booth gardner - Washington Secretary of State

all economic development efforts is education. Education is, and has always been, an
investment in the future of this nation and our state,” he said. “It has a crucial role in helping
us meet emerging competition” from around the world “by producing highly skilled workers
– people who are able to think critically … people who can generate the best technology
available.” Unfortunately, he added, “there’s a certain group of people who have refused to
sit down and have a reasonable discussion on tax policy.” Indignant was Rep. Williams, who’d
become the top Republican on the Ways & Means Committee. He said he’d politely asked for
an audience to discuss tax – and spending – reform, only to be told the governor was booked
solid for the next two months. “Bob Williams would be able to fill two hours of the governor’s
time twice a day every day if he let him,” Kneeland said. The press corps nodded knowingly.
The former federal auditor could talk your leg off. That he had a formidable head for numbers
no one could deny, but his high-pitched voice and tendency to drone negated the appeal of
his boyish earnestness. Someone dubbed him a “gadfly” and it stuck. Williams was a favorite
of the “moral conservatives” being mobilized by TV evangelist Pat Robertson for his 1988
presidential bid. There was something ironically delicious about a Weyerhaeuser accountant
leading the loyal opposition to Booth Gardner.
Kneeland, who had been with Gardner since the 1984 campaign, left in August to
join Ron Dotzauer in his public relations firm, Northwest Strategies, with the promise of
more money and fewer hours. Keeping pace with the governor was a daunting proposition,
even for a 33-year-old, Kneeland admitted. It was exciting but “almost always like a
controlled riot situation.” Dick Milne, Kneeland’s deputy, got the job.
Other significant comings and goings found Dick Virant moving from General
Administration to the state Tax Appeals Board, and Mary Faulk leaving the Lottery – where
she’d overseen an impressive turnaround – to head General Administration. Gardner said
Virant “asked for reassignment.” A month earlier a state audit report blamed GA and the
Department of Corrections for nearly $6 million in cost over-runs in the construction of the
new state prison at Clallam Bay. Gardner’s style was to push you out with one hand and pat
you on the back with the other. The media and his foes saw it as a sign of weakness. For
better or worse, it was his nature.
What no one could deny was that his managers were transforming Labor &
Industries. The governor called a news conference to announce that for the second year
in a row there would be no workers’ compensation rate increase. Dick Davis and Joe Dear
were rapidly erasing the $225 million deficit the administration faced when it took office.
The savings were achieved through better claims management, strong anti-fraud efforts
and legislation removing the requirement that all injured workers receive vocational
rehabilitation. The Association of Washington Business was very pleased.
* * *
An energized Gardner hit the campaign trail in the fall of 1986, hoping to preserve
Democratic majorities in both houses of the Legislature. The candidates were eager to tap
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