Helen Sommers: An Oral History

Barry Sehlin
Former representative
Barry sehlin
Shares his thoughts about
Rep. Helen Sommers for her
Oral History
Barry Sehlin spent 26 years in the U.S. Navy
as a Captain and as the Base
Commander at Whidbey
Island Naval Air Station. In
1990, he retired from the Navy,
but soon was recruited to run
for the House of Representatives
by the Republican Party
in the 10 th Legislative District.
Representative Sehlin served
in the 10 th District for a total
Barry Sehlin
of 10 years, including serving
as the chairman of the House
Capital Budget Committee and as the co-chair and
ranking Republican on the House Appropriations
Committee.
During that time, Rep. Sehlin worked closely
with Rep. Helen Sommers, a Democrat from Seattle’s
36 th District. They were friends and they worked
together, including their service as co-chairs of the
House Appropriations Committee during the final
year of the 1999-2001 tie in the House. Representative
Sehlin shares his views on his legislative colleague,
Rep. Helen Sommers.
Rep . Barry Sehlin: I did spend 26 years in the Navy.
I was a Naval Aviator – a pilot. I served in a number
of places and of course was deployed pretty much
around the world at different times. My last assignment
was as the Base Commander at the Naval Air
Station on Whidbey Island.
My wife, Susan, and I both grew up in Anacortes
which is less than 20 miles from the air station. So
we still have family, friends and close connections
to the local area. Oak Harbor has been our home
pg. 157
in the northwest for basically all our lives. So, when
I retired, we stayed in the local area. After I retired
from the Navy in 1990, I worked for a brief time for
a newspaper publishing company. Then, I had the
opportunity to go to graduate school at Western
Washington University.
In 1991, there was a proposal put forward by
the Navy to eliminate the Naval Air Station at
Whidbey Island. Since I was going to school, and
had a less-demanding schedule than others, and
since I had some recent experience as the Base
Commander, I volunteered to participate with some
other members of the community to prevent the
effort to shut down the Whidbey Island Naval Air
Station. I spent a couple of months working out of
the office of Congressman Al Swift in Washington,
D.C. Basically I was a lobbyist and part-time staffer
for the congressman.
I think that experience with the Whidbey Island
station, which got a fair amount of public attention
as well as the community involvement I had
as Base Commander led someone – I don’t know
who – to propose my name as a candidate for an
open legislative seat in the 1992 election. I was called
one day by a recruiter of the House Republican
Caucus, that’s how I was first approached to run
for the office.
So, I ran for election to the House of Representatives
in 1992 and won. I must say, I was one of
very few new Republicans elected to join the ranks
in Olympia that year. In that election, the House
Democrats picked up seven more seats, giving them
a 65-33 majority! Mike Lowry, a longtime Democrat
Congressman, was elected governor.
In my first term, I was appointed to serve on
the House Appropriations Committee, a seat I had
through all my 10 years in the House. I also was on
the Capital Budget Committee. So, on both committees
I served with Rep. Helen Sommers.
When I was elected, my entire life-experience
was largely in the Navy. So when I came to the
Legislature, I was a complete neophyte. If you want
to know about flying airplanes, come see me. But,
if you want to know about building buildings, or
buying real estate that sort of thing that we dealt
with largely on the Capital Budget Committee, I