Helen Sommers: An Oral History

The Press
53 lawmakers in the delegation, only 17 are women.
Yet five of those - Rep. Lorraine Hine, D-Des
Moines, Murray, Cantwell, Rep . Helen Sommers,
D-Seattle, and Brough - are among the top 10.
One former lobbyist, a woman, said some of the
best people in the Legislature are women because
their skills have been undervalued in the marketplace.
“In King County, most good, qualified men have
jobs that pay well enough that they can’t afford to
go down to the Legislature,’’ the former lobbyist
said. “With women, that hasn’t happened yet.’’
Hine and Sommers, both political veterans, have
shown different ways how to crack the remnants
of Olympia’s old-boys club.
Hine, the former mayor of Des Moines, has
been in the Legislature since 1980, but her stock
has risen fastest in the past two years. Increasingly,
said one observer, Hine has learned to listen to all
sides of an issue and has emerged as somebody
likely to propose a compromise solution. As caucus
chair, she is part of House Speaker Joe King’s
leadership corps.
Sommers, chairwoman of the House Capital
Facilities and Financing Committee, has made her
mark in policy rather than politics. She’s not the negotiator
or political strategist that Hine is, but she is
considered one of the delegation’s smartest members.
She has become an expert in the capital construction
budget, an area many lawmakers find
repulsively dull, too complicated or both. At the
same time, she is subject to a complaint often heard
about Seattle’s lawmakers: Politicians, staffers and
lobbyists find her aloof and difficult to deal with,
and as a result she is not as effective as she might be.
One of the survey’s more interesting perceptions
is of Sen. Frank Warnke, D-Auburn.
Warnke, a lawmaker since 1965, is an old-style
politician who likes to cut deals in a back room
and who is famous for remembering and returning
favors. It’s a style that has made him one of the
delegation’s more effective members, and his No.
18 ranking reflects respect among insiders.
But several respondents said Warnke also can
use his power to undercut those whom he deems
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disloyal, especially those who welsh on a favor. As
caucus chairman for the Senate Democrats, for
example, he has been known to prevent an errant
colleague’s bill from getting a timely vote, or to
keep somebody’s pet pork-barrel line item out of
the capital construction budget.
Increasingly, Warnke’s style is fading in favor
of a more open, understated approach.
With the strong showing by Cantwell, Sprenkle
and Sommers - not to mention the detail-loving
budget writers Locke and McDonald - a case could
be made for the rise of the technocrat.
In each instance, the lawmakers have found success
not by trading favors over a late-night scotch
but by putting forth thoughtful policy proposals.
Add to that a warm personal style, and you have
someone insiders believe could be a rising star in
the 1990s - Patty Murray.
“I think the worst legislators are people who
don’t have good people skills,’’ a state bureaucrat
said. “The system depends on people skills - on
being able to communicate with your caucus and
with the people across the aisle.’’
That’s part of the explanation for the high marks
given to Murray’s first-year performance.
One business lobbyist said Murray set the
standard against which all first-term lawmakers
should be compared. She worked very hard early in
the session last year making contacts, studying the
backgrounds of several issues and learning about
the Capitol’s political workings.
In the waning days of the session, she wasn’t
afraid to use what she’d learned. The most frequently
cited example is her decision - against the advice of
some of those in her caucus - to fight powerful special
interests on a family-leave bill. Murray, despite
long odds against success, insisted the legislation
be extended to include leave from work for people
who have a family member with a terminal illness.
To almost everybody’s surprise, she won.
“Man, I was impressed,’’ a second lobbyist said
of Murray. “She wants to change the world, and
she makes you believe there’s a good chance she
can do it.’’