Saffels was in private practice in Garden City, Kansas from 1949 to 1979. A Democrat, he was elected County Attorney of Finney County in 1950 and reelected in 1952, serving from 1951 to 1955. In 1954, Saffels defeated an incumbent Republican to win a Kansas House of Representatives seat. He was reelected four times, serving from 1955 to 1963, and was minority leader from 1961 to 1963. Saffels's major legislative activities included supporting a retirement plan for state employees and making the Wichita University of Wichita into a state university. Saffels was "an early advocate for public education television in Kansas." He also was a good government advocate, supporting election law reform, conflict of interest laws, and legislative reapportionment. Saffels ran for governor of Kansas in 1962 against the incumbent, John Anderson, Jr.; Saffels lost, although a Democrat, Robert Docking, won four years later, in 1966. In 1967, Docking appointed Dale to the Kansas Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities in the state. Dale served on the commission from 1967 to 1975, chairing that body from 1968 to 1975. Following this, Dale returned to private practice, in Topeka from 1971 to 1975, and in Wichita from 1975 to 1979.
