Capitol Commission Infighting Leads to Firing
Governor McGraw removes John McBeavy from the state capitol commission following a volatile dispute over the selection of architectural plans.
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Olympia, Feb. 6—The state capitol commission met late this afternoon and remained in session but a few minutes. Governor McGraw announced that he had removed John McBeavy as a member of the state capitol commission, and assigned misconduct in office as the cause. Judge Thomas Burke, of Seattle, has been appointed to fill the vacancy. Mr. McBeavy alleged that the Governor acted with discourtesy, stating that McGraw became enraged during debates over architectural plans. McBeavy claims the Governor insisted that appointed commissioners must follow his lead, or else resign, exclaiming, 'I don't care a d—n whether a capitol is ever built in Olympia or not.' Despite an attempt by mutual friends to mediate a settlement and apology earlier in the day, McBeavy received notice of his formal removal by registered letter hours later.
“I don't care a d—n whether a capitol is ever built in Olympia or not.”
Public infrastructure projects have been lightning rods for political friction in Washington for over a century. The battle over the state capitol building echoes contemporary debates over who holds the power to shape our major civic monuments and the political leverage used to control them.
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