Jeannette Jeannette Hayner Hayner An OralHistory WSOHP You can’t go to the Legislature from Walla Walla and be very provincial about it. You can’t think that if it is something that Walla Walla wants, therefore we should have it. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t think there were things we deserved, but your fi rst duty is to the entire state, and then to your district. I think that is important. Senator Jeannette Hayner An Oral History Washington State Oral History Program Offi ce of the Secretary of State Jeannette Hayner An Oral History Interviewed and Edited by Sharon Boswell Washington State Oral History Program Offi ce of the Secretary of State Sam Reed, Secretary of State Published 2007 Washington State Oral History Program All rights Reserved ISBN 1-889320-18-8 Library of Congress Subject Headings 1. Hayner, Jeannette, 1919-present 2. Legislators—Washington—biography 3. Washington—politics and government Washington State Oral History Program Offi ce of Secretary of State PO Box 40243 Olympia, WA 98504-0243 Telephone: (360) 704-7141 “A small, slender woman with a sly sense of humor, Hayner never tried to be ‘one of the boys.’ She eschewed the feminist movement. Rather like the fi rst woman senator, Reba Hurn, Hayner let her qualifi cations and abilities speak for themselves. In the somewhat gentrifi ed Senate where it is easy to succumb to the fl attery of staff and lobbyists, and where a few of her fellow legislators adopted morals of convenience, Hayner kept her small-town values and her sense of proportion. She led by displaying the traits of leadership: decisive, consistent, rational, confi dent.” Seeberger, Edward D. Sine Die, A Guide to the Washington State Legislative Process. University of Washington Press, 1997 Edition, pages 145-146 CONTENTS Forewords Louis North Hal Zimmerman Emilio Cantu Margaret Senna Preface Acknowledgments Interviewer’s Refl ections Biographical Highlights Interviews: 1. Growing Up in Oregon.............................................................. 1 2. The Early Walla Walla Years....................................................17 3. Launching a Political Career-Election to the House...............25 4. First Years in the House.............................................................41 5. Issues in the House, 1973-1974..................................................60 6. Back to the House, 1975 and 1976............................................77 7. The Move to the Senate..............................................................88 8. The Leadership Coup................................................................101 A Colleague's Commentary: George Scott 9. Minority Leadership and the Big Switch.................................133 A Colleague's Commentary: Denny Heck 10. In the Majority............................................................................154 A Colleague's Commentary: Dan McDonald 11. Budgets and Leadership Issues.................................................180 A Colleague's Commentary: Joe King A Colleague's Commentary: Milt Doumit 12. Last Years in Offi ce....................................................................223 A Colleague's Commentary: Denny Heck Appendix: Photographs and Documents Index FOREWORD I fi rst met Jeannette Hayner when she came to Olympia to serve in the House of Representatives in 1973. We not only shared living quarters during the legislative sessions, but we discussed and debated so many of the issues facing the House and the Senate at that time. Jeannette came from the rural, conservative farming community of Walla Walla, while I represented a more liberal and diversifi ed segment of Seattle and King County. Our conversations were spirited, to say the least, because we each appreciated state problems from such different perspectives. We often disagreed on the appropriate solution, but always with patience and a high regard for the other person’s opinion. Equipped with a law degree, Jeannette became a member of the House Judiciary Committee. Her good judgment on legal issues and her steady disposition were soon recognized, and she quickly became a respected voice in our caucus discussions. At the time that Jeannette and I served in the House and the Senate (1973-1980), there were very few women in either legislative body. In fact, a Ladies’ Powder Room had to be created in the Senate when four of us arrived on the scene in 1974. A group of Senate Republicans recognized Jeannette’s leadership qualities and worked to build the support necessary to elect her as the Senate Republican leader. We succeeded in accomplishing this in 1979. This was an unprecedented event in the “Old Boys’ Club.” Not only were women a very small minority numerically, but they did not occupy any real leadership positions in either house. There was a stunned silence on the fl oor of the Senate when it became evident a woman was about to become the leader of her caucus. Jeannette will long be remembered as a pioneer in feminine legislative leadership. She was not only equal to the challenge. But she did a superb job as the leader of the Senate Republicans. Jeannette set high standards of legislative activity. She was considerate of the input of members of the other party. She mastered the art of compromise—probably the most crucial ingredient in a successful legislative process. Jeannette Hayner leaves a legacy of female legislative leadership in Washington State. She will be remembered as a most reasonable person of great intelligence and integrity. LOIS NORTH Former Member of the State House and State Senate FOREWORD Jeannette Hayner was elected to the Washington State House of Representatives a few years after my election to the House, so we served together there before running and being elected to the Senate. With her experience as an attorney and civic leader for Walla Walla, and as a mother in charge of a household, Jeannette earned our respect and showed many qualities of leadership. Jeannette had a unique style of leadership that meant utilizing the talents of people around her. By listening to people who had valid ideas, they would become part of the solution and sell the program being considered. I remember how she would bring up a subject and then hear the comments from several perspectives as the discussion moved toward a decision. By then, she had enlisted the ideas and support of those with knowledge essential to make it all happen. Jeannette had a sense of humor, comfortable style, qualities of class, and a charm that earned her respect from everyone. She was a natural leader whom I greatly admire. HAL ZIMMERMAN Former Member of the State House and State Senate FOREWORD I fi rst heard about Senator Jeannette Hayner when I started my legislative service in the House of Representatives in 1981. She had the reputation of a strong, effective Senate Leader and after my election to the Senate in 1984, I quickly became convinced that assessments I heard about Jeannette were not only true, they, in my opinion, were greatly understated. She possessed high intelligence, a dedication to service, a sharp legal mind and a good vision on how legislation would affect education, social and economic services. Senator Hayner retired as the Senate Majority Leader in 1992 and it was my pleasure and honor to serve as her Senate Deputy Leader for ten years. As I write this, fourteen years after she retired, the name Jeannette Hayner still resonates through the halls of the Washington State Legislature. The respect and admiration Jeannette Hayner earned during her twenty-year legislative career was on display at the recent dedication of the Jeannette C. Hayner Media Center, the new home of Washington’s public affairs television network, TVW. Civic and political leaders across the political spectrum praised Jeannette—the state’s fi rst woman Senate Majority Leader—for her dedication and commitment to making Washington State a better place to live. In my sixteen years of legislative experience, I never knew a more talented or effective leader. From 1987 to 1992 Majority Leader Hayner had the most diffi cult task of keeping a one-vote majority united to tackle complicated issues, including growth management and education reform. Jeannette Hayner arrived at her desk before everyone else and was always the last to leave. A senator into her seventies, she could work eighteen-hour days as energetically as anyone I have ever seen. She always preferred to walk to her third fl oor offi ce rather than take the elevator. She had an open door policy and was always accessible to those who needed her. Her ready smile and calm manner made it a pleasure to work with her. She ran a very disciplined operation of all Senate business. Some examples of her leadership: Senator Hayner is remembered for her leadership in creating the state’s public television station. When legislation was introduced to create TVW she saw its potential and benefi t and she led the effort to get it approved. Her vision of its value was re-affi rmed by the success of TVW. Under her leadership, a plan was developed to schedule and manage the Senate workload for acting on several hundred bills. Prior legislative sessions were researched which provided information on the time required to act on legislation. Using that data, she FOREWORD effi ciently planned meetings of the Rules Committee and developed the required Senate working days and hours to act on all bills. The result was an orderly, well-organized operation which was effi cient and considerate of other demands on the public, senators and staff, by not having sessions late in the evenings or on weekends. I remember a well-respected newspaper reporter who covered the Senate telling me that in all his experience, covering legislatures in several states, that he had “never seen such a well organized, effective, and effi cient operation.” During one legislative session when the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Governor’s Offi ce was controlled by the opposition party, the fi nal budget that was passed and adopted was a no-new-taxes budget prepared by the Senate Republicans under Senator Hayner’s leadership.