Helen Sommers: An Oral History

The Press
“A part of what made those losses so painful
for Helen is that she felt she wasn’t being taken
seriously and treated equally by the men in charge,”
says a friend, political activist Krishna Fells.
Others think those defeats were less a matter
of sexism than style in a place where personal
relationships are often more valuable than policy
proposals.
“Helen has never suffered fools gladly,” Rep.
Ruth Fisher says, “which can be a big disadvantage
around here.”
At a recent Appropriations Committee hearing,
she granted one legislator time to testify about a bill.
As he rambled on beyond the allotted time, Sommers’
eyes twitched in irritation and she clutched
her microphone. Finally cutting him off, Sommers
apologized to committee members for wasting so
much time.
Sommers says her stint as caucus chairwoman
for the last two years, where she had to minister
to the needs of members, taught her some lessons.
She’s better able to recognize when she’s going to
lose, as she did on tax cuts this year, and when to
call off the fight.
“But I’m not in this position just to get along
with people,” she says. “I’m clearly an old-fashioned
person. I’m inner-directed. I’m not all that influenced
by what my peers think of me.”
Copyright (c) 1994 Seattle Times Company, All
Rights Reserved.
pg. 293
The Insiders Rate State Legislators
– The Best & The Rest – Who Has
The Most Energy, Integrity And
Intelligence? Who’s The Most Effective?
Times’ Survey Finds Out
By Mark Matassa, Jim Simon
Sunday, May 15, 1994
Brains and hard work, not necessarily the qualities
most often associated with politicians, are in
fact the best predictors of success in the state Legislature.
Integrity helps, but you can do without it.
And experience, the seeming soul of power in
legislative politics, is no guarantee of effectiveness
or respect.
Those are among the findings of a new Seattle
Times survey on the skills and effectiveness of the
state’s lawmakers. With three-fourths of the Legislature
up for election this year, The Times set out
to measure the vast differences among the women
and men who make up the House and Senate.
The Times asked 200 lobbyists, nonpartisan
legislative staff members and lawmakers to rank all
Legislature members. More than 60 participated.
As in 1990, when The Times conducted its first
legislative survey, the highest-rated lawmakers this
year are those who control state finances. House
Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Helen
Sommers, the Seattle Democrat who took over
as budget chief last year when Gary Locke was
elected King County executive, finished atop the
list. And her counterpart in the Senate, Ways and
Means Committee Chairwoman Nita Rinehart,
ranked second.
There are some surprises in the survey, too.
Rep. Cal Anderson, whom many voters know
only as an openly gay legislator leading the annual
crusade for gay rights, finished third statewide.