Helen Sommers: An Oral History

pg. 76 Looking back at Helen Sommers’ 36-year career!
voters refused to participate.
The best solution that came to the forefront was
the “Top Two Primary,” which so far is acceptable
to the courts, but the parties are fighting that, too.
The ‘top two’ is a variation of the open but it gives
people choices.
In some ways it is a little bit surprising that the
courts didn’t toss that out, as well. But they didn’t,
so, people do have a choice to continue to vote in
the primary election without regard to political
party, which Washingtonians really like.
I do sense that people are happy with the Top Two
Primary, even though the final candidates could both
be from the same party; and that’s what happened
in the 2008 primary election to replace me after I
retired. In my 36 th District, which is pretty strongly
Democratic, Reuven Carlyle and John Burbank,
both Democrats, were the ‘top-two vote getters.’
Then, in the general election, Reuven Carlyle won
my 36 th District position.
In 2008, Rep. Helen Sommers did not seek reelection to the 36 th
District seat she held for 36 years. In 2009, Rep. Reuven Carlyle succeeded
Helen Sommers
Monahan: What advise would you offer to newlyelected
legislators, given your 36-year career as a
House leader?
Representative Sommers: Well, I’m not inclined to
give advice, but I guess I’d say my belief is that new
legislators must carefully pick the committees on
which they would hope to serve, which is not so easy
for first-termers because they don’t exactly know
what area they want to be involved in.
My position on it as I progressed through my
career in the House, was to be an active member
in the Legislature and to aspire to chair a committee.
That can make a huge difference because the
chair of every committee has a lot of influence. I
was focused on policy issues.
So, when you’re new, you can really learn from
staff and direct staff on what direction you’d like to
go and what you hope to accomplish. I think that is
key! That’s why in the 1970s, when Leonard Sawyer
was Speaker, we established full-time professional
staff. You can learn a lot from staff just by asking
questions, and thoroughly reading the briefing papers
they prepare, and so on.
Monahan: Changing the subject, I wanted to ask you
about a great loss in the House. Just days before the
2009 session began, longtime Rep . Bill Grant (D-Walla
Walla) died unexpectedly. He was preparing to come
out to Olympia for the session, but he died suddenly.
He held the post you’d once held in your career, too,
as House Democrat Caucus Chair. What are your
thoughts on the 22 year career of Rep. Bill Grant?
Representative Sommers: Bill Grant was always stalwart.
He was a strong, solid
leader. He wasn’t too political.
He did come from an area that
was so different from western
Washington, and I felt that he
shouldn’t have been pushed to
run again. I wonder what impact
that had on his health, and his
well-being and his survivability.
Outside of Spokane, he was
Rep. Bill Grant (D-Walla
Walla) served 22 years in
the House (1987 to Jan. 7,
2009), when he died prior
to the opening of the 2009
session. Grant was Chair of
the Democratic Caucus for
17 years
the only Democrat in eastern
Washington in the House! So,
he was pushed to run again.
I was Democratic Caucus
Chair in 1993, and in 1994
I became Appropriations
Chair, so Bill succeeded me as Caucus Chair and