''Ex-governor backs initiative to legalize assisted suicide''

Booth Gardner was an early leader in Washington state's Howard Dean for President campaign. My personal connection is that I worked on his lobbying campaign for education funding in 1988 and he hosted my then girl-friend (now wife) and I at a lunch in the Governor's mansion after that effort. I even have a picture of us all together there. As I age, I empathize with his current circumstance:

"OLYMPIA — Former Gov. Booth Gardner said Monday night he'll head up an effort to legalize assisted suicide in Washington state through a citizens initiative.

Gardner, 69, who has Parkinson's disease, also told the crowd that he will undergo brain surgery to try to reverse the neurological damage of the disease. Gardner had symptoms of Parkinson's during his final year in office, which was 1992, and has been taking the maximum amount of medication to control the symptoms.

According to The Associated Press, Gardner said he plans to have innovative brain surgery in a few weeks to implant a type of pacemaker. He said doctors tell him he has about 8 percent of normal control and that the surgery should give him at least five productive years of life, with half the medication.

Gardner said he knew the issue would be unpopular among some, but said, "This is how I feel."

"I don't know if I'll make it, but I'm going to make that effort," he said of the initiative.

He said that in his life he has always made the tough choices for himself, even as a child deciding whether to study hard. He thinks he should be allowed to make the tough calls at life's end as well."

-from David Postman's story in today's Seattle Times.