Hassonland Perfect Place For Escapism
One small step out a window. One giant attraction for the Spokane County Courthouse:
Hassonland.
It hasn’t reached theme park magnitude yet. But quirky County Commissioner Steve Hasson’s first-floor office is attracting hundreds of curious pilgrims.
Their destination is the south window Hasson leaped out of in 1992. He then led a pack of quotehungry reporters on a bizarre footrace through city streets.
As yet, there are no Hassonland postcards or T-shirts. Instead, gawkers commemorate their visits by signing their names and the date on the wall.
Some can’t resist leaving a few choice words of wisdom:
“You’re no Jack Kennedy,” reads one dig.
“Turncoat” is a message from a Democrat probably sore about Hasson’s recent switch to the Republican Party.
“Keep truckin”’ reads the note from Hasson’s mother.
“Steve, stay on the main floor,” writes Cathy Ramm, probably worried about any future window leaps.
“Berlin - China - Hasson. All are walls of distinction” was left by John Maxwell.
U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt’s signature is among the notables, along with judges, journalists, business leaders and the new sheriff.
It’s the old ‘Kilroy was here’ syndrome, explains Hasson. “People want to see where it all happened and then leave their mark.”
Spokane union leader Bill Keenan was first to sign in December 1992.
Keenan popped in to see the famed window. Hasson invited him to take a test jump. Keenan declined, opting to sign his name instead.
“At least I’m No. 1 at something,” says Keenan, chuckling at the strange trend he began.
Some 700 others have followed Keenan’s lead. Hasson’s office now looks more like a cast on a teenager’s broken leg than a place to conduct serious county business.
Graffiti cover the windowsill and all of one wall and are beginning to sprawl like suburban blight through the the rest of the room.
Hasson says he has counted the autographs himself. That should silence critics who don’t think the commissioner does enough important things with his time.
But is writing on walls a proper way to treat taxpayer property?
“It’s purely decorative, not unlike buying art or painting the room,” says Superior Court Judge James Murphy, whose name adorns the wall.
“I imagine if Steve moves on to something else, the county painters will be in there in a minute.”
Superior Court Judge Michael Donohue, who is writing a history of Spokane, says Hasson’s offbeat antics and glib humor will leave him remembered long after he is gone.
Hasson fits in well with other Washington loony luminaries, says Donohue, such as a former secretary of state who once campaigned wearing a loincloth and leading a goat down the middle of Seattle.
Hasson is “an interesting man,” says the judge. “There’s more there than meets the eye.”
Maybe so. But his goofiness - such as endorsing the cornbread at Sam’s Pit, an all-night hangout for dopers and hookers - has infuriated many who don’t want their elected officials clowning around.
Hasson’s great window escape was a classic. It happened Nov. 19, 1992, shortly after he learned he had defeated Jack Hebner by 253 votes.
Locked in his office, the commissioner ducked out the window rather than face reporters waiting in the hall. A photographer heard the window open. Soon the chase was on.
Many people wanted their votes back. One TV anchorman wondered if Hasson was “a few fries short of a Happy Meal.”
Hasson says he isn’t crazy. It’s just the way things work in Hassonland.
“Somebody like me comes this way only so often,” says the Cornbread Commissioner. “You just have to make the best of it.”