After spending nearly 30 years in the limelight, Johnie Hammond will retire at the end of the year from the Iowa Senate.

Hammond, D-Ames, said she first became involved with Iowa politics in 1969 while serving with the League of Women Voters. Her fellow committee members and Richard Seagrave, who was then chairman of the Story County Democrats, asked her to run for the Story County Board of Supervisors.

Hammond has always been an active Democrat. She has knocked on doors, worked behind the scenes at precinct meetings and helped raise money for the party.

She knew the contacts. She knew how to get things done.

“At first, I said no,” Hammond said. “I didn’t think that I wanted to do that type of work, and I didn’t know if I could do it, if I was qualified to do it.”

But she later agreed.

Although she didn’t win that first election in 1969, she beat her adversary in the 1974 election and served on the Board of Supervisors until 1979.

She then served six terms in the state House of Representatives starting in 1982.

After 12 consecutive years in the House, she was elected to the state Senate in 1994.

“Eight terms as an Iowa legislator is a long time to devote to Iowa and Story County, and she was more than a representative of the Democratic party,” said Seagrave, professor of chemical engineering. “She stood up for lots of people – students, the disadvantaged, the disabled. Everyone who didn’t have a voice in the Iowa Legislature could use hers.”

Hammond said timing had a lot to do with her career path.

“After my term on the supervisors’ board, I went back to school to get my master’s degree,” she said. “When I finished, the economy was really bad, and a position in the House opened up. I ran and won.”

Hammond said her interest in politics didn’t originate in Iowa, however.

“I became interested in politics because of Adlai Stevenson,” she said. “I was a student at the University of Minnesota in social work, and I admired him a lot. He did some really good things.”

When looking back on her years in the Legislature, Hammond said it was the great deal of satisfaction she felt in the things she could accomplish that kept her going.

“We did a lot of great things my early years,” she said. “We could focus on good issues like child welfare and the work-study program legislation.”

Seagrave said Hammond had a knack for being in the right place at the right time for getting the right information to pass on.

“Hammond was always a voice for people who didn’t necessarily have lobbyists,” he said. “She would study, remember and be resolute in getting something done about it.”

Hammond and a colleague, Ralph Rosenberg, were responsible for the bill that brought the work-study program into effect.

“It was satisfying to help college students in that way because at the time, not many were interested in the issue,” she said.

Hammond also intensively pursued gender-balanced boards and commissions in Iowa.

“That legislation brought women the visibility to be considered for positions on boards and commissions across the state of Iowa when they are looking for candidates,” she said.

She remembers when the men in the Legislature would go out in the evenings and hash over and make decisions over beer at the end of the day.

“Most women didn’t partake, and the next day when it was brought up in session, the women couldn’t participate in discussion because they had no idea what was going on,” Hammond said.

The gender equality legislation turned into a fight. She said she had to write and rewrite the bill because it was defeated several times.

“It took several years of tinkering with the law to get around everyone,” Hammond said. “It was a fight, and a fight that lead to a successful conclusion.”

Seagrave said Hammond went further than her initial seat on the supervisors’ board.

“I was initially very enthusiastic about it,” he said. “She was such a hard-working and caring person.

“She seemed to have the right temperament for the supervisor position as well as a future in legislation.”

Her lasting impact will be the example she set for others in becoming an effective legislator, Seagrave said.

“Her example has encouraged people,” he said. “She made issues something people would think about and that takes a lot of courage to do.”

“She mentored a lot of people during her time that learned a lot and grew a lot,” he continued. “Those people then became more effective much sooner in their terms.”

Many ask why she is retiring.

Hammond answers them: “Because of age alone, I deserve it.”

But in all seriousness and honesty, she said that the gridlock in legislation got to be too frustrating.

“As a policy person, the fighting got to be redundant,” Hammond said.

She said she will miss it, “but I’ve got the legislators’ e-mail addresses. I’ll be sending them my advice because I haven’t dropped my opinions.”

Hammond said she stayed as long as she did because she found it rewarding, although it was difficult and frustrating at times.

However, Seagrave said “the small accomplishments she was responsible for built into a large amount of change.”

Even though her political service will conclude with this term, Hammond said she cannot simply walk away.

“I care too much about it,” she said.