Helen Sommers: An Oral History

pg. 154 Jeanne Kohl-Welles
go for the Appropriations position? “Oh, of course
I would go for Appropriations Committee Chair.
There’s no comparison!” And she did the next year
in the 1994 session. But in the November 1994 election,
Republicans won the House majority and held
it for four years, before the 1999-2001 three-year
tie. Then, for the final seven years of her career,
(2002-2008), Helen served as chair of Appropriations
– and a particularly formidable one!
There’s so much about Helen that most people
don’t know. For example, Helen has an absolutely
fabulous sense of humor. I think most legislators,
most staff and even most lobbyists don’t know that.
When she was working in the Legislature, she was
all business. But, when you’d be with her off campus
at a dinner or a party, she was always a lot of fun.
She has a great sense of humor and at social events
would let down her hair, crack jokes and laugh
constantly. On the job she was so focused on the
business end and wouldn’t seem to get distracted
easily. She had that ‘Laser-point Focus’ that was
constant, and that’s what most people probably saw
in her. It was all business, getting the job done and
sticking to the agenda.
Helen had a passion for higher education and
research. Of course, funding of higher education
isn’t mandated in law; it is totally discretionary.
But, fortunately, Helen was a great protector of
higher education funding. I had served as chair of
the Senate Higher Education Committee or was
‘Ranking Minority Member’ for several years, so
had helped write the Senate higher education budget.
I’d get very frustrated at times because the Senate
higher education budget was never up to what my
expectations were.
When budgets come out of the House or Senate,
first they are designed, to some extent, to establish
leverage over the other chamber. In the Senate, we
would include less funding for higher education
knowing that Helen would make sure the House
would come out with a stronger higher education
budget. The Senate budget would include more
for human services than Helen’s budget would,
so it would come out balanced in the end. I was
particularly gratified that Helen shared my passion
for funding research which brings so much to our
state’s economy and, of course, to advancement
of our knowledge base. She also could always be
counted on for funding of the Burke Museum of
Natural History and Culture on the U.W. Seattle
campus.
I know the Legislature and the people of Washington
will long feel the loss of Helen Sommers.
When people look back on her career, they will
undoubtedly view it as exceptionally memorable
and significant. It’s not so much the individual bills
she prime sponsored, but more the stature of Helen
Sommers and what she stood for. She was known
for fiscal responsibility, fiscal prudence, and support
for higher education. Although she was such a
‘tight steward’ of public funds, she recognized the
value of making investments in higher education,
for example, and the down-side of not doing so! So,
she not only had a breadth of command of issues
and the funding area of our state, but also an enormous
in-depth understanding of the consequences
our funding decisions play in the long-term vitality
of the state of Washington.
During the last 10 years or so, Helen became a
leader on a new issue for her – the importance of
early childhood learning! She talked a lot about
the early brain development between birth to age
three. She was very focused on providing learning
opportunities to the youngest children, and when
I observed her, she was unfailingly engaged with
children who visited Olympia. So again, she could
look beyond just political considerations to what
was really important to her. She commanded her
own ship really well for a long time as Appropriations
Chair, Capital Budget and Higher Education
Committees. I think that’s it: the integrity she always
maintained, the high regard people throughout the
state had for her. Her toughness served her well in
the challenges of being chair of the Appropriations
Committee, as well as of all the other committees
she chaired over her career.
Helen was never afraid to stand up to powerful
groups on what she believed would be best for the
state – not to do so for political reasons or concern
about her own elections, but for her very strong
belief in what was best for the state of Washington!
The other thing about Helen – she never seemed
to me to try to grab headlines to get praise. Many