The Ganders Family History  Stanton Ganders 1912-1990 Farmer / B-24 Bomber Crew Chief / State Senator / Congressional Candidate / USDA Administrator /  Agricultural Lobbyist NEW Update of Stanton's WWII B-24 service Updated June 19, 2022 The Stanton Ganders State Senate Campaigns - 1948-58 State Sen. Stanton Ganders, D-Bickleton, with Washington Secretary of State Earl Coe Coe was the previous senator from Ganders' 16th Legislative District: Skamania, Klickitat, Benton and Franklin counties. Note the photo on the wall of President Harry S. Truman Circa 1949 Goldendale Sentinel Editorial State Sen. Stanton Ganders, 1949  Vibert Jeffers Photography, Olympia  Sen. Ganders and the Blue Bridge Numerous press accounts, including the banner story above in the Tri-City Herald, talked about a difficult effort led by Senate Roads and Bridges Chair Stanton Ganders to successfully pass a $65 million Highway Bond bill through the state Senate on March 8, 1951 (Senate Bill No. 156.)  It was a critical vote for a plan by Ganders and House Roads and Bridges Chair Julia Butler Hansen that may be regarded as the first comprehensive bonded transportation budget in the state of Washington. Washington Territory allowed no public debt at all in its "Organic Act of 1853."  At statehood, the constitution capped its debt at $400,000 unless “to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or to defend the state in war.” An exception was a tobacco excise tax in 1949, a measure that funded veterans bonuses. In 1951, Washington continued a "pay as you go" policy and had not done any extensive bonding for transportation or other capital construction projects. The 1951 bond proposal titled "First Priority Highway Projects" was controversial and attracted opposition from many Republicans and some Democrats.  It grew out of a two-year study headed by Hansen and 11 others, including Ganders. The $65 million measure resulted. The package included $6.5 million for the Pasco-Kennewick "Blue Bridge," Ganders' top legislative priority. It also included funding for projects he strongly supported such as reconstruction of Highway 99 through Western Washington (Primary State Highway No. 1), which eventually became Interstate 5; expanding Snoqualmie Pass to four lanes, and "farm to market roads" for a half million acres in new farms being developed as irrigation was coming online in the Columbia Basin Project from Grand Coulee Dam.  A friendly parliamentary maneuver by the Democratically-controlled House to tie the issue to removing tolls on the Agate Pass Bridge set up the Senate floor vote in the Republican-controlled Senate and the measure passed 27-17. (RCW 47.10.010 through RCW 47.10.140.) Letter from Sen. Ganders to Gov.Langlie; February 1951, appointing Senate members of the study committee. (From the governor's papers, State Archives It was perhaps Ganders' most significant political victory of his career. It was a path to adoption that defied the usual civics lesson on how a bill becomes law:  It began with Ganders' defection from fellow Democrats to give Republicans leadership control of the state Senate. That was a difficult decision for Ganders who always considered himself a "life-long Democrat" and worked very closely with House Democrats. Republican leadership named Ganders chairman of the Senate Roads and Bridges Committeee (today called the Senate Transportation Committee) for his defection but Democratic leaders banished him from attending Senate Democratic Caucus meetings.  He appeared to continue to keep some relationship and affiliation with Senate Democrats.  Eight Democrats defected, Ganders was only one of three allowed to remain a Senate Democrat, according to one press report. Despite his chairmanship under GOP control, Republicans and other defecting Democrats did not necessarily rally to Democrat Ganders' cause.  Some of the other defecting Democrats were opposed to the roads proposal. As chairman, Ganders cast the deciding vote to get the bill out of his own committee with the support of "regular" Democrats who had not defected.  The Senate Repuublican Floor Leader Virgil Lee of Chehalis led the fight against the bond issue in the Senate. He called the measure "pork barrelling" and charged there had been a lot of trades to get the vote. Lee and other opponents seemed to have the measure killed in the Senate, bottled up in the Senate Rules Committee, which must assign bills to the floor for a vote. The House decision to tie the measure to the Agate bridge issue forced the late-session vote on the Senate floor and its 27-17 adoption.  Even after this critical Senate vote, the measure still faced a potential threat from another Republican, Governor Arthur B. Langlie.  He seriously considered vetoing the measure. Some members of the press speculated Langlie decided to sign the bill  March 15 with some reluctance, knowing it faced a constitutionality challenge in the Washington State Supreme Court. "The governor's signature came as a surprise to backers of the measure. Earlier this week Langlie had indicated he would veto the bill," reported the Tri-City Herald on March 16, 1951. Langlie may have been surprised himself three months later when the Washington State Supreme Court ruled on June 25, 1951 that the proposal was constitutional because it relied on gasoline taxes to support highways and therefore was not subject to state general obligation limitations. In the case, Bugge v. Martin, Highway Director Bill Bugge successfully sued State Treasurer Tom Martin, the state auditor, and Langlie to release the highway and bridge construction funds.     -- Special thanks to Steve Excell, State Archivist, and Guadalupe Lopez of the Washington Secretary of State's office for their assistance in providing state documents that assisted greatly in preparing information for this web page. Blue Bridge Dedication, Tri-City Herald Photo. Senate Roads and Bridges Chair Stanton Ganders, left, is standing next to a leading highway bonds proponent, House Roads and Bridges Chair Julia Butler Hansen.  Also pictured are Rep. O. H.Olson of Pasco and former Rep.Al Henry, who later became a state senator. This is probably a a photo taken at the formal dedication on July 30, 1954. Usually referred to as the Blue Bridge, it was officially dedicated as the Pioneer Memorial Bridge. In 2002, it was added to the National Registry of Historic Places. Stanton Ganders was notorious for heated public political arguments with his father, Sam Ganders, Klickitat County Republican Chairman. The card above is from Sam's 1910 GOP campaign for county commissioner. His mother, Olive (Nye) Ganders, however, was from a prominent Democratic family -- likely making for many interesting family dinner table discussions on their Bickleton farm during the days of the New Deal. These discussions probably gave him the basis for working both sides of the aisle during his career. State Sen. Stanton Ganders, 1955 This Oct. 1, 1957 Tri-Cities newspaper editorial cartoon portrays the political scramble for the vacant congressional shoes left with the resignation of U.S. Rep. Hal Holmes, a Republican from Ellensburg. Note Ganders on the right boot. Frank LeRoux, a Walla Walla Democrat, is on the left boot. The Stanton Ganders Congressional Campaign - 1958 CLICK HERE for a printable pdf file of the 1958 Stanton Ganders Congressional Campaign Brochure Signing Substitute S.B. 54. $1,250,000 for a new State Library. March 18, 1955, 11:20 am.  Governor Langlie, Senator Carlton Sears, Senator Stanton Ganders, State Librarian Maryan Reynolds (Washington State Digital Archives) Stanton and Betty Ganders, left, participated in a tribute to U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas on Aug. 5, 1958 in Trout Lake, Wash. The snow-capped Mount Adams was the backdrop for the event. Stanton Ganders, a candidate for Congress, discussed Douglas' boyhood experiences in Bickleton, which was also Ganders' hometown. Douglas' father served as Presbyterian minister in Bickleton and the nearby towns of Cleveland and Dot.  Betty Ganders sang songs which she dedicated to Douglas, his wife, and daughters, according to the Yakima Daily Republic. The newspaper quoted Douglas as saying, "I grew up in Yakima, and always wanted to play the accordian, but there was always something wrong with my fingers ... so I fell into law."   Campaign photo of Stanton Ganders and son Larry; Bickleton wheat farm, Circa 1958-59 Ganders.Com is maintained by Larry Ganders This page updated March 8, 2021