‘Ornery’ Gubernatorial Candidate Short Dies

As a candidate for governor, “Ornery” Dick Short never caught on with the voters.

In 1988 he finished third out of four in the Democratic primary and four years later he was fourth out of five. He claimed he was misquoted on his most famous proposal, hiring out-of-work loggers to install a sort of “sprinkler system” to fight fires in national forests.

Short, a grocer in this coastal town, died of congestive heart failure Jan. 8 at Grays Harbor Community Hospital. He was 81.

In his campaigns he called himself “The Moral Man” and gave himself the moniker “Ornery Dick” as a symbol of voter discontent.

“Of course, the only reason he had that nickname is that he gave it to himself,” former Gov. Mike Lowry said. “I really saw him as the opposite of being ornery. He was very straightforward, a person who told you what he thought.”