Dear Editor
I first came to know Booth Gardner when he was the Pierce County executive. I remember studying a management book, which focused on management by walking around. Booth actively lived by this philosophy – if he was driving his car and saw someone filling a pothole, he would stop and talk to them. He was always very animated, personable and genuinely interested in what people had to say.
Booth took this approach and philosophy to the governor’s office. When he would show up at a meeting or at one of our state agencies, he was not there to find out what was bad, but to find out how he could help make it better.
He never fit into any molds – Booth did things his own way. He recognized the importance of investments in our students and in early childhood education decades before anyone else even considered it. He was also an advocate of expanding critical social services and health reform. His voice on behalf of all Washingtonians will be greatly missed.”
State Senator Jeannie Darneille
(D-Tacoma)