Helen Sommers: An Oral History

Gary Locke
Sometimes I’d just bop into her office and sit down
and chat. Or she’d come to my office. We enjoyed
each other’s company and enjoyed talking about the
issues – just “shooting the bull” about the process
as well as fiscal policy.
I can’t tell you how often I turned to Helen
Sommers for advice from when I first came to the
Legislature. When I was Appropriations chairman
we conferred a lot, and I turned to her for advice.
I very much valued her friendship, her advice, and
her counsel. I know Helen really wanted to chair
the Appropriations committee when I was chair,
while she was Capital Budget committee chair.
Monahan: She told me: “Throughout his legislative
career, I knew Gary Locke was destined for higher
office and to continue on in positions of extraordinary
power. Gary is very personable, very bright
and very articulate; and he’s also a minority! All
those qualities and his leadership made him an
outstanding candidate for political office and also
an excellent leader.”
Secretary Locke: I think the world of Helen Sommers.
I don’t think she’s ever received the recognition
she deserves, and I don’t think the people of
Washington truly understand and appreciate her
incredible contributions to Legislature, to higher
education and certainly to state of Washington.
We are such a better state because of Helen;
and we have set such a “high bar” in so many
areas in our state. Now that I’m in Washington,
D.C., people here know Washington state and the
pioneering and innovative programs and policies
that developed in Washington state. And, so much
of it has the stamp of Helen Sommers on it.
Monahan: How are things going for you as U.S.
Secretary of Commerce? Helen said “Gary was
destined for higher office and for being in positions
where he was influential. As a state, we’ve got to be
so proud of Gary’s position, and I think he will be
an enormous benefit to the Obama Administration.”
Secretary Locke: I’ve tried to bring a lot of innovations
and the approaches that we devised in
our Washington state, to this Washington D.C.
The federal bureaucracy is very slow moving, very
entrenched, and not as nimble and proactive as we
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were fortunate to have in the state of Washington.
The Congress here focuses on a few issues at a
time, and isn’t able to juggle so many things like we
were able to do in the Washington State Legislature.
But, clearly this is a very trying time for the country
with high unemployment; and with the collapse of
the financial markets. President Obama inherited
the worst economic conditions from the previous
administration.
President Obama has done an incredible job
with the members of his Administration and with
Congress in avoiding a second “Great Depression;”
a depression that my father grew up in, with my
aunts, uncles and grandparents, so it is tough trying
to “turn this ship around,” but we’re making
progress. But, at the same time, we have to focus
on a lot of the issues we pioneered in Washington
state: focusing on education reform; focusing on
job creation; economic diversification; healthcare
reform; and energy! We’re making progress on
those major issues, but it’s not easy.
I’m just so honored to have this opportunity to
serve the President of the United States because
we want him to succeed in the very difficult tasks
ahead. If the President succeeds, American succeeds!
It doesn’t matter if you’re a Republican,
a Democrat or an Independent; whether you’re
from the Pacific Northwest or the Southeast. If the
President succeeds on issues, affecting every-day
Americans – middle-Americans – on education,
quality affordable health care, energy independence,
economic recovery, good-paying jobs and offering
family-wage jobs to people, then the whole country
is better off!
Monahan: You bring so much to the Obama
Administration.
Secretary Locke: I’m very proud what I was able
learn as a legislator and as governor – as a manager
and an administrator from Washington state, and
I hope I make the people of my Washington state
proud!
I have to thank Helen Sommers for a lot of that.
She was an incredible counselor to me. She gave me
the benefit of her wisdom so I didn’t have to repeat
some of the trials and errors of other legislators and