Chris Bayley: recalling the 1970 pivot point in local politics

Chris Bayley, the former King County Prosecutor, today is giving a talk welcoming Dan Satterberg as he is sworn in to the job Bayley once held. Bayley in 1970 defeated Charles O. Carroll, who had held the job for 22 years, and after Bayley left the position he held from 1970-78, Norm Maleng held the post until his death this past year. That's 60 years of Republican control of the office. While it has been a smooth succession from Bayley to Maleng (Bayley's assistant) to Satterberg (Maleng's assistant), the 1970 election was a dramatic break in continuity, and a key event in local political history. Here's how Bayley reconstructed that pivotal year: The late l960s and early 1970s were turbulent times in this community. We had many forms of protest against the Vietnam War, but we also had home grown terrorist organizations that blew up buildings like the University District post office. We were briefly dubbed the bombing capital of the country. But unique to Seattle was a simmering scandal known either as the police payoff system or the tolerance policy. Both drinking and gambling were strictly controlled by blue laws and other devices, but clever entrepreneurs in each area found ways to do business illegally or after hours. The police were paid to look the other way and money passed through the system to the top. During the 1970 campaign for Prosecutor I challenged the 22-year incumbent Charles O. Carroll in the Republican primary. Evidence of the payoff system came out during the summer, mainly from the federal trial of an assistant Seattle police chief named Buzz Cook. This backdrop and gathering resistance to Chuck Carroll and his refusal to use his powers to dig into the scandals produced a 2:1 victory for his young challenger in the primary. Six weeks later Chuck Carroll as an issue had disappeared and I defeated Ed Heavey by less than half of 1 percent, the result being known only after a lengthy recount. In January 1971 except for some excellent trial attorneys we inherited an almost empty office. All office manuals had been removed, hardly a file or book remained and the Civil Division was left with only three attorneys. There were two big civil cases imminent in the state supreme court, no briefs had been written and the filing cabinets were empty. After 22 years under the old administration the office had become highly centralized and politicized. It also suffered from low morale and anxiety over possible corruption charges against several high level law enforcement officials growing out of the same conduct that had come to light in the Buzz Cook case. By necessity more than design, then, we began with a clean slate. We were forced to examine our role as an agent of justice, as civil lawyer to the county and as a government office accountable to the voters. It was this introspection that generated a transformation from a static "old style" prosecutor's office to one that over the years became highly professional, responsible, and innovative. The top staff in the early 1970s consisted of four lawyers and a chief administrator, all of whom graduated from college in the same year, 1960. Dave Boerner, Norm Maleng, Gene Anderson, Richard Allison and yours truly made up this merry band. We were young, inexperienced, and bent on a mission of reform.