Helen Sommers: An Oral History

Leonard Sawyer elected Speaker of the House
to be vice-chair of the House Revenue Committee.
Wasn’t that unusual in those days for a freshman?
Helen Sommers was named vice-chair
of the Revenue Committee in her first term
Representative Sommers: That was an exception. It
was a decision by Speaker Sawyer to name me vicechair
as a freshman. Rep . Bob Randall, who was
an optometrist, was the new chair of the Revenue
Committee. Randall didn’t have much background
in that area, so that was one of the reasons, probably
along with my masters degree in Economics,
I was named the vice-chair.
I think it was also because Sawyer and Randall
knew I had a background with
the League of Women Voters,
and one of the things at that
time the League worked on
was our tax system. I had given
talks in the League of Women
Voters on enacting a state
income tax. They took some
Rep. Robert Randall
(Editor’s note: Rep. Robert
Randall, an Optometrist,
(D-23 rd Dist.) served in the
House from 1969-1977.
Randall died on
Oct. 15, 2007).
positions on these things and,
as the League president, I gave
speeches to community meetings,
so I had a background
in revenue issues. That’s what
got me interested to run for
the Legislature in the first
place. The League was supporting an income tax
rather than the state’s regressive sales tax. But, that’s
all ancient history now.
Monahan: I read in the book, “Speaker of he
House: the Political Career and Times of John L.
O’Brien” (by Daniel Jack Chasan), where O’Brien
makes the comment, that “Sawyer was a ‘master
pg. 25
politician’ but was not a very good presiding officer”
and that’s when the task of presiding fell on
O’Brien. I’ve noticed, too, over the years including
now where the Speaker very rarely presides during
session. Usually, the Speaker Pro Tempore is the
presiding officer of the House. And, he – in this
case, O’Brien – gets into a mode where they can
move things pretty quickly. But then the Speaker
might take over when it’s a more urgent kind of
issue before the House.
Representative Sommers: I don’t think Leonard
Sawyer liked to preside. It’s
a huge use of the Speaker’s
time and efforts. Sawyer recognized
that O’Brien really
liked to preside and was proud
of being the presiding officer.
Sawyer knew he was not a
particularly good presiding
officer, he turned that duty
over to O’Brien. I guess this
Speaker of the House: The
Political Career and Times
of John L. O’Brien by
Daniel Jack Chasan
(Sep 1990)
change in pattern recognizes
that the Speaker has a lot of
other things to do, and presiding
is a time-consuming task.
He might preside from time
to time but the presiding was a huge demand on
time. That continued throughout the time. When
Frank Chopp was House Speaker (2002 to present),
Speakers Pro Tempores John Lovick and Jeff Morris
were the presiding officers.
Monahan: Would the Speaker, for example, use
that time when you’re debating issues and so on,
to engage in his caucus maybe, I would say, a little
arm twisting or at least encourage votes?
Representative Sommers: Oh, yes! One of the
Speaker’s primary jobs is to try to keep his caucus
together on major issues. In Sawyer’s case, he was
a Speaker who would twist arms on many of the
big issues. Sawyer had a good grasp of government
and knew how government should be run and that
you needed the legislative branch.
Monahan: But, while he presided very infrequently,
Sawyer’s focus was on increasing and advancing
the role of the Legislature. Is that a fair statement?
Representative Sommers: Yes. There were things