BOOTH WHO? - Washington State Digital Archives

father and a son, and how important it is to communicate and to respect each other.”
Booth feared the story would derail the Death With Dignity initiative and create
a permanent fissure between him and Doug. He intimated to old friends that he was
considering dropping out of the campaign if Doug would, too. “After a week of wandering
the beach and a few conversations with Doug,” he decided to stay the course. “He came
within a whisker of dropping the whole campaign,” Doug affirms. “He was at the line – I
mean one inch more and he would have just said, ‘It’s not worth it.’ ”
The article caused a stir in Washington State, but it was mostly about the depth of
Doug’s feelings, not the merits of the initiative. Many of Booth’s friends felt his son was
being hypocritical. “The essence of Christianity is forgiveness,” one said. The feedback from
focus groups and polling remained positive. They needed 224,880 valid signatures by July
3, 2008, to win a place on the General Election ballot in November.
* * *
With a phalanx of supporters, Booth filed the paperwork for Initiative 1000 in the
office of Secretary of State Sam Reed on January 9, 2008. Opponents, including Doug
Gardner, were also out in force. Everyone was polite, but the battle lines were drawn.
The first skirmish was over semantics. The Death With Dignity campaign was armed
with an “It’s Not Suicide” handout for reporters. “Suicide in our culture has a negative
connotation,” said Arline Hinckley, a social worker who would become one of I-1000’s
leading voices. “It conjures
up images of terrorists or
severely depressed people,
or even teenagers whose
romance has gone awry.
Suicide is an irrational act
of an otherwise healthy
person,” while “controlling
your own dying process is a
well-thought-out, rational
decision by a person who
would want to live if their
physical circumstances were
otherwise.” Hinckley said
Booth addresses supporters after filing the paperwork for Initiative 1000 in 2008.
the campaign hoped reporters and editors henceforth would use “Death With Dignity”
or “aid in dying.” Austin Jenkins, Public Radio’s State Capitol reporter, wryly observed
afterward that Hinckley did not address whether a terminally ill Middle Eastern suicide
bomber “should thus be called a ‘hastening-death bomber.’ ”
Booth said suicide was “blowing your brains out in the garage,” and there was
“nothing dignified about that.” Other proponents pointed out that the American Academy
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