booth gardner - Washington Secretary of State

comprehensive growth-management regulations. Using his veto to remove several sections
he viewed as problematic, the governor signed the act into law, and asked his commission
to fine-tune revisions. Its recommendations, notably the creation of three regional boards
of appeal, were enacted in 1991 after some hard bargaining. The governor also won the
power to withhold tax revenues from cities or counties that failed to comply with rulings. In
1992, his last session as governor,
Gardner and his allies turned back
efforts to weaken the act.
The 1990 Legislature
approved Gardner’s Learning by
Choice plan. In addition to open
enrollment, it features Running
Start, which has become one of
the most popular and effective
“advanced placement” programs
in the nation. Running Start allows
exceptional high school juniors
and seniors to attend community
colleges full- or part-time for free.
Since its inception, thousands
of Washington students have
graduated simultaneously from high school and community college and gone on to earn
bachelor’s degrees at substantially less expense.
* * *
Isiah Turner’s largely successful tenure as commissioner of the Department of
Employment Security came to an unhappy, headline-making end in October of 1990.
Turner resigned after a state audit authenticated a Seattle Times investigation that revealed
he had misused at least $14,000 of state money for travel and telephone expenses. The
taxpayers had paid for hundreds of nights in upscale hotels not far from his home and
office and scores of personal calls. An auditor called it the worst case of expense-account
abuse in recent state history.
Turner, who was paid $79,000 a year, was the only African American in Gardner’s
cabinet and an important liaison to the black community. “Saddened and heartsick” at
his ouster, members of the minority community and other supporters pointed to his
achievements. Turner had created the most diverse workforce in state government and
streamlined delivery of services. Noting that Turner had apologized and made restitution,
many saw an undercurrent of racism in his ouster. Several suggested that a white person
with a similar track record would have been reprimanded and retained. When Gardner
named Vernon Stoner, the state’s first African American city manager, to succeed Turner it
Booth flexes his muscles for Arnold Schwarzenegger during the actor-bodybuilder’s
visit to the UW campus in 1990. Schwarzenegger was in town for the opening of the
Goodwill Games. Davis Freeman, UW Columns Magazine.
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