I think the above has enough of the reasons to view Gorton as nothing as an enemy to the fish and to sportfishing, but I'll wrap it up by saying this:

1. Slade did nothing but thumb his nose (on behalf of the State of Washington) at judicial court ruling after judicial court ruling telling the State they better get it together on equitable treatment of the treaty tribes, or there'll be trouble...and after several years of denying the treaty tribes anything, and continuing to defy the orders of several judges, THAT"S when the Boldt Decision came down...the Boldt Decision was as much a punishment for an intrasigent and contemptuous Slade Gorton as it was anything else.

2. Slade was NOT fighting for the fish, or for sportfishermen...ever heard of Gorton's Fish Sticks...Gorton's SeaFood? It's not a coincidence that they have the same name...Slade wanted more and cheaper fish for his fish brokerage family business, and those fish come from commercial fishermen, his friends, colleagues, and business partners.

3. Slade singlehandedly f*&ked up salmon and steelhead management in this state more than anyone or anything else, and probably everything else combined...if he would have had his way there would be no treaty fishing, no sportfishing, and all the fish would be made in hatcheries on the Columbia, built at the base of every dam, and sent directly to market.

Most of Slade's bitterness towards tribes nationwide still stems from his greedy and dastardly actions in the early '70's that doomed us all to a life of "co-management"...

Fish on...

Todd