Courthouse Could Take Foley’S Name

Thu., Aug. 6, 1998

Grayden Jones Staff writer

Walt Horan brought it to Spokane and George Nethercutt uses it, but the U.S. Court House and Office Building downtown will be named after Tom Foley if a new bill becomes law.

At the urging of the Spokane County Democratic Central Committee, Rep. Jim McDermott is proposing to rename the nine-story structure the “Thomas S. Foley Federal Building.”

McDermott, a Seattle Democrat, is seeking signatures from Washington’s Republican-controlled congressional delegation to introduce the two-page bill in September, press secretary Jennifer Crider said Wednesday. She expects no opposition in Congress out of respect for Foley, a 15-term congressman, Speaker of the House and the current ambassador to Japan.

“You couldn’t have a greater man in Spokane to name that building after,” said Ken Pelo, chairman of the county Democratic Central Committee. “He brought a lot of good things to the Fifth Congressional District, to Spokane and to the state of Washington.”

The U.S. Court House, often mistakenly called the federal building, houses about 400 employees at the corner of Riverside Avenue and Monroe Street.

The actual federal building is the older and smaller Federal Building and U.S. Post Office next door. It houses the U.S. Postal Service, U.S. Bankruptcy Court and other offices.

However, unless the proposed bill is changed, the U.S. Court House would also officially take on the “federal building” title.

Craig Keenan, property manager for the federal General Services Administration, said about half of the 250,000-square-foot building is used for courtrooms and judicial offices. The remainder is occupied by the Internal Revenue Service, Immigration and Naturalization Service and offices for Nethercutt and other elected officials.

Nethercutt, a Republican from Spokane who defeated Foley in the 1994 election, could not be reached for comment.

The $8.5 million U.S. Court House originally was proposed in 1961. The project was supported by Foley’s predecessor, Congressman Horan, an 11-term Republican from Wenatchee.

Foley unseated Horan in 1964 and presented a flag that had flown over the Capitol during the 1968 dedication of the U.S. Court House.

The complex “is not a monument to anything, but a building of service,” the late Sen. Warren Magnuson, D-Wash., said at the ceremony.

Foley’s Spokane office moved into the building when it opened, but left in 1985 for the Farm Credit Building on First Avenue, said former chief of staff Janet Gilpatrick.

In 1996, Foley’s office closed when he accepted the post in Japan.

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