecting a proposed pipeline in Puget Sound. The Northern Tier Pipeline would transfer 1 million barrels of oil a day through an area with a history of earthquakes that could liquefy the soil, and Spellman said the idea was a “very real threat to Puget Sound, which in my mind is a national treasure.”
As Spellman biographer John C. Hughes writes: “Only 110 permanent jobs would be created by the project, while tens of thousands of people depended on the Sound for their livelihood. Spellman hoped to create many more jobs by promoting Washington ports as the hub of American trade with the Pacific Rim.” Asked how he would view a federal attempt to override his decision, Spellman said, “I would view it as illegal and probably immoral.” He also rejected a legislative bill to allow offshore drilling at Cherry Point in Whatcom County.
Spellman’s decision regarding the pipeline resonates with Clark County residents who have spent the past four years debating a proposed oil terminal at the Port of Vancouver. The proposal appears to be nearly kaput, but we hope that Gov. Jay Inslee can find inspiration in Spellman’s opposition to a pipeline plan nearly four decades ago. Inslee lauded Spellman as “a great example of an office holder unafraid to do the right thing, leaving a legacy of bipartisanship and civility in politics, despite the electoral consequences.”
We also hope the current Republican faction that decries any regulation or environmental concern as a “job-killer” will recognize that Washington’s economy has managed to thrive without the pipeline.
On Tuesday, Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman called Spellman “a true statesman and a deeply spiritual man who promoted racial equality and environmentalism.” She also noted his role in modernizing the Northwest, as he “persevered at every turn to build the Kingdome.”
The Kingdome is gone now; so is the man who helped bring it to fruition. But Spellman’s impact upon Washington will linger for generations.
