booth gardner - Washington Secretary of State

In a speech to nearly a thousand school board members and administrators
meeting in Seattle, Booth warned that infighting among education’s stakeholders could
doom his push to thrust Washington State into the forefront of educational reform. “The
entire education community
needs to be united,” the governor
emphasized, asking every district
to field a team of 25 to help lobby
legislators.
The speech stands as
his oratorical landmark. It
summarized everything Booth
Gardner passionately believes
about education’s power to
transform lives – all the lessons
he’d learned in the Central Area
and at Harvard rolled into one. His
agenda dovetailed with the findings of the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education,
which emphasized the need for innovation and excellence. Intervening early on in the lives
of children, particularly those at risk, yields incalculable dividends, the governor told the
educators. Prenatal care and programs to inculcate parenting skills and improve nutrition
are all part of the equation. So too programs to assist special-needs children and their
families. “Everyone matters,” Booth said, noting that it cost the state $25,000 to $30,000 a
year for every individual who fell through the cracks and ended up on welfare, in a rehab
program, in jail or prison. He said his program could save the state millions of dollars and
untold grief. “You can pay me now,” he said, “or you can pay me later – and later is going
to cost a whole lot more.” Booth ended with an appeal to their business sense and their
hearts. “Education is like no other box on the budget scorecard. If it’s neglected, society
will pay for it over and over again.”
Laird Harris, Gardner’s policy adviser, recalls intense “skull sessions” in the
basement of the mansion in the summer and fall of 1986. Experts from around the
country came to share their ideas, and Booth consulted with his many friends who were
teachers and school administrators, notably Bill Gerberding, president of the University
of Washington. “Some people underrated Booth because he was sort of folksy,”
Gerberding says, “but he had a lot of self-confidence. He was very bright and also well
connected in many ways – business, politics, higher ed. He knew a lot of heavy hitters.
He wanted ideas.”
Before the year was out, Booth announced that he would seek a second term,
putting to rest speculation that he might be a candidate for the U.S. Senate should Evans
decide to not seek re-election. In a statement that revealed a major truth about his own
Booth works the phones late at night in preparation for the opening of the
Legislature. Bruce Larson ©The News Tribune (Tacoma, WA) 1987 Reprinted
with permission.
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