Sen. Mark Schoesler, former leader of the Senate Republican Caucus, paid tribute Wednesday to former Congressman Sid Morrison, the Yakima Valley farm boy who rose to become a champion for agriculture, power, defense production and transportation.
Morrison died Tuesday at age 93 after a career that lasted more than six decades, including eight years in the state House (1967-1975), nearly six years in the Washington Senate (1975-1980) and a dozen years in Congress (1981-1993). Schoesler, a longtime friend of Morrison’s, said he mastered the art of influencing colleagues, building consensus and reaching compromise, and used those skills to promote the interests of his district and region.
“Sid grew up on the family farm in Zillah and absorbed Eastern Washington’s outlook and traditions,” said Schoesler, R-Ritzville. “Outsiders are sometimes puzzled by the region’s innate conservatism and its dependence on government for irrigation, agricultural support, access to public lands, hydropower, military spending, scientific research, defense production and cleanup. But Sid understood there is no contradiction between advocating projects of importance to the region and upholding core principles like responsible spending and reasonable limits on government authority.
“Sid joined the state House of Representatives in 1967, when Republicans were ascendant in Olympia and were achieving enormous success in modernizing state government. Sid was very much in the mold of Dan Evans, Slade Gorton, Joel Pritchard and other leaders, and he quickly became a trusted ally.
“Sid had already established himself as a leader in the tree-fruit industry, as a member of the Apple Commission, the Peach Council, the Cherry Institute and advisory committees to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. So he was a natural advocate for agriculture from Day One, and he was one of its best friends in Congress whenever a new Farm Bill was on the table. He understood the importance of the county fairs that mean so much to our state’s agricultural communities, and he took particular pride in the Central Washington Fair in Yakima.
“But Sid also was an able ambassador for the many other interests of his region – from dam projects and barge transportation on the Snake and Columbia rivers to the massive irrigation projects of the Yakima Valley and Central Washington. He was Hanford’s staunchest defender, and when urban activists laid siege to the Tri-Cities, he spoke proudly in its defense. Ultimately the end of the Cold War brought an end to Hanford’s defense mission, and Sid proved to be the leader the Tri-Cities needed in its darkest time, helping make possible its pivot to a new cleanup mission.
“He wasn’t flashy, he rarely drew fire, and his successes came from working within the system rather than calling attention to himself. Yet his influence was felt on numerous important pieces of legislation, including creation of the Goat Rocks and William O. Douglas wilderness areas and the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.
“Sid left Congress in 1992 to run for governor, and he lost in a hard-fought primary. But the world of public policy wasn’t done with him. A Democratic governor, Mike Lowry, knew talent when he saw it, and he asked Sid to join his administration as Secretary of Transportation. Sid stayed on under Gov. Gary Locke, retiring in 2001.
“Sid remained active and involved in public life long past retirement, however, chairing the Mainstream Republicans of Washington and the Energy Northwest board of directors. As a trustee of Central Washington University, he cast the deciding vote to keep in place the tuition freeze our caucus fought so hard to implement in Olympia. Energy Northwest paid him a fitting tribute when it named its advanced nuclear research facility in Richland the Morrison Energy Center in his honor.
“Sid always liked to tell people about his first job at the Capitol. He was a teenager in the 1940s when he worked as a page. He asked the governor for his autograph, and Gov. Mon Wallgren sent back his signature with a note. It said ‘Never get involved in politics.’
“Thank goodness Sid didn’t take the advice.”