Political powerhouse, provider for the poor

Clay Bleck loved politics and polo. He helped candidates for office whom no one else had heard of and kids on the streets whom no one else cared about.

He gave advice to some of the nation’s most powerful politicians and comfort to some of Spokane’s most needy citizens.

“Clay just always had a big heart for the underdog,” Crosswalk’s Merilee Roloff said of her longtime friend who died Tuesday at age 82.

A car dealer for decades in Spokane, Bleck was an astute businessman who opened the first Honda dealership in the city. Over the years he sold Pontiacs and Chevys, Jaguars and Triumphs, served on economic development boards for his city and his state.

He did so well at business that he became that rarest of all political species, an Eastern Washington Democrat with money. His son Sean said Bleck formed his political convictions growing up during the Depression and Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. He also served as a naval officer in the South Pacific in World War II, commanding an LSM landing craft.

“He was the must-see person in Eastern Washington for any Democrat,” said Tom Foley, former House Speaker who first met Bleck in the 1950s as a young deputy prosecutor in Spokane and came to know him in the early 1960s, when Foley was an aide to Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson.

Whenever Jackson or Sen. Warren Magnuson had been too long absent from Eastern Washington, they’d call Bleck to be brought up to date. “He was a great chronicler of the community,” Foley said.

The advice he gave Foley in his 1964 run for Congress against an 11-term incumbent was the same he gave many candidates over the years: Be yourself, don’t try to concoct an attitude to suit the circumstances. Just be as honest and straightforward as you can.

“It was advice based on the example he lived,” Foley said.

Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, a pair of West Side Democrats, both said the former state treasurer of the Democratic Party was the first person they came to in Spokane when they decided to run for statewide office.

“You had to get his blessing if you were going to be a candidate of stature in Eastern Washington,” Murray said.

Bleck could tell a candidate who to see for any perspective on any issue, and who could offer a donation. If you needed someone to host an event or come to a fund-raiser, he was there, Murray said. “And he wasn’t just there to say, ‘Hello.’ He always had something to tell me because he passionately cared about the issues.”

“He was always positive, always upbeat,” Cantwell said. “He was always quick with a quip. But if I had a problem or a question, he’d always say ‘You ought to talk to so and so …’ “

To relax, Bleck played polo. Sean Bleck said his father told him that when he first came to Spokane in the 1950s, he played golf. One day he became so frustrated with a bad shot he’d made that he wrapped his club around a tree and decided this was no way to relax. About that time, a friend invited him to play polo, and though Bleck had never ridden before, “it was an instant match.” He was named the U.S. Polo Association’s Pacific Northwest Circuit Sportsman of the Year in 1991, and continued to play against men and women half his age until just a few years ago.

He owned dozens of polo ponies over the years and two still live on a nearby farm, kept by a longtime friend. Too old to ride, they’re more like pets, Sean Bleck said.

Bleck’s most lasting legacy in Spokane may be Volunteers of America’s Crosswalk, a safe haven for street kids. He was the local Volunteers of America board chairman for 32 years, Crosswalk’s Roloff said; there were some lean years in the 1970s and early 1980s, in which his energy and money kept Volunteers of America going. In the mid 1980s, Bleck and some other VOA leaders became concerned about the growing number of homeless adolescents on the streets of downtown Spokane and founded the shelter which for several years was a half-block from one of his auto showrooms.

Later, Bleck helped co-found a scholarship fund for Crosswalk students, Roloff said. Five students are currently attending college on those scholarships.

“He understands these kids need a leg up,” she said.

Bleck had suffered from a series of medical problems in the last two years. He was diagnosed with pneumonia in November, seemed to be improving, but was hospitalized again after Thanksgiving. He died at home on Tuesday and is survived by his son Sean, a Seattle attorney, stepsons Yancy and Jason Dunham, and stepdaughter Shannon Welch. Married six times, he was single when he died, Sean Bleck said.

A memorial celebration is scheduled for 11 a.m. Jan. 14 at the Unitarian Church, with donations suggested for Volunteers of America.

Roloff, who visited Bleck last weekend, mentioned that the businessman’s longtime caretaker said one of Bleck’s last directions was to make sure Crosswalk had the 10 turkey dinners she had said she would need for Christmas. They were delivered this week after he died.

“If I’d said we needed 20, he’d have bought 20. He was that kind of guy.”