Helen Sommers: An Oral History

pg. 136 Denny Heck
Leonard Sawyer resigned from the Speaker post
in 1976 and didn’t run for re-election from the 25 th
District. I didn’t know Leonard very well because
I was on staff when he was Speaker. I knew John
Bagnariol though. I thought they were both ‘Wiley
Politicians’ – pretty smart about things political. I
wasn’t close to Sawyer, so any observation I would
have would be fairly limited.
It occurs to me that ‘Lord Acton’s rule’ undid
them both! Namely, “Power corrupts; absolute power
corrupts absolutely.” In Lenny’s case, he got too
far removed from his caucus. So his caucus decided
to make the change. In John Bagnariol’s case, of
course, he got caught up and somewhat involved
in illegal activities leading to federal racketeering
charges that eventually imprisoned him. And Sen.
Gordon Walgren, too, but he was later exonerated.
In both cases, I’ve been unabashed about saying
I thought it was real border-line entrapment.
I thought what was proven is that they were both
subject to temptation. Who among us isn’t? That
doesn’t excuse them, but I think it largely was what
was going on at that time.
John Bagnariol was preparing to run for governor.
And that would have been an interesting
race. He didn’t like the governor, Dixy Lee Ray, a
fellow-Democrat, albeit a quite conservative one.
John was preparing to run against her in 1980, and
would have, had he not gotten side-tracked by a
brief visitation to Lompoc (federal prison).
I’ve often said, Dixy should have watched the
movie The Godfather, which was big back at this
time. The phrase by Marlon Brando, “It’s not
personal! It’s just business.” The same is true of
politics! Dixy should have watched that over and
over again!
In my first term, I chaired the Basic Education
subcommittee. Helen Sommers was chair of
the House Revenue Committee. My second term,
I co-chaired the Education Committee with Rep.
Rod Chandler (R-45 th ). That was during the twoyear
‘first ever’ 49-49 tie. (Chandler later became
a Congressman in the state’s newly created 8 th
Congressional District). Helen Sommers became
co-chair of Revenue with a very conservative Republican,
Rep. Ellen Craswell.
Helen was in the House when I was on staff
and, of course, when I was elected in 1977. It’s a bit
embarrassing to admit this – Helen’s like 20 years
older that I am – but, as a very young man, I looked
at Helen as a woman who was very, very smart
and very attractive. The “full meal deal,” sharper
than a whip. I didn’t really have the occasion to
work with her directly when I was on staff or even
much later. In order to really get to enjoy Helen as
a person – her warmth threshold is pretty high, but
when you get there, she’s a lot of fun. My analogy
is she has a long fuse to that point. But when you
have dinner with her and a glass of wine with her,
then she’s a ‘hoot.’ In her work environment, she’s
really dialed in, it’s really all about the business.
And, in that sense, she’s not especially warm. There
is that side to Helen, but it’s pretty much ‘What are
we here for and what are we about?’
When I talk to incoming members, I always tell
them that this place is about relationships to a large
degree; but I also tell them it is about substance and
content. And, Helen always put her emphasis on
the substance and the content in the analysis. That
is, knowing the material and understanding the issues
before you. That was a higher priority for her.
In my third term (1981-83), we Democrats were
in the minority and I was elected Minority Floor
Leader. In my fourth term I was Majority Leader,
and Wayne Ehlers was the Speaker of the House
(1983-87).
In 1981, John Spellman was elected governor.
He had a Republican majority in the House and
Rep. Bill Polk was the Speaker of the House. Bill
and most in his caucus were very conservative,
while Governor Spellman was a more moderate
Republican.
There is always tension between the two branches.
It doesn’t matter whether they’re members of the same
political party or not. The genius of the American
Democracy is that there is ‘shared power,’ but it’s
not always gracefully shared. So, there’s going to
be institutional tension between the executive and
the legislative branches irrespective of party or
personality. Sometimes it works better than other
times, but there’s always some tension. Secondly,
bad times and bad circumstances make for bad