Helen Sommers: An Oral History

Chapter 10
House experiences first 49-49 tie
in state history
Monahan: When the 1977 session opened, Leonard
Sawyer did not run for re-election to the House, and
Rep . John Bagnariol (D-Renton) was elected Speaker
of the House. Bagnariol, who was first elected to
the House 10 years earlier, had previously served
as chair of the House Ways & Means Committee.
Representative Sommers: Yes, John Bagnariol was
a Sawyer ally. When Sawyer named him Chair of
the Ways & Means Committee, it seemed like a very
unusual thing to do. But, when I look back on it,
Sawyer understood who would be a strong leader;
and Bagnariol, it turned out, was that.
The new Speaker, Bagnariol, was more personable
and more accommodating in listening to members
old and new. The House sessions were more cordial,
I’d say, and certainly were more democratic under
Bagnariol than they had been with Sawyer.
However, Speaker Bagnariol and Gov. Ray had
some real differences on issues, and by the time
session adjourned, they did not work well together
at all!
In late 1977, Governor Ray announced that she
would not call a ‘special session’ in 1978, as had
been tradition through most of Evans’ 12 years as
Governor. I think after that, her relationship with
Speaker Bagnariol was at a broil and there was a
lot of speculation about her leadership as well as
her working relationship with the Legislature. I
believe the fact that she decided not to call a session
in 1978, apparently without consulting the
legislative leadership, caused even greater animosity
between the Legislature, particularly the House,
and the Governor.
Monahan: In the very next election, November
1978, the voters statewide elected 49 Democrats
and 49 Republicans in the 98-member House of
Representatives for the first tie in state history, it
was a deadlock. There was no process in statute or
in history to deal with a tie. The elected leader of
the 49 Democrats was Speaker John Bagnariol and
the Republican’s elected leader of his 49-member
caucus was Rep . Duane Berentson .
House Co-Speakers John Bagnariol (D) and Duane Berentson (R)
Representative Sommers: Yes, there was no precedent
at all for a tie. Just six years earlier, there
were 99 members of the House, so a tie was not
possible. A judicial decision said 99-member House
was not constitutional.
As it turns out, Bagnariol and Berentson got
along pretty well. Often after session ended, they
were known to go have a few drinks. So, they got
along pretty well, and I think they worked together
to layout just how the session would function. I
believe they set the tone.
The end result was one Co-Speaker would wield
the gavel and preside on one day, and the other Co-
Speaker would preside the next day. They worked
together quite well. They also established co-chairs
for all the legislative committees. This seemed to
be a viable plan.
As I recall, there was one new member who, before
the plan was worked out, considered switching
parties to resolve the tie, and give the majority to
Berentson and the Republicans. Rep . Carol Monohon
had just been elected from the Grays Harbor area
as a Democrat, but she was a somewhat conservative
legislator. I recall she offered to switch in an
effort to resolve the deadlock, but she never had to
make the switch, which I think was a relief to her.
Bagnariol and Berentson worked out a plan to
deal with the tie. Along with the Co-Speakers and
the co-chairs we laid out just how the tie would