PORT ANGELES — In 1993, Rep. Norm Dicks found himself with two more counties to represent and one large, contentious issue: removal of the two Elwha River dams.
The Belfair Democrat, who developed into a political heavyweight in Washington, D.C., after he was first elected in 1977, found how polarizing that project would be when he first visited Port Angeles as its new congressman.
“There was about 115 people in the audience,” he recalled last September while speaking at the Elwha River restoration gala.
“I walked in, this guy walks up to the microphone before I could even get there and says, ‘Let’s tell the congressman how we feel about the Elwha Dam removal.’”
All but five stood up.
“The other five were kind of shaking in their boots,” he said with a chuckle.
“They were not nearly as terrified as my staff.”
Yet Dicks, who will not seek re-election this November, did not back away and remained a strong champion of the project, his 6th Congressional District, which absorbed the North Olympic Peninsula 19 years ago, and other issues close to home, including defense and veterans’ affairs.
He proved his value as a leader on several influential appropriations subcommittees — Defense and Interior and the Environment — and was able to muscle funds when needed.
“He was critical for opening doors for us,” Port Angeles Mayor Cherie Kidd said.
“I’m really going to miss his support and influence here.”
Lower Elwha Klallam tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles said they didn’t agree all the time, but the tribe found Dicks to be a reliable ally in the nation’s capital.
“We always considered Norm a friend,” she said.
“We’re going to be sad to see him go.”
Without Dicks, 71, demolition of the Elwha River’s two dams, long sought by the tribe, would have been delayed by another year.
In 2009, he secured $54 million in federal stimulus funds for the Elwha River restoration project, helping kick-start the $325 million dam removal effort.
Demolition, which started in September, is expected to finish in 2014.
“It’s going to be challenging” without him, Charles said.
“We have a lot more work we have to get done.”
Dicks also was considered a friend of the Quileute tribe, which recently, with his support, acquired 785 acres of land outside of a flood and tsunami zone.
“He was truly a champion of our causes and understood native concerns on a deep intellectual and personal level,” the tribe said in a statement.
National security also was a major issue for Dicks, who was a staunch supporter of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Sequim and Port Townsend’s Intellicheck Mobilisa Inc.
“As you might expect, he had a significant influence not just here, but across the other side of the mountains and on our Richland main campus,” said Charlie Brandt, PNNL laboratory director.
“He was a very good guy to have on our side.”
Mobilisa, which develops security and identification systems for the military, has been the lead contractor on the Puget Sound Littoral Environmental Sensing Network and received $18 million in earmarks secured by Dicks as of 2010.
The company didn’t respond to a request for comment Friday.
Not everyone is sad to see him go.
Jefferson County Republican Chairman Ron Gregory said he and other Republicans “were doing a folk dance at Dream City Cafe to celebrate this great news” on Friday.
“Free at last, free at last, thank God we are free at last,” Gregory said, quoting Martin Luther King.
“He did a great thing for the district by retiring.”
Clallam County Republican Chairman Dick Pilling acknowledged that Dicks was successful at getting federal funds for the district but said that’s not always in the interest of the taxpayer.
“He may give us some presents, but we get a credit-card bill in the mail,” he said.
The Clallam County and Jefferson County Democratic chairs both said Dicks will leave a strong legacy.
“Norm was unique because he could get the military vote and the progressive vote,” Jefferson County Democratic Chairwoman Teri Nomura said.
Matthew Randazzo, Clallam County Democratic chairman, said Dicks will be impossible to replace.
“We’re losing an extremely powerful and effective legislator,” he said.
“We anticipate he will be an inspiration for whoever is going to replace him.”
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant contributed to this report.
