Helen Sommers: An Oral History

pg. 126 David Ammons
of today.
Monahan: During your career at Associated Press
(1971- 2008), you covered seven governors – from Dan
Evans to Chris Gregoire. Two were Republicans and
five were Democrats; also, two were women. What
are your thoughts about the governors you’d covered
during your years as a reporter?
Ammons: Each governor had their own unique
approach. Some came out of the Legislature. Dan
Evans was the Minority Leader of the House before
he was elected governor in 1965 and he loved the
give-and-take, and he worked with whichever party
was in power. The early environmental movement
included a whole bunch of moderate Republicans,
so with Evans and colleagues from both sides of
the aisle they invented the Dept. of Ecology and
Shoreline Management and Public Disclosure. The
1970’s was the ‘golden era’ of cooperation between
the Legislature and the Executive. It was a great
time of creativity and activism. They passed all
those bond issues. Washington Future bonds, for
infrastructure, water and waste projects and so
forth. Evans was talking ‘tax reform’ as was the
Legislature. So it was a real ‘golden time’ for that.
Dixy Lee Ray came in and warred against the
Legislature. She was an outsider; she was a disaster
in many respects; she was a difficult and prickly
person; and she didn’t believe in partnering with
the Legislature.
John Spellman, a moderate Republican, was
a victim of the economy ‘going to hell,’ and the
Legislature, Speaker Bill Polk and all, tried to fix
it in little incremental ways and not getting enough
tax money; so had to come back about seven times,
and that was just a nightmare.
Booth Gardner, who had spent one term in
the state Senate, was a breath of fresh air; he was
very collaborative by nature. And Dean Foster
and Denny Heck were on his staff, so they were
back to a collaborative time with the Legislature.
Education reform was a real good example.
Mike Lowry was not a good fit. He was a legislator
by instinct, but he hadn’t quite figured out
how to be a governor and how to work with this
Legislature.
Gary Locke was a sweetheart to deal with. When
he was in the House, he was Appropriations chair
and really liked the Legislature a lot. I think he had
a pretty good collaborative relationship. He wasn’t
great in the leadership department, but he did collaborate
well. He did have a Republican majority
through much of his two terms. I think he didn’t
mind working with Sen. Dino Rossi, chair of the
Senate Ways & Means Committee and the rest. He
didn’t mind writing ‘skinny little budgets,’ I think
if the truth were known. He was always kind of a
skin-flint when he was in the House. And, despite
his background, and coming from the Central area
of Seattle, he wasn’t a great social liberal. He was
more a business Democrat.
Chris Gregoire hadn’t been in the Legislature,
but she’s had amazing people around her, such as
Denny Heck, Cindy Zehnder, Victor Moore, and
Marty Brown. My impression of the Gregoire Administration
is there’s respect of the two branches
with each other. The view is that you have to have
collaboration or else nothing gets done.
McCrady: Helen always had a saying: The Republicans
are the opposition; and the Senate is the enemy.
Ammons: Yes. I think with people after they stay in
the House particularly, they become a creature of
the institution. I see that with a lot of really good
people, any number you could mention that could
have easily moved over to the Senate. I think the
House is fun. It turns over every two years, and I
think it’s more alive and open to new things. This
is really stereotyping, but I think the fresh ideas
come from the House, and the Senate sort of sits
in judgment of that; takes a longer view and has to
be convinced of the legislation. It’s probably good
to have the tension between the two chambers. I
actually enjoy it when the two chambers are divided.
We got a lot of stuff when House Speaker Joe King
and Senate Majority Leader Jeannette Hayner were
opposites; Growth Management for example.
And even the crazy ties in the House (1979-80
and again in 1999-2001) must have been awfully
frustrating! To force everyone to the table and say
‘we’ll pass nothing’ if we can’t agree; it rubs all the
edges off everything! But I don’t know how else
in this day and age you can get people from both