Helen Sommers: An Oral History

pg. 116 Joe King
Helen Sommers, who served 36 years in the House,
chairing five committees including the House Appropriations
committee for 12 years.)
Speaker Joe King: Helen describes herself as a
policy wonk, and becoming Appropriations Chair
was her chance to drive policy at a level she was
comfortable with. She made an incredible impact
on the state for years to come. When I think back
on those times, Helen was one of the key leaders in
the House that Democrats, as well as Republicans,
really admired. She was a strong leader who was
respected by both sides of the aisle. With Helen’s
help, particularly her ability to reach across the aisle,
throughout my 12 years, we accomplished major,
significant improvements to state government.
With Helen, as I said before, she was very much
a social liberal, but fiscally, she was conservative.
She marched to her own strong fiscal tune. She
just thought we ought to govern responsibly, and
if there were momentarily political pressures to
bend in one direction, Helen just didn’t bend that
way. A lot of us would do that, but not Helen. She
just didn’t bow to political pressure!
Sometimes it was very hard for her to acknowledge
political realities. I remember on more than one
occasion telling her, “Helen, we just don’t have the
votes to do this! We’re not going to get the support
for that.” That kind of thinking was hard for Helen.
What I remember most about Helen, was how
she was able to gain influence by working with
newer members of the Legislature coming in. She’d
reach out to them and help them learn the process.
She had been a House member for 10 years when
many of us came on in the early 1980s. She was fond
of legislators who were, like Helen, pretty fiscally
conservative, but socially quite liberal. She just had
an eye for developing those kinds of relationships
with new members.
When I first came to the House, I was pretty
green. I don’t know how I identified myself at that
time as far as being a ‘moderate’ Democrat. One
area Helen would cultivate me on is pension issues.
I thought we needed to be careful in doling-out
pensions, and making sure we funded them. That
was also a prime crusade for Helen throughout
her career, making sure our pensions were fiscally
conservative, so I’d say on that kind of issue I, too,
was fiscally conservative.
I remember, as a freshman, I once made a comment
in Caucus on my concerns on the pension
system. Helen followed me out of the room and
said to me, “I’m glad to hear you say that. I have a
pension issue I’m working on and I can certainly
use your help on it.” I can’t remember if she wanted
me to sign on the bill, but she had some role in her
mind that I could play on the pension issue. I think
she did that for two reasons: she may have actually
needed a little help on the measure, but much more
likely, she wanted to reach out and befriend a new
freshman legislator, and to build a bond. We did
have that bond.
Helen really understood how budgets were connected,
and she was always very clear about her
priorities, and higher education was high on her list.
Higher education is one of the most vulnerable parts
of the state budget. It’s not constitutionally mandated;
and it’s not caseload driven like social services
programs. She really knew if you have unchecked
spending in one area, it would negatively filter down
and eventually impact the Higher Ed. budget. So, if
she was working to hold down pensions, or she was
working not to increase health care case loads, she
knew that any extra spending in those areas, would
come at the expense of higher education.
She wasn’t being tough just for the sake of being
tough. She just kept her eye on the whole picture.
Helen could be a very intimidating force. Lots
of people were intimidated by Helen, and there
were a lot of freshmen who would tippy-toe around
when they needed something in Appropriations.
She’d be very direct.
One of the best anecdotes about Helen comes
from Rep. Jeff Gombosky. It was during the
Nisqually Earthquake in 2001. Helen, Jeff, Bill
Grant, Eileen Cody, Lynn Kessler and others were
in a meeting with Speaker Chopp in his office.
During the conversation, someone had opined that
higher education was going to have to take a hit in
the budget. At that very moment, the earthquake
hit and walls started shaking, and some in the office
started to panic. The Speaker said, “Come on,
follow me; let’s get out of here!” Bill Grant was in