NEW YORK, NY—Following its Board of Directors meeting on Tuesday, September 29, 2009, the Markle Foundation announced that Slade Gorton, former United States Senator from the state of Washington and former member of the 9/11 Commission, has joined the Board of Directors of the Markle Foundation.
“We are delighted that Slade has agreed to join the Board,” said Lewis B. Kaden, Chairman of the Markle Foundation’s Board of Directors and Vice Chairman and Chief Administrative Officer, Citigroup, Inc. “He will bring distinctive national experience and perspective to the challenges we address through our work.”
“Slade has been a wonderful colleague and counselor as a distinguished member of the Markle Task Force on National Security in the Information Age since its creation in 2002,” said Markle president Zoë Baird. “We look forward to working with him in this new capacity.”
Mr. Gorton’s dedication to public service began in 1959 with his election to the Washington State House of Representatives. He served as State Representative for ten years, the last two of these as Majority Leader.
In 1969, Mr. Gorton was sworn in as Attorney General for the State of Washington, a post he would hold for three terms. He argued fourteen cases before the United States Supreme Court, prompting Chief Justice Warren Burger to comment, “[Slade Gorton] makes the best arguments before the Supreme Court of any Attorney General in America.”
Mr. Gorton served one term in the United States Senate from 1980 until 1986, and returned to the Senate in 1988 to serve two more terms. His time in the Senate saw him appointed to important committee posts, including Appropriations, Budget, Commerce, Science and Transportation, and Energy and National Resources. He served as the Chairman of the Interior Appropriation Subcommittee (1995–2001), the Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs (1995–1999), and Aviation (1999–2000). He was a member of the Republican leadership as counsel to the Majority Leader (1996–2000).
In 2001, Mr. Gorton joined Preston Gates & Ellis LLP (now K&L Gates LLP) as of counsel. He served on the National Commission on Federal Election Reform in The Markle Foundation® 2001, and in 2002 was appointed to serve as a Commissioner on the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States (9/11 Commission). In November 2005, Mr. Gorton was appointed to serve on British Petroleum Refineries’ Independent Safety Review Panel. In 2007, he was appointed to serve on the National War Powers Commission and the Bipartisan Policy Center’s National Transportation Policy Project.
