The Senatorial Backroom Deal
After his defeat in the race for the U.S. Senate, Judge George Turner reveals the 'combination' of political maneuvering and broken promises that cost him the seat.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Hon. George Turner returned from Olympia on the Northern Pacific train yesterday morning. I would certainly have been elected had I received the undivided support of the Spokane delegation. On the Saturday night preceding the election I had thirty-four votes pledged. While the primary cause of my defeat was the refusal of a part of the Spokane delegation to support me, I would have been elected without their votes had it not been for the combination between Allen and Squire. At 12:30 on Monday night, Senator Wood, an emissary of Squire, came to me and assured me positively that Squire had not and would not form a combination with Allen; and yet, within an hour afterwards, the combination had been made. Allen gave Squire Walla Walla and Whitman counties in return for King county. I used to be a telegraph operator in my younger days, and I happened to be in the telegraph office writing a message the night a dispatch was sent to James L. Glover in Spokane. I heard the instrument click and listened. The dispatch asked that petitions be sent asking the delegation to support Allen. The operator was astonished wonderfully and could not make out at first how I had discovered the contents of the dispatch. The action of the traitors in the home delegation will be held against them by the people of Spokane county.
“The action of the traitors in the home delegation will be held against them by the people of Spokane county.”
This account captures the raw, backroom nature of early Washington politics, where power-brokering between territorial elites in Olympia often bypassed the will of the voters. Even today, the 'combination' politics of party delegates remain a sensitive point in Washington's civic governance.
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