booth gardner - Washington Secretary of State

$100,000,’ he says.
“In short, Booth Gardner, unlike too many other public officials, is an administrator
par excellence. … Booth Gardner may very well be the rising star of the Democratic Party in
this state. Remember the name…”
Adele loved being first on any big story, although on this one she would come to
regard herself as a prophet without honor.
* * *
In the spring of 1983, with Gov. Spellman under attack right and left, Gardner’s
stated intention of serving eight years as country executive clearly had gone out the
window. In politics, “timing is everything,” Booth says, and the best strategy is to “get
out front early” and discourage would-be rivals. One irony is that when people know
you’re rich they’re less eager to give you money, but he knew Norton Clapp would come
through, and he had no reservations about jump-starting the campaign with his own
checkbook.
On May 18, Booth’s statewide coming-out party continued. The Seattle Weekly
mulled “The mystery of Booth Gardner: a Democratic dream candidate or a Democratic
Spellman?” “He became the Democrats’ candidate-apparent last month,” Rebecca Boren
noted, “when up popped a Booth Gardner committee, complete with a respected treasurer
(Seattle businessperson Herb Bridge) … The Gardner campaign is suddenly a palpable
force – politicos believe, whatever the scanty evidence, that the almost-candidate is
raising money and locking up endorsements. As a result, comments one respected state
strategist, ‘Democrats look at Booth Gardner and they get an itch. They think, ‘My god, he’s
moderate, he’s experienced, he’s clean, he – he’s rich and he’s ours!’ ” But Gardner backer
Dan Grimm, the sharp young chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, noted that
what Booth really stood for – besides competence as an administrator – was unclear to
most. “Booth in the next few months has to portray his vision of the future. Goals, things
he wants to fight for. I don’t know what Booth’s vision is.”
A week later, Booth was addressing the 775-member Seattle Downtown Rotary
Club, where the movers and shakers greeted him with the customary shout-out, “Hi,
Booth!” Newspaperman John S. Murray, a former Republican state legislator, liked
everything he heard. “Booth Gardner,” he wrote in the weekly Seattle Argus, “is the kind
of person we need in the political arena. He is smart and intelligent (they are not the same
thing), hard working and incorruptible. The only reason he is in politics is because of the
tremendous challenge. There is some talk that Gardner is considering a run for governor.
No man in his right mind would want the job at the present time, but if Booth Gardner
were to run he could become a Democratic Dan Evans…”
In July of 1983, Peter Callaghan, an exceptional young reporter with the Everett
Herald’s Olympia Bureau, wrote what remains one of the most-quoted Booth Gardner
profiles. It was headlined DOES BOOTH GARDNER REALLY WANT TO BE GOVERNOR?
73