booth gardner - Washington Secretary of State

With Heck as his tail-twister, Gardner’s second term was far more successful than
the first. Still, “The legislative process frustrated me,” Booth says ruefully. If only he had
been able to push through tax reform and health care reform, he says “it would have
improved the quality of life in this state immeasurably and allowed us to fund the best
educational system in the world.”
* * *
In March of 1992, Senator Adams withdrew from the race in the wake of a Seattle
Times article that said he’d victimized seven other women. Booth was under enormous
pressure to capitalize on his popularity and keep the seat for the party. Jean held him to
his promise to take a break from politics. She made no bones about it: A Senate campaign
could jeopardize their marriage.
On the campaign trail that summer, all five politicians who wanted his job promised
to create world-class schools, health care for all and a bumper crop of new family-wage
jobs. There was a giant pothole in the road to Shangri-La: Another billion-dollar deficit for
the 1993-95 biennium.
For the Democratic nomination, Lowry swamped King, taking 29 percent of the
vote overall, to the speaker’s 8.35 percent. Eikenberry edged Morrison to become the
GOP standard bearer. McDonald was a distant third. Intelligent and handsome, the senator
suffered from the same charisma deficit that was Maleng’s undoing.
Booth helped Mike beat “Eik.” His protégé, Chris Gregoire, was elected attorney
general, trouncing Maleng. The upset special was Patty Murray, the tiny “mom in tennis
shoes,” who moved from the Shoreline School Board to the U.S. Senate in the space of four
years. Murray was the underdog until her opponent, Congressman Rod Chandler, ended
one of their debates with a chauvinistic rendition of the refrain from a popular Roger Miller
ditty: “Dang me, dang me/They oughta take a rope and hang me/High from the highest
tree/Woman would you weep for me!” Having supplied the noose, he did the weeping.
Murray took 54 percent of the vote.
Bill Clinton ousted George Bush, and Booth began lobbying to become ambassador
to Japan. Some 1,200 friends and admirers threw him a goodbye party at the Seattle Trade
Center, the site of his 1984 victory party. Many wore replicas of the original “Booth Who?”
campaign button.
Gardner’s farewell address on January 12, 1993, was brief, but his emotion was
palpable. Many said it was the best speech he’d ever given. He started with the story about
that logger in Hoquiam who’d asked “What about me?” and ended with a plea for his
successor and the lawmakers to set aside partisan differences and “have the courage to
change even when change is uncomfortable. In a democratic society,” he said, “the status
quo is the enemy of stability, not its friend.”
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