Helen Sommers: An Oral History

pg. 294 The Press
Survey respondents praised Anderson’s work ethic
and integrity, saying the chairman of the House
State Government Committee is far more than a
single-issue legislator. Anderson has earned respect
from across the spectrum, overcoming open hostility
at times.
“He won medals for bravery in ‘Nam,” said one
lobbyist. “He shows it in Olympia.”
On the other hand, a lot of people admit they
don’t much like veteran state Sen. Phil Talmadge
of Seattle, who can be intimidating and blunt. But
his No. 5 ranking is testimony to his intelligence
and his impact during 16 years in the Senate. Talmadge,
who is leaving to run for the state Supreme
Court, has placed his mark on a dizzying array of
legislative initiatives from health-care reform to
the war on drugs.
At the other end, Sen. Tim Erwin, R-Mill Creek,
finished last in the survey, and at or near the bottom
of every category but “energy.” He works about as
hard as the average lawmaker, in other words, but
has shown little knack - and at times, befuddlement
- when it comes to actual legislating. Erwin
does have plenty of ambition: He knocked off an
incumbent state senator in 1990 and this year is
running for Congress for the second time.
Many of the top-rated lawmakers aren’t household
names, at least in the Puget Sound area. Among
those in the top 10, for example, are Sens. Irv Newhouse
and John Moyer, both Eastern Washington
Republicans. Both are widely respected in Olympia
- Newhouse for his behind-the-scenes legislative
savvy, Moyer for his integrity and gentlemanly ways
- but rarely get attention west of the mountains,
especially with the GOP out of power.
Conversely, some of Olympia’s biggest names
don’t fare well in the survey. As Speaker of the
House, Rep. Brian Ebersole should be among the
Legislature’s most powerful members. But the
Tacoma Democrat ranked 31 st - reflecting, many
respondents said, the generally weak nature of the
Capitol’s current crop of leaders.
Ebersole doesn’t work as hard as someone in his
position should or exert tough enough leadership,
many respondents said. Some see him as reaching
the speakership without ever having developed a
clear idea of what he wanted to accomplish other
than keeping his party in power.
Said one lobbyist bluntly: “He’s reached the
`Peter principle’ apex as speaker.”
Ebersole’s Senate counterpart, Majority Leader
Marcus Gaspard, D-Puyallup, received better marks;
he finished seventh overall. He’s not considered a
classically strong leader, but most say he’s honest,
even-handed and growing in the job.
Republicans, in the minority in both the House
and Senate, don’t do as well as Democrats in the
survey. That’s partly due to political happenstance:
It’s hard to be effective when you don’t control
committees or the state purse. For example, Sen.
Dan McDonald of Yarrow Point was ranked third
among Puget Sound lawmakers in 1990, when he
chaired the Budget Committee. He hasn’t gotten
any less smart and he’s still the GOP’s expert on
fiscal issues, but now that he’s in the minority his
statewide ranking has fallen to 17 th .
In the House, where the GOP holds only about
a third of the seats and has been out of power for
more than a decade, the long drought is having an
impact. Insiders say many Republican House members
have become shrill critics of the Democrats,
rather than real players.
But several rookie Republicans - Dale Foreman
of Wenatchee, Phil Dyer of Issaquah, Suzette Cooke
of Kent and Ida Ballasiotes of Mercer Island - get
high marks. Their common traits: Each is considered
a political moderate and a pragmatist, has gained
expertise on specific issues and often has worked
or voted across party lines.
Those are qualities that many more-senior lawmakers
could use. Indeed, rigid ideologues - conservative
and liberal - received generally poorer ratings.
The five top-rated lawmakers are all Democrats
from the city of Seattle. That’s a notable change
from the 1990 survey, when the city’s lawmakers
were known primarily for their dislike of one another
and for liberal politics wildly out of touch
with the rest of the state.
Today, not only do Seattle lawmakers run the
key budget committees, but they chair 11 of 32