BOOTH WHO? - Washington State Digital Archives

his Spanaway area home. When he wanted to give himself a good talking to, he liked to
walk, usually on the beach near the Gardner family’s getaway on Vashon Island. The next
day, he and McDermott met again before the Metropolitan Democratic Club of Seattle. This
time he held his own. His voice was more confident. Looking back, it occurs to Heck, who
went on to serve as Gardner’s chief of staff, that Booth might have purposely blown the
Rotary Club debate to lower expectations, reasoning that “then everything he did after that
would be good. I don’t think this was true, but I would not put it past him. It could have
been something real subconscious. If you’re crazy like a fox, your mind is working on a lot
of different levels.”
* * *
As chairman of the Senate Ways & Means Committee, McDermott had enormous pull
with state employee unions. AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County & Municipal
Employees, was emerging as a major player in state politics. The Gardner campaign hired a
savvy labor guy, Joe Daniels,
to help head off an outright
endorsement of McDermott.
Daniels prepared a threepage
backgrounder to prep
Gardner for his interview with
union leaders, only to have
Booth turn in a lackluster
performance. Daniels
cornered the candidate in
the parking lot. “Didn’t you
read my report?” Booth
shrugged, “No, but that’s
OK. They’re going with
McDermott anyway.” Luckily, key members of the federation doubted McDermott could
beat Spellman. It was the prison guards who turned the tide. McDermott was a staunch
liberal and “they didn’t trust him on the death penalty,” Dotzauer says. “We assured them
that Booth was OK with it.” Dotzauer, Daniels and his friend Dave Warren, a union business
rep, buttonholed convention delegates all over Ellensburg the night before the decision. “I
think Joe was up in the attic counting votes,” Dotzauer says, remembering Gardner’s stunned
reaction when he called him from a phone booth, shouting, “We stopped him!” Daniels says
AFSCME’s dual endorsement was essential to their second goal – blocking any endorsement
by the Washington State Labor Council that summer. The council opted to stay neutral for the
primary, as did the Washington Education Association. Booth won the endorsement of the
Washington State Patrol troopers, who were at odds with Spellman and their chief over labor
issues. The governor had vetoed a bill to give them collective-bargaining rights. Dotzauer
Members of the AFSCME Union rally for Gardner for governor.
Photo courtesy Ron Dotzauer.
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