Helen Sommers: An Oral History

Third year of tie; and the Nisqually Earthquake!
care. The federal government covers a lot of people
with health care.
But, we didn’t get anything significant accomplished
on health care reform that year, given the
tie. The session went on 162 days, which was the
second longest session in state history, 52 days
longer than a normal session.
Monahan: The November 2000 election, as we said,
extended the 49-49 tie into the third year. But, just
before the 2001 session began, to the surprise of
many, Rep . Renee Radcliff (R-21 st District) who
had been reelected, resigned her seat on Jan. 10,
2001, after serving three terms in the House and
being reelected to her fourth. As happens when a
member steps down, in this case, the Snohomish
County Commissioners appointed her successor,
Rep . Joe Marine, a Republican, to her seat, thus
maintaining the tie.
Representative Sommers: Yes, Renee did resign and,
of course, her replacement,
Joe Marine, was quickly appointed
to the seat, so we
continued with a tie for the
third year.
Just before the 2001 session
began, the House suffered
another great loss with
the death of Rep . Pat Scott.
Pat Scott was a very dear
friend, and is a great loss to
the House, Jean Berkey was appointed to the 38th Rep. Pat Scott
District seat Pat held for 17 years. So that left two
seats to fill. Joe Marine and Jean Berkey were both
on the Snohomish County ballot for a November
special election. Berkey, a Democrat, was elected
to Pat Scott’s seat, while Marine, a Republican,
was defeated by Democrat Brian Sullivan, giving
the House Democrats the majority in the House for
the first time since the 1994 session. It was only a
50-48 majority, but it certainly changed the House
after three difficult years.
With that, Rep. Frank Chopp was elected Speaker
of the House and our caucus was in the majority.
That also allowed me to again become the Chair –
rather than the co-chair – of the House Appropriations
Committee. I held that post for seven years,
pg. 55
through the 2008 session, when I decided to retire.
House Speaker Frank Chopp (D-43 rd District)
Monahan: That must have been a pretty interesting
time and very much a relief for the Democratic
Caucus to regain the majority for the first time in
seven years; three of which were the tie.
Representative Sommers: Everybody likes to be
in control! Now, we had a 50-48 majority, which
is very difficult to deal with, because 50 votes are
often very tough to get even in your own caucus
But, each election after, our caucus got a little bit
larger, and in the 2008 session, my last, the House
Democratic Caucus had grown to 63 seats, with 35 in
the Republican Caucus. That’s a powerful majority.
Monahan: For the 2002 session, legislators were
able to temporarily return to the Legislative Building,
which had been shorn-up in anticipation of a
pending major reconstruction and remodel. The
75-year-old domed building was declared safe, but
still needed several years for a complete restoration.
In the meantime, two large modular buildings were
erected on the Pritchard Library parking lot in
preparation for the 2003 session. The two modular
structures were the center of House sessions for the
2003-04 sessions.
Representative Sommers: Yes, the Legislative Building
held up very well during the earthquake, but
the architects determined there was a need for a
major restoration to give the building new, extended