Helen Sommers: An Oral History

Eileen Cody
it to Helen. I said “Helen, this was you!” She had
helped us make ours a healthier state. And that
also saved the state money.
I totally respect Helen, and I believe that she
brought so much to the institution of the Legislature.
She had that institutional history and would try to
impart that on those who are younger, new members
when they would come in. She’d try to explain how
caucus rules had been developed, and was able to
explain all the ins and outs of it. She knew when there
were strong Speakers and when there weren’t strong
Speakers. She understood the role of the chairs, so
I always watched her where she was able to work
with both sides and still be a strong committee chair.
I always teased Helen that I had graduated from
high school the year she came into the Legislature.
We developed a friendship – there was a pretty big
age difference, but we thought a lot alike. We were
kindred spirits in that way. I had a lot of knowledge
in health care and she respected that, so part of it
was having mutual respect for each other.
I have many good memories of the years Helen
and I served together. I remember the Nisqually
earthquake (Feb. 28, 2001 @ 10:54 a.m.). Helen,
Bill Grant, Phyllis Kenney, Jeff Gombosky, Kip
Tokuda and some staff people (It was during the
tie) were in Co-Speaker Chopp’s office working
on budget cuts. We were going over areas to cut
piece by piece. Right after we’d told Helen that she
couldn’t hold extra money for higher ed., the earth
started to move! It was quite a scene. Everyone
dove under the table; Bill Grant just stood there. I
jumped under a door frame – with a glass transom,
not even aware there was glass above me! The moment
the building stopped shaking, the Speaker
yelled “Everybody out” and he was the first one
out. I said, “Now that’s leadership!” (laughter)
We were just 11 miles from the epicenter of a 6.8
magnitude earthquake! After we got out of the
building, we teased Helen that she didn’t need to
cause an earthquake just because we told her she
would have to cut the higher ed. budget!
Another good Helen story: I remember, it must
have been in 2003, we were locked in the Modular
Building one of the final nights of the session. We
were under the call of the House negotiating the
unemployment bill. Chopp was keeping us there in
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anticipation of a final vote. Well, at 4 a.m., Helen
said, “This is ridiculous. I’m going home!” And she
left! She knew the bill wasn’t going anywhere that
morning. So she left, and we were under the call of
the House! She got away without House Security
noticing, and she was gone. (laughter) She was right;
the bill didn’t come up for a final vote.
When SEIU (Service Employees International
Union) ran Alice Woldt against Helen in 2004, I
actually think Helen was thinking of retiring then.
She was definitely considering it. It was just crazy
that the union ran someone against her, when all of
us were raising the same questions about how the
money was being spent and what they were doing.
Helen was chair of the Appropriations Committee,
and she was doing her job. It was ridiculous thing to
try to say she was out of step with her district. Mary
Lou Dickerson, Ruth Kagi and I were very supportive
of Helen. One of her campaign pieces has a picture of
the four of us – the strong women of the Legislature.
Since I was a SEIU member that was even a bigger
brouhaha because the union thought I shouldn’t be
supporting Helen – but I was! Helen and I probably
got even closer through that experience. She retired
on her own terms; 36 years for the 36 th District.
When the 2009 session began, Helen wasn’t there.
She was definitely missed. This place wasn’t the same
without her. But, it was a horrible budget year with
the economic crisis across the nation. So there were
many times I’d wished Helen was here, instead of being
retired. I also missed our camaraderie. When she was
here, Helen would have meetings every evening until
7 or 8 p. m, so a lot of times we’d go out for dinner. I
really missed that. I don’t have those late night dinners
to go to anymore. But she deserved the break. I
don’t begrudge her at all. I would have hated to see
her deal with the horrible budget situation in 2009.
We are close friends for life. Helen was always
a member of Hemlock Society; she believed that
when God wants you, it’s time to go. Helen knew
that’s how I felt, too. She said “Cody’s going to pull
the plug on me,” because she doesn’t want to be a
cost to society. She even named me her medical
power-of-attorney. She wanted to make sure no
one kept her around longer that she was ready to
be. I just hope it doesn’t come quickly!