Helen Sommers: An Oral History

Lynn Kessler
house majority leader
lynn Kessler
Speaks about Rep. Helen Sommers
House Majority Leader Rep . Lynn Kessler: I was
elected to the House of Representatives
from the 24th
District in 1992, so my first
session was 1993. That election
saw Congressman Mike
Lowry elected governor and
an amazing 65-seat Democratic
majority (65-33) in the
House; as well as a 28-21
majority for Democrats in
Lynn Kessler
the Senate. It was the largest
House majority in about 35
years. We had 37 women in the 98-member House,
23 women in the Democratic Caucus and 14 women
in the Republican Caucus. When I first came to
the House, Lorraine Hines had been Majority
Leader, but she resigned in Jan. 1993 when she was
appointed Chief of Staff to Governor Lowry. Julia
Patterson was appointed to Hine’s seat.
In my first year, the Speaker of the House was
Brian Ebersole of Tacoma. And that year, Rep.
Helen Sommers was the new chair of the House
Democratic Caucus. Helen had been in the House
for 20 years when I was elected, and she was a very
strong voice in our caucus.
When I came to Olympia, Helen scared the Hell
out of me!! (laughter) I knew – Oh my God, she’s
so knowledgeable; and she so spoke her mind! So,
at the start, I was always terrified of her. When
Helen was in Olympia, she was all-business! But,
early on, Helen invited me to dinner with a couple
other freshmen. At first, I was quite surprised, but
as I got to know her, that was kind of her M.O.
She would invite a few people to go out to dinner,
particularly new members, and sort of talk with
them on a more personal level. Not Helen Sommers
pg. 139
the Legislator, but Helen Sommers the person. She
was very good at developing relationships with
some of the new members and getting to know
them on a personal level. If she had a glass or two
of wine, she was very fun, and funny. We had one
meeting at her house early on with a small group
of new members, and Helen started serving wine.
I always thought she did that on purpose just to
get the crowd loosened up a bit.
What was interesting about Helen, when she was
in the House, she was all business. Don’t talk fun;
don’t talk anything, let’s just do legislative stuff. But
when she was out to dinner with us, she’d say. “Let’s
not talk anything about the Legislature. I want to
talk about anything other than the Legislature!”
As I got to know her, I discovered that Helen
was very accomplished, and had a broad range
of interests; so I learned how very interesting she
is herself. But, she was especially focused about
bringing things out of members like me, who were
new and usually scared to death of her. When you
get away from the campus, Helen is really quite a
charming person. Her, should I say, non-legislative
life, brought out how charming she really is. She
was very interested and interesting off campus.
When the session ended, often Helen would travel
the world. She had an amazing interest in art and
world travel.
It was in 1994 that Helen became Appropriations
chair, after Gary Locke left the House to become
King County Executive So, Helen had achieved
the post she coveted: chair of the Appropriations
Committee. But, as it turned out, the 1994 election
turned this place around as Republicans won the
majority of the House. Helen served one year as chair
of Appropriations and then became the Ranking
Democrat for four years; followed by three years as
co-chair (during the 1999-2001 tie); and then back
to Appropriations chair again for the final seven
years of her 36-year career in the House.
Something I remember about 1994 was when
The Seattle Times conducted a survey of the most
effective Legislators, and who had the greatest
integrity. Well, Helen was rated the Number One
Legislator in Washington, and I remember a fellow
I knew who was at the bottom and was quite