Union that opposed Sommers may face payback from race

By Andrew Garber
Seattle Times staff reporter

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The Service Employees International Union took aim at state Rep. Helen Sommers in the Democratic primary and lost. Now, payback is looming.

Several prominent Democrats said they're angry at the union (SEIU) for taking on Sommers, a 32-year veteran of the Legislature and chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee.

The union's leaders can expect a harder time in the future getting in to see some of the state's power brokers, several lawmakers said.

To be sure, the union, one of the state's largest, is still an ally of the Democratic Party and plans to spend big bucks to support Christine Gregoire's bid for the governor's office. But House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, said the SEIU hurt its ability to influence state policy.

"It's going to make it harder for them," she said. "They have to understand they've made a deep scar. People will have to really think hard and deep ... about what they did."

The SEIU supported Alice Woldt, a candidate it considered more sympathetic to labor. Woldt and union-backed groups spent more than $275,000 trying to defeat Sommers, with most of the money coming from SEIU.

Woldt, 64, a longtime community activist and former chairwoman of the King County Democratic Party, conceded defeat Monday night after new figures showed Sommers' lead widening as absentee ballots were counted.

It was worth the effort, Woldt said. "I think elected officials who start taking their base for granted need to look at this race," she said. "It is a hopeful sign for democracy."

Sommers said she spent about $180,000. In addition, a political-action committee called the Committee for Progressive Leadership spent about $18,000 in support of Sommers.

Adam Glickman, a spokesman for the SEIU, said Sommers should pay attention to how close the race was. "I would hope Sommers looks at these results and takes a lesson that 10,000 voters in her district weren't happy with the choices she made and [that she] will take that to heart."
 
Sommers, 72, said the only lesson she took away from the race is how extensive union advertising can have a big impact.

The SEIU has about 60,000 members in Washington, including around 28,000 home health-care workers.

It portrayed Sommers as being too conservative for the liberal district, which runs from Phinney Ridge and Ballard to Queen Anne Hill and Belltown. It also contends Sommers didn't support pay raises for home health-care workers in past sessions.

The union blanketed the 36th District with television ads, direct mail, phone calls and signs. More than 200 union members went door to door campaigning for Woldt.

Sommers and her defenders strongly disagreed with the SEIU's characterizations of her record and noted she has some significant labor endorsements of her own, including the Machinists union representing Boeing employees and the city and county employees union.

Sommers said she's not sure how she'll deal with SEIU's leaders next session.

Asked if the union's attack will affect her willingness to listen to them, Sommers only said, "Willing to talk to the people who have beaten up on me, and trashed me? I'm human, too."

Rep. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said his door always will be open to individual SEIU members, but "their leadership I think will have a harder time being taken seriously and getting our ear."

Rep. Eileen Cody, a SEIU member and chairwoman of the House Health Care Committee, agreed. "I'm disillusioned," she said. "I don't think there will be a warm welcome to the (union) leadership in many offices."

Cody said she has a hard time understanding why the union decided to go after Sommers.

"If you look at Helen's voting record, there's nothing wrong with it. There are a number of Democrats with exactly the same voting record who they endorsed," Cody said.

"What's the problem? It's not her voting record, it's that they don't want her even questioning things. It's like we're not even allowed to have a thought process that isn't approved. If that's the way people think we should behave, I don't want to be in the Legislature."

Glickman said Democrats should keep in mind the "SEIU over the last four years has done more than pretty much any other organization in the state in helping Democrats win and maintain a majority in the House. And SEIU will spend multiple times more electing a Democratic governor than we spent in the Democratic primary in the 36th District."

He also said "it would be incredibly cynical for politicians to oppose quality care for the elderly and disabled or help for distressed hospitals based on their disagreement with an organization's endorsement decisions."

Murray and other Democrats upset with the union said their beef is with its leadership, not its members.

"Many of the SEIU members are poorly paid people who are home-care workers. We can't punish them, we need to help them," he said.

Rep. Maralyn Chase, D-Edmonds, a Woldt supporter, warned lawmakers against retribution against union leadership.

She said the Sommers race was just the beginning of a broader movement to turn the Democratic Party away from centrist leadership.

"There's always the next election, so I think it would behoove people not to be too nasty," she said.

"This is not a flash in the pan. This is a whole progressive movement we're dealing with."

House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, one of the union's biggest allies in the Legislature, would not comment on the primary race except to say, "I know there are sore feelings, but I hope people can rise to the occasion and move on."

Chopp has clashed with Sommers over the years and is a friend of Woldt's, but he insists he did not urge Woldt to run.

Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, also said Democrats need to put the episode behind them and move on.

The union made the wrong decision to go after Sommers, he said, "but now that it's over, my personal dealings with them will be just like everybody else."

Andrew Garber: 360-943-9882 or agarber@seattletimes.com