Jolene Unsoeld: A ‘citizen meddler’ dedicated to transparent politics
Jolene Unsoeld dedicated much of her life to public service, from serving in the Peace Corps in the 1960s, to representing Washington’s 3rd District in Congress 30 years later. But it was her time promoting open government that left perhaps one of her most indelible marks on the state.
Unsoeld was one of the founding members of the Coalition for Open Government, which emerged in the early 1970s to answer legislative inaction on transparency regarding lobbyists’ influence and the financing of political campaigns. She helped draft and advocate for Initiative 276 to require candidates to disclose their campaign and personal finances, and to obligate lobbyists to register and report their activities.
In 1972, voters overwhelming passed I-276, with 72 percent approving the measure. The election was a watershed moment for the cause of open government. I-276 not only created campaign finance regulation and the Public Disclosure Commission, but also the state’s Public Records Act.
But Unsoeld’s work wasn’t over. Understanding that the law had little impact if the data wasn’t available to the public, Unsoeld for several years reviewed every contribution and expenditure report received by the PDC, publishing annual volumes titled “Who Gave? Who Got? How Much.” She spent so much time at the PDC she was given a key to the office, and had a cart specially made for her home office to keep track of all of the reports.
It was a Herculean effort – reportedly taking 2,000 hours of work – to reinforce the importance of disclosure and the agency. She published the first edition was published on a copier in the winter of 1974, and said, “I submit it to you as at least a first approximation of the kind of summary which must be produced in the future if Initiative 276 is eventually to do the job for which it was designed.”
That first book required second, third, fourth and fifth printings – the later versions professionally done, according to a biography of Unsoeld produced by the Washington Office of the Secretary of State.
“By 1977, Who Gave? Who Got? How Much? had grown to 82 pages,” SOS’ biography reads. “When it went on sale, the marbled halls of the Capitol looked ‘like yearbook signing day at Olympia High School,’ a legislative page quipped.”
Unsoeld gave the PDC the boost it needed, and today data from every report received by the PDC is published online in real-time.
In addition to her continued work with the PDC, Unsoeld engaged in lobbying and activism on other issues, including public power, water quality and other environmental issues.
In 1984, she was elected to the Washington state House of Representatives in the 22nd District. She remained in the House for four years and in 1988, was elected to Congress in Washington’s 3rd District, where she served through 1995.
She also loved the outdoors, and was an avid mountaineer with husband Willi Unsoeld, a member of the first American expedition to summit Mount Everest.
Unsoeld died in November 2021. In 2026, the Public Disclosure Commission named its meeting room in honor of Unsoeld, and established a public policy internship program in her name.