Lillian S. Spear papers, 1931-1963

Lillian Sylten, born in 1895, was a dedicated crusader for public power. She became acquainted with power issues through her position as a district Grange Master. Her work in this field began in 1938 when she helped members of the Snohomish County Public Utility District (PUD) win re-election against challengers funded by the Puget Sound Power and Light Company (Puget Power). This campaign spurred the formation of the Snohomish County Public Utilities Association, which publicized the activities of the PUD and led pro-public power electoral campaigns. Sylten served as secretary of the Association. After the 1938 campaign, Sylten quit her jobs as principal of the Silver Lake Grammar School and president of the Snohomish County Parent-Teacher Association, and was hired as the auditor of the Snohomish PUD. In 1944 Sylten helped found the Snohomish County Legislative Council, a liberal group which discussed and made recommendations on all aspects of county government, especially public power.

Snohomish PUD was created by a county-wide vote in 1936. Its primary objective was to lower power costs by acquiring Puget Power’s Snohomish County properties and running them on a non-profit basis. A group of seven PUDs, including Snohomish, began negotiations to buy Puget Power in 1939. Sylten was secretary of the negotiating group, the Puget Sound Utility Commissioners’ Association (PSUCA). Puget Power’s actions soon convinced the PUDs that the company was not bargaining in good faith: in 1940 Puget Power co-sponsored Initiative 139, which made it more difficult for PUDs to finance purchases of private companies. The Washington Public Ownership League (WPOL) and the state-wide association of PUDs, the Washington Public Utility Commissioners’ Association, led a victorious fight against the measure. Sylten served as the secretary of WPOL, which was formed in 1939.

When negotiations with Puget Power stalled, Snohomish PUD filed a condemnation suit, a procedure to force the company to sell its assets at what the county court determined to be a fair price. The court set a $9.5 million price for Puget Power’s Snohomish County electrical distribution system in 1943. Snohomish PUD thought this was an inflated price and declined purchase. It then sought to join with other PUDs and condemn the entire company in a single suit. However, state law did not authorize this type of joint action. Accordingly, the WPOL sent Initiative 12, allowing joint suits by PUDs, to the state legislature in 1943. The legislature passed the measure, but private firms collected enough signatures to hold a referendum (Referendum 25) on the law in 1944. The measure divided public power advocates. Some opposed it since they thought PUDs should acquire property only through negotiated sales; others fought it because they disliked WPOL, which contained many socialists (although Sylten was not a socialist). Sylten played a prominent part in the fight for Initiative 12/Referendum 25, acting as president of the Women’s Committee for Referendum 25 and as secretary of the newly-created Reference and Information Service of the Washington Public Utilities Commissioners’ Association. Sylten also printed a great deal of material in favor of the measure in Public Power News, WPOL’s semimonthly journal which Sylten edited. Nonetheless, Referendum 25 went down to a narrow defeat.

With the attempt to sue Puget Power out of existence blocked, the PUDs revived PSUCA and its efforts to negotiate a sale. Lillian Sylten (who had married and become Lillian Spear in 1944) once again served as secretary of PSUCA. Negotiations remained on track despite private utilities’ sponsorship of Initiative 166 in 1946. This measure was essentially a re-run of Initiative 139, and it failed as well. PSUCA and Puget Power concluded a deal in 1946, but the agreement was nullified by a 5-4 vote of the Washington Supreme Court in 1947 on the grounds that PUDs could not take joint action of this nature. Lillian Spear left the public power movement in 1947 after a personality clash with leaders of the Snohomish PUD and after more conservative leaders took over the Washington Public Utility Commissioners’ Association. She moved to the East Coast in 1949. She later relocated to California and became active in anti-pollution campaigns there. She died in 1963.

Snohomish PUD bought Puget Power’s electrical distribution system in Snohomish County for an expensive $16.5 million in 1949. This was the last major sale of private power company property in Washington. Nonetheless, Snohomish PUD made more than enough revenue to pay off the purchase, and the agency rapidly became the largest public utility district in the state.