booth gardner - Washington Secretary of State

of good journalism?” Another wrote, “The man is fighting a tough battle. The disease
makes many who suffer from it retreat from public view. Gardner impresses me because
he doesn’t retreat. How many political leaders are there that truly demonstrate toughness,
courage and a total lack of self pity? In my experience the answer is damn few. By reporting
the facts you have only made him look better in my view.”
Gardner was frustrated by the fall, one of several that would leave him bruised and
depressed. He realized no one was going to appoint him school superintendent but he
wasn’t ready to retreat. He hoped he could inspire others with Parkinson’s to persevere.
“And I realized the initiative needed all my attention.”
* * *
Despite I-1000’s momentum and money, neither French nor his allies were going
away quietly. On April 26, Gardner and French debated the initiative at the University of
Washington’s Evans School of Public Affairs. The event was broadcast around the state by
TVW and covered by most Seattle TV stations.
A handsome man with a voice that radiates sincerity, French employs his partially
paralyzed arms with remarkable dexterity. He is so alive and engaging that discomfort over
his disability quickly evaporates.
French began by
pointing to the raging
national debate over the
cost of health care. He
worried that if assisted
suicide became law in
Washington, picked up
steam and accelerated
across America it wouldn’t
be long before “they won’t
have to use direct coercion”
to prompt the terminally
ill to check out early and
reduce the bill for end-of-life
care. French added that doctors frequently underestimate the amount of time a person
has left to live. His dad was given a prognosis of three to six months, he said, “and he lived
seven years after that – seven of the richest years of his life.”
French warned that enactment of the law Gardner was championing could
open the state to litigation and the possibility of paying substantial damages to a family
member left out of the loop when a loved one committed suicide. Moreover, assisted
suicide disproportionately hits those with disabilities, minorities, the poor and other
disadvantaged people, French said. “At the onset of any disability, chronic illness or
Duane French talks with well-wishers after I-1000 is filed. Thomas James Hurst
©The Seattle Times (Seattle, WA) 2008 Reprinted with permission.
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