Joel Pritchard: A gentleman puts down Senate gavel

His political art appears artless. He is a partisan truly loved by colleagues in the opposition party, as well as in his own. Fellow politicians appreciate his unusual habit of giving credit rather than taking it. In four elected offices over a cumulative 32 years, he remains one of the few candidates who promised a voluntary limit on the terms he would serve, and then followed through.

Lt. Governor Joel Pritchard is retiring from elective politics in January. “He recently conquered another bout with cancer, and physically, he could beat two thirds of the legislators in a foot race,” says long-time aide Maury Hauser. “And,” he quips, “Joel has always had excellent mental health, especially for a politician.” But, at 71, Pritchard decided not to seek re-election.

Friends think that if he had run, he would have enjoyed a third-term victory election night. So nearly 600 of them planned a “Victory Party” for him anyway. Leading officials, including former speaker Tom Foley, were set to attend on Wednesday, as were ordinary citizens whose lives Pritchard has touched in politics, tutoring or civic affairs. But then came the big snow. The party was postponed.

Thirty-four years ago he already was a standout new state representative from Queen Anne-Magnolia area when I first met and interviewed him. Along with some other young legislators, including Dan Evans and Slade Gorton, he was the subject of an article for a magazine back in Washington, D.C. on “The New Breed in Washington State.” Pritchard told me, and the article foretold, the strategy that this New Breed–young, label free, steeped in community work and practical ideas–was following to gain a GOP majority in the Legislature and then the governorship. It all came true. Dan Evans became governor, elected in 1964, and then Slade Gorton became attorney general. But what about Joel?

The logical step up was Congress. Joel and his brother Frank, “The Pritchard Boys,” were seasoned businessmen at the Griffin Envelope Company, but in politics they were only successful amateurs. They mainly had aided older men such as Gov. Art Langley and a string of non-partisan Seattle mayors. One candidate they had helped was Congressman Thomas Pelly, who had served the north Seattle and suburban 1st District ably, but long. Joel Pritchard hankered to succeed him. In a daring bid, he confronted Pelly in the primary election of 1970, failing, but coming too close for Pelly’s comfort. The incumbent moved his retirement plans forward, and Pritchard was the easy winner of the nomination in 1972.

Trouble was, in the final election, the upbeat Pritchard faced attacks from a vigorous Democratic opponent and the state Democratic establishment. He never answered the attacks and on election night the opponent, John Hempelman, finished ahead by 1,900 votes in the regular count. But, in a story whose example echoes down to the belated 1996 victories of Reps. Jack Metcalf and Linda Smith, Pritchard’s manager, Bob Davidson, had hopes that a letter sent earlier to each voter who had applied for an absentee ballot would rescue Pritchard. He needed a whopping 58 percent of the absentees to overcome Hempelman’s lead. He got 60 percent and finally emerged victorious with 2,622 votes to spare.

Back in Washington, D.C., the dean of the state congressional delegation, Democratic Sen. Warren Magnuson, invited Pritchard into his office. “Joey,” He said, “know that you’re part of the team and we don’t intend to take you on again.” And he–and the rest of the nearly solid Democratic delegation–did not.

Pritchard in congress got a lot done, quietly. Everybody’s favorite tennis companion, his self-effacing statecraft was shrewd as well as virtuous. it enabled him to accomplish more than might be expected from a relatively junior member of a minority party. He still doesn’t brag, but former staffers are pleased to note that he wrote the first drafts of such significant legislation as the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and the Klondike Gold Rush International Park. As a one-man crusade, he overcame the Democratic leadership’s plan to convert the new Library of Congress building, now known as The Madison Library, into congressional offices. In foreign policy, he was an ardent promoter of free trade and a greater foreign policy emphasis on Asia.

Pritchard had promised to leave Congress after 12 years, and in 1984 he did so. But back in Seattle he began to recall his happy days in the state Senate. In 1988 he was easily elected lieutenant governor, in another of his low-cost, friendly campaigns. In Olympia, too, he was a force for civility and quiet persuasion. He worked effectively against legalized gambling and for campaign finance reform. With Frank Schronz, chairman of Boeing, he became a major player in in the Partnership for Learning project that is trying to assure that the state’s law on education reform is implemented thoroughly. It would not be a surprise to see Pritchard continuing in that crucial effort after January.

But on the last day of the recent session, presiding peacefully over the Senate for the final time, he received a shock. A new and supposedly routine resolution was working the senators into an uproar. The Republican and Democratic staff attorneys upon whose advice Pritchard–in typical bipartisan fashion–relied jointly for technical advice, suddenly were nowhere to be found. Conservative Sen. Jim West of Spokane was shouting that liberal Sen. Dwight Pelz of Seattle was a “commie pinko!” A horrified Pritchard demanded order. Then Pelz called West “a right-wing nut,” and Pritchard was beside himself, watching his record of fostering good will all into ruin. Eventually, out of the corner of his eye he was Secretary of State Ralph Munro and Gov. Mike Lowry in the chamber and heading toward him. The place was in a strange agitation. Lowry took the gavel away, quite illegally, from the astonished lieutenant governor and called for a vote. He was answered by a sea of laughing “ayes.” It turned out that the mock donnybrook was staged on behalf of a heartfelt resolution expressing respect and affection for Pritchard. Wednesday night Joel was down at the Port’s International Conference Center, along with brother Frank, “just in case” any of the people expected at the party his friends were giving hadn’t received word of the postponement. Some hand’t, and after refreshments and schmoozing with Joel, a number said they thought they would come right back again on Dec. 6.

(For tickets to join them at the Joel Pritchard “Victory Party,” call “Patsy Excellency, 621-1300)