Helen Sommers: An Oral History

Denny Heck
representative and
former Chief Clerk denny heck
Comments on the Career of
Rep. Helen Sommers
Former House Majority Leader Denny Heck:
My introduction to Representative
Helen Sommers was
in 1973, when I was first a
committee clerk to the House
Education Committee, and
later a research analyst to the
House Education Committee
when the Office of Program
Research (OPR) was first
created in 1973. So, my mem-
Denny Heck
ory, my perception, my impression
of Helen actually
predated our service together as legislators.
I was a member of the House Education Committee
legislative staff, but Helen Sommers was
not a member of the Education Committee at the
time, as I recall. Remember, in 1973, legislative staff
was something new. Prior to that time, there was
virtually no full-time staff in the Legislature. But,
in 1973, we had some full-time staff; we had joint
committees on transportation and education, which
were minimally staffed, but not aligned with the
standing committees – those that convened during
the legislative session. The joint committee staff
continued, but eventually went away with creation
of the Office of Program Research (OPR).
Helen was first elected in November, 1972.
She was the first Democrat from the 36 th District
to win a seat in some 30 years! Helen ran against
six-term Republican Rep. Gladys Kirk. In the position-2
seat another Democrat, Ian MacGowan,
was challenging first-term Rep. Ken Eikenberry
(R-36). I don’t think the Democratic Party actually
thought Helen would win her seat; but they had
pg. 135
high hopes for Ian. So I think the party focus was
on Ian McGowan. But Helen really campaigned
hard, particularly in ‘door-belling,’ and she pulled
it off by a 53-47 percent margin. Ian MacGowan
lost by a very narrow margin, and he went on to
a very successful career as a lobbyist; and Helen
went on to serve 36 years from the 36 th District.
Helen was re-elected to a second term in 1974
with a huge win. But in 1976, the race was interesting.
Helen had served for four years and her seatmate,
Republican Ken Eikenberry, was seeking his sixth
term. To many people’s surprise, he decided to give
up his ‘safe-seat,’ and challenge Helen for her Position-1
seat. He proclaimed “this district isn’t big
enough for both of us!” And he challenged Helen.
The most memorable part of the
Sommers/Eikenberry race, for me, wasn’t just
that Helen prevailed, but it was a Helen Sommers
billboard that someone painted a mustache on her
face. Helen delights in telling the story about how
her campaign group wanted to immediately correct
it. But Helen said, “No! Let’s let that run; it’s going
to backfire.” The conventional wisdom is that that
kind of defacing reflected poorly on Ken’s campaign.
I have no idea whether Ken was involved in that –
I strongly suspect he wasn’t – but it didn’t matter.
Helen beat Eikenberry pretty soundly. Of course,
Ken went on to be elected Attorney General for a
dozen years. He ran unsuccessfully for governor,
and he was elected chair of the Republican Party,
so he managed to survive the defeat.
After four years on House staff, I decided to
run for the House. I ran for a 17 th District House
seat, against a Democrat in fact. It turned out to
be an open seat, as the incumbent, Gene Laughlin,
withdrew when I announced. He had served in the
House from 1973-77.
When I came to the House, John Bagnariol
was our new Speaker. My first term, Democrats
had 62 member majority; my second term we had
a 49-49 tie; and my third term, our caucus was in
the minority! In my fourth term we won back the
majority. I went all the way around the clock in
four terms! I was elected to a fifth term, but I didn’t
serve because I resigned to become Chief Clerk of
the House for one term (1985-87).