booth gardner - Washington Secretary of State

“governmental operations director.” Becky Bogard resigned, a victim, some said, of
male chauvinism in the Senate. Dean Foster’s talents were redirected toward “external
operations,” namely legislative affairs, where he had a world of experience and good will
to spare. Laird Harris left for the private sector and wasn’t replaced. Peter Callaghan’s take
was that “the brilliant policy guys like Laird” were out and those with more political chops
were in. Foster says Booth was narrowing his focus to try to achieve more.
* * *
On July 26, 1987, The Seattle Times’ Sunday magazine featured one of the most
compelling biographical profiles the state has ever seen. It was headlined “The Governor
Who Loves to be Loved.” Surrounded by children who had arrived to watch him sign
a proclamation saluting Young Entrepreneurs, Booth beamed from the cover. Inside,
tranquility was in short supply. Times reporter Walter Hatch contrasted the governor who
could use “his cheery charm and mild manner to entertain a group of Pleasant Valley
school kids” with the one who “with a ghostly white face” left a late-night meeting with
impatient legislative leaders looking “exhausted, battered, even defeated.”
Skillfully avoiding sensationalism, the profile nevertheless laid it all out – his
parents’ messy divorce; his “squirming under the thumb of an alcoholic father”; the
plane crash that claimed his mother and sister; his fateful meeting with Norton Clapp; the
Central Area Youth Association; Harvard; Brick’s fatal fall; his first forays into politics. Hatch
interviewed Aunt Lou, Booth’s childhood friends, even his junior high school band teacher,
as well as Barlow and the First Lady. Jean Gardner was remarkably unguarded about her
husband’s quirks. The governor was candid, too, saying he had compartmentalized the
pain from his childhood. “I built a ceiling on top and a floor below to protect myself from
expectations and disappointments. I shielded myself.”
The piece was the talk of the town.
* * *
A quickie special session in August to deal with a U.S. Supreme Court decision
impacting the business-and-occupation tax was marked by bipartisan cooperation. Gardner
won high marks for greasing the skids. Foster’s new role was already paying dividends.
The session also produced a law to help Boeing and other business mainstays resist hostile
corporate takeovers, as well as progress on funding toxic-waste site cleanup. In October,
the governor called another special session – 1987’s third – to resolve the “Superfund”
hazardous waste dispute between environmentalists and industry and fully fund the 2.1
percent pay raise the teachers had been promised. Some called it the “session-of-themonth
club.” Gardner was criticized by a number of Democrats, including Rep. Jolene
Unsoeld, open government’s tireless champion, and Sen. Phil Talmadge, a future Supreme
Court justice. They charged that the governor had subverted the initiative process and
improperly appointed a task force of legislators to draft a bill behind closed doors. However,
many Olympia insiders and the press said he was finally exercising “true leadership.”
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