Helen Sommers: An Oral History

pg. 82 Helen’s Final Day of Her Legislature Career!
We’re in different parties politically, but we’re of
the same heart. Helen, to me you are an amazing
individual. I want to tell you, if you’re ever looking
for a grandson, I’d love to have you call me!”
Speaker Chopp: “Can I entertain an amendment
to the budget? (laughter & applause)
Rep . Bill Fromhold (D-49 th District): “Helen, as
someone who has served as
your vice-chair for a number
of years, I want to start off by
thanking you very much for
allowing me to do that. It was
very important to me, and I
thought we worked very well
together, and I enjoyed that
time immensely!
We’ve all recognized the
Rep. Bill Fromhold
great things you’ve accomplished
with the big issues as with the Capital Budget,
so I want to talk about a couple of small issues that
made a difference to me.
For those of you who will have an opportunity
to chair a committee and be responsible for the
committee process, there are two things I think are
important that Helen Sommers surely showed me.
As chair of a major committee in the Legislature,
if you came to testify before Helen’s committee on
the Saturday marathon, you got an opportunity to
speak. The meeting started on time and the vicechair
had the stop watch. The person at the end had
the same opportunity to testify as the person who
was first to sign-up. That may not seem like a big
deal, but if you come here from Spokane, Republic
or Vancouver or wherever, the fact that the chair
of the Appropriations ensures that you have your
time to speak is an important lesson for any of us
who may chair a committee to learn.
I came to this process being naturally bi-partisan, I
hope, but the other thing I learned from Helen – and
we all can learn from her is as tough as that budget
can be sometimes, and as contentious as it can be,
the Appropriations Committee members always had
a laugh. We all got along and it was due to the fact
that Helen ran the meeting in a fashion that even
at the end of contentious discussion – sometimes
disagreement – we could put that aside. The ranking
minority always expressed appreciation for Helen’s
willingness to listen, and involve everybody, allow
questions to be asked and full discussion. Those
are perhaps you’d say two small things, but they’re
what makes this process work, and Helen was an
outstanding example for me and I hope for others,
in that regard.”
(editor’s note: Former Rep. Bill Fromhold, 68,
lost his fight with an aggressive form of leukemia,
Sept. 30, 2010. Fromhold represented the 49 th District
in the House (2001-2009). He retired at the end
of the 2008 session. He had served as chairman of
the House Budget committee. Before being elected
to the House, Fromhold had served as president of
the Greater Vancouver chamber of commerce, and
previously, longtime educational Service District
112 Superintendent and evergreen Public Schools
administrator.)
Rep . Glenn Anderson (R-5 th District): “This tribute
would not be complete without
recognizing that Helen Sommers
– back in 2003 – actually
accomplished the most profound
political event that I
have ever seen in any forum!
At 2:00 in the morning we
were over at the ‘people’s
portable’ (the Modular buildings)
Under the Call of the
Rep. Glenn Anderson
House (security forcibly restrains
you from leaving the
building). Helen had decided it was a little too
much for 2 A. M., so she managed to escape from
Sergeant-at-Arms Finley (laughter) and all of a
sudden we were out on one of the back patios of
the modular buildings – and the word went out!
“Has anybody seen Helen Sommers?” Helen Sommers
has escaped! (laughter) Well, we saw Helen
going over and getting into her car! She was looking
over her shoulder, got in her car and one of the
Security Guards came to us and asked if we’d seen
her. We told him: “She’s driving away right there!
(laughter) Shortly thereafter, the ‘Call-of-the House’
collapsed, and we got to go home. We thank you,
Helen, for everything!”