booth gardner - Washington Secretary of State

would be difficult under any circumstances and harder by far in an election year. The
governor was facing a bruising rematch with former state senator Dino Rossi. Both were
practicing Roman Catholics.
After listening to a series of focus groups, Booth realized that Preston was right.
Going beyond the Oregon-style law was a prescription for failure. If they restricted “Death
With Dignity” to the terminally ill and incorporated several other safeguards, the pollsters
said they were going to win. “I was always optimistic about our chances in 2008,” Preston
says. “Since 1991, a whole new generation of people had watched their parents and
grandparents die. The Baby Boomers were not tied down by ideology. … Booth’s great
contribution was being Booth. From the moment he announced his desire for a law, public
attention and opinion was mobilized – and galvanized— and it was largely favorable.
Fundraising was also a lot easier. Then Dan Evans endorsed us – another huge boost.”
Former governor Gary Locke would also lend his support to the campaign.
Christian Sinderman, a campaign consultant, came on board as Death With Dignity’s
part-time project manager in the spring of 2007. Sinderman led the team through the
process of deciding on a campaign structure. Everyone agreed that an initiative stood the
best chance of succeeding, particularly in 2008, a presidential election year sure to produce
a big turnout. By fall, they were ready to launch.
Blair Butterworth, an old pro who was tight with Jim McDermott, became chief
campaign strategist for Death With Dignity. Katherine Bragdon, a veteran of the initiative
wars, was hired to manage what became a highly successful signature-gathering campaign.
The gatherers were volunteers, but the consultants were well paid, a fact that did not
escape the attention of Death With Dignity’s detractors. They said the proponents had a
masterful command of euphemisms.
Booth crisscrossed the state in 2007, helping recruit volunteers, addressing
newspaper editorial boards and appearing on TV public affairs programs. By fall, however,
his inexorable disease was already finding new ways to short-circuit the surgeons’
handiwork. He and Cynthia had separated. Their marriage was another victim of
Parkinson’s. Still good friends, they talk every few weeks.
* * *
Sometimes Booth would go blank in the middle of his presentation. It was
embarrassing to him but he was a trouper, and with few exceptions “his audiences were
more than understanding,” Harris recalls. The former governor drew impressive coverage
wherever he went, with the “last campaign” hook ever present. To a convention of mostly
sympathetic social workers he declared, “I feel that God gave me a mission in life, and he
also gave me the ability to think. That includes thinking about when I want to leave early.
Under no circumstances should my fate be put in the hands of a pinhead politician who
can’t pass ninth-grade biology.” Most chuckled and several gave him a standing ovation.
However, three African American social workers “left the room visibly upset.” One said
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