[1][10][11] Potts, who Richard C. Berner describes as the "prime mover and first commander" of the NOOC, had resigned from the presidency of the Consolidated Republican Clubs of King County to start the group.
[2] By December 1933, Potts had built the NOOC into an organization with 17 divisions in Washington State each headed by a "captain"; statewide officers were "majors" and "colonels".
Stevenson had avoided extradition to New York, where he was wanted for stock fraud; the NOOC further accused him of mismanagement of the county relief.
Of the Cincinnatans, only Lockwood made it through the primaries,[2][18] but he gained office despite a complete lack of newspaper endorsements, coming in second in the general election.
[22] Carried away by their success in Seattle and the interest in forming other chapters around the state, the NOOC contested the statewide November elections.
Among their candidates were William J. Wilkins for U. S. Senate, Cecil R. Fuller for the 1st District congressional seat, and John W. Day for King County Prosecutor.
Incumbents William Gaines, Frank Fitts, and David Levine chose to campaign jointly, with the backing of the Central Labor Council and the newly formed Washington Commonwealth Federation.
[1] Lockwood updated proposals he already had for a central purchasing office and a central garage; he also framed a response to municipally owned Seattle City Light's proposal to buy out the Seattle operations of the Puget Sound Power and Light Company, which the NOOC opposed.
Hamlie and Langlie were assigned to investigate the city's street railway system,[25] which was in chronic financial trouble,[29] and the police department.
[30] The council voted 5 to 4 for a budget that would cut 120 city jobs, mainly in the police and fire departments and public schools.
[13] Meanwhile, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer attacked Mayor Smith for running a "wide open" city, for refusing to make cuts in the departments controlled by the mayor's office, for being associated with a corrupt police-based political machine, and for a recent upsurge in illegal gambling, prostitution, and Sunday liquor sales.
[31] The P-I was not alone in these views: The Argus compared Smith to the legendarily corrupt Hiram Gill and the United States Navy made it known that they were considering placing the entire city of Seattle off limits for sailors on leave.
Further condemnations of this state of affairs came from the Clean Government League, the Morals Committee of the Council of Churches, and the Philippine-American Chronicle, which published detailed exposés of the "Chinese Gambling Syndicate" and the police's policy of closing down only the "small fry".
[35] Although Dore in his previous term had responded to the onset of the Great Depression by cutting many city jobs and reduced wages, he now promised a reversal of these policies.
[37] Amidst a city fiscal crisis and a complete lack of aid from the state government of Governor Clarence D. Martin,[38] The chaotic election of 1938 saw Langlie faced off against an ailing Dore (who spent most of the campaign period in the hospital, with his son John, Jr. acting as campaign spokesman) and the flamboyant Vic Meyers,[1][37] a locally famous jazz musician and bandleader who had backed into politics as a joke candidate in 1932, but who after becoming increasingly serious about the matter had become lieutenant governor.
[41] The gravely ill Dore was relieved of his office by the city council on April 13, 1938 (and died five days later); Langlie began his term early.
[38] This was, however, balanced or overbalanced by state Social Security Board administrator Charles F. Ernst cutting the relief rolls by 20%, removing over 12,000 Seattleites (and at least 8,000 elsewhere in King County) during one of the harshest periods of the Depression.
[45][46] He had the good fortune that the start of World War II in Europe led to a rise in defense production, from which Seattle benefitted greatly.
He also obtained federal funding to build the Ballard Bridge and West Seattle Viaduct and to repair recreational facilities.
In short, he succeeded in running his fiscally conservative administration by obtaining funds from the liberal Democratic federal government.
[49] In addition to Seattle and San Francisco, among the towns and cities that had Cincinnatus chapters were Bellingham, Bremerton, Chehalis, Everett, Kirkland, Spokane, Tacoma, and Wenatchee, all in Washington;[15] and Portland, Oregon.