P.C. Sullivan, or Charley Sullivan, or P. Coatless Sullivan was an odd character who could only run for Washington State Governor in an era when parties nominated their candidates, and not the voters via the primary system. He was a political boss and a very private man.

Here's how one newspaper described the 1896 Republican candidate for Washington State Governor as election season started: "Sullivan's biography, so far as is known, was never written. His father was the late P.C. Sullivan, Sr., a prominent lawyer in the early days of this country. How old the candidate for governor is cannot be stated in the absence of authoritative data. He is thought to be about thirty-five. His boyhood was spent in Oregon. His family removed from there to Whitman County, where 'Charley,' as everybody calls him, was admitted to the bar at Colfax. The elder Sullivan was a prominent figure at the bar in Territorial days ..." Obviously, this was before the days of professional spin artists.

In fact, Potter Charles Sullivan, Jr. was born in Desoto, Neb., June 17, 1859, (making him 37 when he ran for Governor) the 5th of 7 children. His father, Potter, Sr., had served as a Speaker of the House in Nebraska in 1855, and editor of the Desoto newspaper, the Sun in 1858-- two occupations that would have a big impact on his son. The Sullivans had come to Nebraska by way of New York State, then through Michigan.

The family moved to Wyoming for a short time, then to Oregon in 1862. Originally they settled near Sheridan but moved to Dallas in 1865. Potter Sr. opened a law office there. Something happened in 1872, when Potter Jr. was 13. Biographies use that as the year he struck out on his own. He started out as a printer's devil for a newspaper, the "Liberal Republican," and remained there for a decade while he studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1882. In the meantime his father had moved to Colfax, Wash. in 1878. Potter Sr. practiced law in Colfax until his death in 1883.

It wasn't until after Potter Sr's death that Potter Jr. moved to Colfax and joined his brother in a law practice. From 1883-1888 P.C. Sullivan Jr. was a vital part of the Whitman County legal community. In 1886 he served as a Whitman delegate to the Territorial Convention. In Jan. 1888 he moved to Tacoma where he joined in a legal partnership with Judge Crowley.

Sullivan was a Pierce County delegate at the Constitutional Convention of 1889. He served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney from 1890-1893. From 1893-1894 he was the Republican State Central Committee Chairman. Somewhere in the years between 1888-1896 he had earned the title of "Boss" of the Republican Party in Pierce County. P.C. was the sort of fellow who didn't run for public office himself but arranged a front man. He also never married and appeared to have no outside interests other than politics. One biography said cryptically, "He was reared a Methodist but is not a member of the church at the present time."

1896 was the year of William Jennings Bryan and his almost religious pursuit of the Presidency. His policy on bimetallism, i.e. having silver join gold as the standard for American currency, gained much support in the Western states. (Side note: my youngest grandparent was born in the heat of this campaign. His father was a silver prospector in Ouray, Colorado in 1896 and he named my grandfather Bryan in honor of the Great Commoner). In Washington State the Populists, Democrats, and renegade members of the GOP known as Silver Republicans joined together in a "Fusion" ticket and nominated John Rankin Rogers. The social/economic tides were changing and political alliances were shifting.

The old Governor, the Republican McGraw, was not running again. So, according to Gordon Newell: "The Republicans, who were either unaware of the massive shift in public opinion, or had decided their cause was hopeless anyway, nominated an old-line, cigar-chewing politician named P.C. Sullivan, who was the current political boss of Pierce County."

The historian Richard Fisch is a bit more subtle: "Leaders in King and Pierce counties arranged a combination with seven small counties in the southwestern part of the state and were able to control the convention. The gubernatorial nomination went to Potter C. Sullivan, Republican boss of Pierce County. Sullivan had been closely associated with Governor McGraw and the Northern Pacific. Not only did the Republicans offer a gubernatorial candidate representing the status quo, but they also wrote the most conservative platform."

But my favorite article about P.C. was run in the New York Times, 9/27/96: "Potter Charles Sullivan, nominated at Tacoma for Governor by the State Republican Convention, is easily the most unique figure in the politics in the State of Washington. His youth, his peculiar personality, his eccentricities, his remarkable success in politics go to make him so."

"P. Coatless Sullivan is the name sometimes applied to him by both his friends and his enemies. It was given to him that Summer or Winter he is never seen wearing an overcoat. His accustomed dress the year around is a well-worn drab suit and a disreputable appearing straw hat. He is accused of hiring a man to wear out his hats before he dons them himself. Be that as it may, he was never seen wearing a new head covering, and rarely wearing a new set of clothes."

"... Another eccentricity of Mr. Sullivan possesses is that of never carrying a watch. Valuable though his time has been in recent years, he was never known to have a timepiece in his possession."

"There is probably no man living who has such a varied and wide acquaintance throughout the state as Sullivan. He has gained it through a long residence both east and west of the mountains, through constant attendance on political conventions, and through an extended law practice."

"In Pierce County he occupies much the same position in Republican politics that John H. McGraw did four years ago in King County. He is the leader of the county, or, to quote the language of his political enemies, the 'boss'."

"His personality is an odd one, and he offers a great field of study by a student of human nature. It is said no one knows every side of his character. He is hail fellow well met with every one, yet there is a reserve about him that hardly seems in keeping with his disposition. He is fond of the companionship of men and has firm and devoted friends in every walk of life. While he has many political enemies, he has few personal enemies. Intimate friends are few. Two men who are probably as close to him in his private life as any are John Malone and Stephen O'Brien, two leaders of the Democracy in Pierce County. He never reveals his plans or his inner thoughts to any one. Only once in a conversation did he give a clue to his character. That was when he said:"

"'I believe in success. When I go after something I make up my mind to get it, and I don't stop until I do get it. I work as hard as I am able to achieve my object, but I never throw down my friends.'"

Historian Thomas Riddle wrote that Republicans claimed John Rogers was a promoter of Prohibition. To counter this, Rogers had public figures like Democratic State Chair H.T. Jones make statements they had gone out drinking with the candidate. On the other hand, the Republicans took some of Rogers' writings out of context to prove he was an atheist. In response, Rogers campaigned with the Rev. Clark Davis, a prohibitionist. It was a weird election year.

In the end, it was a Populist sweep. They took every statewide office. Sullivan polled 38,154 (41.68%)

(Another side note. My great grandfather was elected County Commissioner in Lewis County in 1892 as a Democrat, but was defeated in 1896 when he ran for re-election on the Fusion ticket. So the Fusion sweep didn't work for everyone. In 1932 he was elected again as a Democrat to the same post. Two terms, 40 years apart.)

A photo of Sullivan in that era shows a well-fed, but alert character. His eyes look like ink blotters, ready to soak up anything around him to his own advantage. He served as a national Republican Committeeman in 1896 and 1900. He returned to private practice in T-Town and didn't enter the public realm again until Mar. 1923, when he was appointed City Attorney for Tacoma. It proved to be a short-lived job, as he died of a stroke Sept. 25, 1923 at his home.

P.C. was a great example of a big fish in a small pond. He is associated with no legacy in Washington State government policy. He offered nothing new or daring in governing or administration. Potter Charles Sullivan stood for maintaining 19th century stay-the-course policies, John Rogers represented the coming century. Today we have a statue honoring Gov. Rogers in Sylvester Park and on the base of that piece is inscribed a Rogers' quote: "I would make it impossible for the covetous and avaricious to utterly impoverish the poor. The rich can take care of themselves."

Potter Charles Sullivan would never have said anything like that. Rogers was a showman, a writer, and someone who saw the big picture. Sullivan was a nuts and bolts backroom politico. Given his strange privacy and limited public opinions, it is hard to imagine what sort of quote would've been etched into the base of a Sullivan statue.