Seattle Times Olympia reporter Ralph Thomas has posted a story on the paper’s website that has been in the rumor mill for some time — Rep. Helen Sommers (D-Seattle) is officially planning to step down when her term expires at the end of this year.
The state’s longest serving legislator was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1972, and has served continuously in the House since then. Currently, she serves as chair of the Appropriations committee which prepares the House version of the state operating budget and only recently finished negotiating the details of the 2008 supplemental spending plan with the Senate.
Sommers has been a strong advocate for higher education and the University of Washington in particular for much of her legislative career. On a personal note, I post this entry with a mix of both admiration and sadness. I have known her for most of my 20 years in Olympia and as a Senate Ways and Means staff member, spent many hours in budget briefings and budget negotiations with her, particularly during the 1990’s. As the UW’s director of state relations, Rep. Sommers has been a true champion of higher education and last year’s 2007-09 biennial budget (the best the University has seen in many, many years) seems like a fitting way to cap her great career.