Accusations of Corruption in State Capitol Planning
The Walla Walla Statesman warns that a proposed constitutional amendment is a front for a 'boodler' syndicate in Olympia.
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.
Walla Walla Statesman: The constitutional amendment to be voted for next November is the entering end of the wedge that will split the state treasury wide open if successful. There was money enough unnecessarily squandered by the last legislature to build and furnish a capitol good enough for this state for the next fifty years, and the money was virtually given to the republican heelers as a reward for their political services. But if it had been devoted to the building of a capitol, you see there would have been no show for a capitol steal. The Statesman has not the slightest doubt but that there is a syndicate of boodlers in Olympia who have their plans cut and dried in case of success. A plastic commission will be appointed to locate the site, which will have to be purchased at an enormous figure, the lands owned by the state will be bartered or frittered away by well known republican methods, fortunes will be made, and slowly by degrees a building will arise which will be an expense to the taxpayers for generations.
“There is a syndicate of boodlers in Olympia who have their plans cut and dried in case of success.”
Accusations of 'boodlers' and political kickbacks in government construction projects remain a staple of civic critique. This piece captures the deep distrust in state-level infrastructure planning during the early years of Washington statehood.
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