Les AuCoin
Encyclopedia
Walter Leslie "Les" AuCoin (icon ; born October 21, 1942), is an American politician and the first Democrat
elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from since it was formed in 1882. The seat has been held by a Democrat ever since.
AuCoin’s 18-year tenure—from the 94th United States Congress
through the 102nd
—is the sixth-longest in Oregon history. In his career, AuCoin took a prominent role in abortion rights, local and national environmental issues, multiple use management of federal forests, and national security. During the presidency of Ronald Reagan
, he wrote the ban to stop Interior Secretary James Watt
's plan to open the Pacific Outer Continental Shelf
to oil exploration. AuCoin was an early advocate of diplomatic relations with The People's Republic of China and arms control with the Soviet Union
, and a critic of U.S. support for the Nicaraguan Contras
and the rightist government of El Salvador
in the 1980s. At the time of his retirement in 1993, he was 84th in overall House seniority, dean of the Oregon House delegation, a majority whip-at-large, and a veteran member of the House Appropriations Committee.
AuCoin previously was a two-term member of the Oregon House of Representatives
(1971–1974). In his second term, he was House Majority Leader, at the age of 31. He is a full-time author, writer, lecturer and occasional blogger. He and his wife, Susan live in Bozeman, Montana
.
on October 21, 1942 to Francis Edgar AuCoin, a short order cook from Portland, Maine
, and Alice Audrey Darrar, a waitress from Madras, Oregon
. When he was four, his father abandoned the family. Les and his brother Leland moved with their mother to Redmond, Oregon
, then a small Central Oregon
sawmill and farming town, living on her restaurant wages and tips. AuCoin attended Redmond High School
, where he was elected most valuable player on the school's basketball
team. He also joined the staff of the school newspaper, where he discovered an aptitude for writing—a skill that would help propel him into journalism, Congress and, in political retirement, life as a writer. In 1960, he became the first male in his extended family to graduate from high school.
AuCoin enrolled at Pacific University
in Forest Grove, Oregon
, then transferred to Portland State University
. In 1961, he enlisted in the United States Army
. He was assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division and the 10th Mountain Division
where he served as a public information specialist, writing dispatches to The Nashville Banner
, the Louisville Courier-Journal
, The Nashville Tennessean
, Stars and Stripes
, and Army Times
, among other publications. AuCoin's Army postings included Fort Ord
, California; Fort Slocum, New York; Fort Campbell
, Kentucky; Fort Benning
, Georgia; and Sullivan Barracks, West Germany. While stationed in the segregated South, AuCoin was caught up in a near race riot
in reaction to a sit in by blacks at an all-white lunch counter, an event that crystallized his zeal for progressive politics.
Following his Army career, AuCoin worked at The Oregonian
newspaper in Portland
, then returned to Pacific University, where he was hired as the director of the school's public information department and simultaneously completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism in 1969.
led him to co-chair Eugene McCarthy
's Presidential campaign
in Oregon's Washington County, west of Portland. AuCoin stayed with McCarthy after President Lyndon B. Johnson
dropped out of the race. McCarthy's upset victory over Robert F. Kennedy
in the Oregon Democratic primary encouraged AuCoin to run for elective office in 1970, seeking and winning an open seat in the Oregon House of Representatives
in Washington County
. Two years later, he was re-elected to the 57th Oregon Legislative Assembly
. The Democrats took control of the chamber and he was elected House Majority Leader, the second highest position in the House.
In his time in the Oregon House, AuCoin was noted for championing environmental, consumer protection, and civil rights issues.
As the Democrats’ floor leader, he helped pass maverick Republican Governor Tom McCall
's plan (opposed by legislative Republicans and later rejected by voters) to provide 95% state funding for public schools, enacted statewide land use planning rules, reduced penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana
, and established funding of mass transit from highway funds previously earmarked solely for roads. AuCoin also chaired the committee that led the efforts to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment
.
of Oregon's 1st congressional district
announced that he would not seek a fourth term. AuCoin won a five-way Democratic primary with more than 50% of the vote and then faced Republican state public utility commissioner Diarmuid O'Scannlain in the general election. With the Watergate scandal
fresh in the minds of voters, AuCoin became the first Democrat ever elected to the 1st district, winning 56% of the vote to O'Scannlain's 44%. He was subsequently re-elected eight times despite being initially targeted by the national Republican Party as "an easy mark." After AuCoin's departure, the Republican Party continued to regard the district as one they could expect to win, though Democrats have held the seat ever since.
, and two years later, was appointed to the subcommittee on Defense appropriations
. AuCoin became a legislative critic of weaponizing space
, opposing the Strategic Defense Initiative
, basing his opposition on probability theory
, holding that it could not fully defend the United States in the event of an attack. He also authored a legislative ban on U.S. flight tests of anti-satellite weapon
s, which carried the force of law unless the President certified that the Soviet Union
tested a similar weapon of its own. His amendment effectively legislated arms control for the first time through an act of Congress.
AuCoin supported the nuclear freeze movement and was a leading critic of President Reagan
's proposed MX missile, arguing that such "first strike" weapons would prompt the Soviet Union
to match them, and, since a first strike ability favored the aggressor, reasoning that such an event would increase the vulnerability of the U.S.
Although he opposed the Reagan administration on strategic weapons, AuCoin used his position on the defense subcommittee to improve U.S. conventional arms. On an inspection tour at Fort Benning
, he learned from the commander of the United States Army Infantry School
that replacement of the aging M47 Dragon
anti-tank missile was a major infantry priority because it exposed its operator to enemy return fire until his round found its target. AuCoin, himself a former infantryman, pressed for the development of a modern substitute, often resisting the U.S. Army Missile Command
and other agencies that favored other technologies. AuCoin's legislation resulted in the adoption of the FGM-148 Javelin
missile, which put its homing device in the round rather than the launcher to allow its operator to fire and immediately seek cover. The Javelin was first used in the 2003 Iraq War and is considered by some military scholars to be "revolutionary" in its potential to put infantry on a more equal footing against armor in conventional land warfare.
and Guatemala
and the Nicaragua
n Contras
—irregular forces armed by the Reagan administration to topple the Sandinista government—led him to travel frequently to Central America to document right wing human rights abuses. In 1987, a constituent of AuCoin's named Ben Linder
was killed by Contra forces while helping build a small hydroelectric electricity generator for Nicaraguan villagers. Pressed by AuCoin to investigate, the U.S. State Department noted discrepant accounts of Linder’s death: the Contras asserted that Linder died in a firefight, but village witnesses claimed the Contras gave no opportunity to surrender and assassinated Linder at point-blank range.
In his second Congressional term, AuCoin's 1978 amendment to grant partial most favored nation trade status to the People's Republic of China
was the first China trade bill to reach the House floor. Though narrowly defeated, it presaged the United States' formal normalization of political and trade relations with China
less than a year later. In February 1979, AuCoin led a trade mission of Oregon business leaders to China, the first such delegation from any U.S. state.
to address a number of economic priorities throughout Oregon, including construction of the Oregon Trail Center
in economically distressed Baker City
, renovation of Crater Lake Lodge
, restoration of the Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde
and Confederated Tribes of Siletz
, and construction of the Seafood Consumer Research Center in Astoria
and the Fort Clatsop
Memorial Visitors Center.
Working together, AuCoin and Oregon Senator Mark Hatfield
secured federal funding for the construction of Portland's acclaimed east- and west-side light rail projects, the largest public works project in Oregon history. Since its unveiling, the rail system has guided urban growth and spawned an estimated $3.5 billion in new construction in the Portland metropolitan area. For his work on the project, a plaza at one of the stations
is dedicated to him.
AuCoin had a hand in the rescue of Northwest lumber and plywood mills during the recession of the early 1980s
. The mills faced financial ruin when federal timber sales contracts they had purchased at a face value of hundreds of millions of dollars were rendered worthless by the collapse of the lumber and plywood markets. Along with Senators Hatfield and Howard Metzenbaum
, AuCoin helped write the Federal Timber Contract Payment Modification Act of 1984. After requiring timber companies to pay a penalty to the U.S. Treasury, the bill released the firms from their contracts and allowed them to return approximately 9.5 billion board feet of standing timber to the government, much of it commercially pre-thinned.
area by buying out a mining claim in the area’s geologically significant Rock Mesa and served on the committee that helped write the 200-mile offshore economic zone, which would become known as the Magnuson Act
. Although the Port of Portland
shipyards, a major Oregon employer, stood to benefit from oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
, AuCoin opposed the plan on environmental grounds. He also helped preserve Cascade Head
on the Oregon Coast, supported the Columbia Gorge Scenic Protection Act, helped stop the construction of Salt Caves Dam on the last free-flowing stretch of the Klamath River
, co-authored the 1988 bill quadrupling the designation of National Wild and Scenic Rivers in Oregon, and fought the construction of a plant at the Umatilla Chemical Depot
to incinerate excess chemical weapons.
His work on the 1984 Oregon Wilderness Act, which doubled wilderness acreage in Oregon’s federal forests, earned him a Distinguished Service award from the Sierra Club
.
However, Randal O'Toole
, a leading environmental economist, observed that the harvest numbers cited by critics included timber that had been previously sold, often commercially pre-thinned, returned to the government through the Timber Contract Relief Act, and therefore were inaccurately inflated. Excluding the "buy-back" volume net harvests of new "green" timber were lower than average: 2.6 billion board feet (bbf) in 1986 and 1987, 2.3 bbf in 1988, and 1.9 bbf in 1989.
AuCoin was also criticized for working with Senator Hatfield, Washington Representative Norman D. Dicks
, and House Speaker
Tom Foley
for legislating a special timber sales program in 1990. The legislation, referred to disparagingly by some environmentalists as "The Rider from Hell," was in response to an injunction by federal judge William Lee Dwyer
that shut down all logging in federal forests in the Pacific Northwest after the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management failed to develop management plans for the threatened Northern Spotted Owl
. Responding to the imminent collapse of jobs in timber and related industries, the amendment legislated a harvest, but also gave old-growth forests statutory status for the first time, directed that fragmentation of them be minimized, and banned logging of them in designated spotted owl habitat areas identified in the environmental impact statement., effectively overruling Judge Dwyer's order. While AuCoin and the other sponsors stated an intention for the law to be temporary while plans to protect forests and threatened species such as the spotted owl were put in place, it authorized a two-year harvest of more than 5 billion board feet in Oregon and Washington and became a precedent for future industry-supported environmental waivers long after AuCoin left Congress. In his last years in Congress, AuCoin worked to lower the regional harvest to 1.1 bbf in 1991, 0.8 bbf in 1992, and 0.6 bbf in 1993.
, which barred public funds for abortion services for pregnant Medicaid recipients as well as in U.S. military hospitals abroad. The amendment was dropped in the Senate when President George H. W. Bush
threatened to veto the entire defense appropriation measure if it remained in.
, a fact which angered many of his urban constituents while pleasing numerous rural voters, AuCoin switched his position during his legislative career, emphasized with an essay in The Washington Post
, supporting what would become the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act
which passed after he left office in 1993. At the time of his action, no other member of the Oregon delegation supported tighter gun control laws.
against Republican incumbent Bob Packwood
, giving up his seat in the House of Representatives. Both the Democratic primary and the general election were strongly contested, and involved several controversies.
As the election season got underway, analysts from both major parties predicted that Packwood would have one of the toughest seats to defend in what was anticipated to be a volatile election year. Packwood was regarded as one of the nation's "most powerful elected officials" with "extraordinary political instincts." But the state's largest newspaper, The Oregonian, had described AuCoin (Packwood's presumed main challenger) as having "persistence, imagination and clout [that] have made him the most powerful congressman in Oregon and one of the most influential members from the Northwest."
For AuCoin, however, first came the Democratic primary. He faced Portland attorney Joe Wetzel and Bend
businessman Harry Lonsdale
in what became a "brutal, bitter" contest. Lonsdale, who had run a close race against incumbent Mark Hatfield
for Oregon's other Senate seat two years prior, emerged as AuCoin's principal rival; Wetzel, who criticized Packwood and AuCoin as long-term, ineffective members of Congress, trailed throughout the race, and was not invited to an April debate sponsored by the City Club of Portland
. Lonsdale took on "the Les AuCoin-Mark Hatfield-Bob Packwood coalition" as his primary cause, stating "I consider Les AuCoin a good man who has been corrupted by PAC money over the years".
In a race the Seattle Times called "as negative as many voters can remember," Lonsdale attacked AuCoin as "corrupt" and tied to the timber industry. Lonsdale's environmental credentials also came under scrutiny, and AuCoin noted Lonsdale's reversal of support for nuclear power and belated opposition to the re-opening of Trojan Nuclear Power Plant
. AuCoin turned accusations of undue influence back on Lonsdale, pointing out that his company (Bend Research) had received millions in federal defense contracts.
On the Republican side, Packwood had gone through a divorce in 1991, and his ex-wife threatened to run against him amid mounting concerns about his "eye for the ladies." The socially conservative Oregon Citizens Alliance
(OCA) was at the apex of its statewide prominence with 1992's anti-gay Measure 9
and its newly formed American Heritage Party (AHP). The group endorsed Republican challenger Joe Lutz, who had run against Packwood in the past on a family values
platform; but Lutz soon withdrew, announcing a divorce of his own. As early as January, the OCA considered backing former gubernatorial candidate Al Mobley as an independent
or as a member of the AHP. Mobley ultimately decided in mid-August not to run, stating that he could not bear the idea that he might be responsible for causing AuCoin to be elected.
Even during the primary, Packwood and AuCoin traded barbs on various issues. Packwood joined Lonsdale in criticizing AuCoin for his involvement in what was reported as a rash of check-bouncing among members of Congress; AuCoin characterized the issue as a series of mistakes, rather than gross abuses. In what was believed to be an unprecedented move, Packwood attempted to influence the Democratic primary's outcome by running television ads against AuCoin.
Ultimately, the results of the Democratic primary were so close that an automatic recount was triggered. AuCoin held a news conference on May 23 in the South Park Blocks
stating he would wait for the recount, but the margin was currently 248 votes in his favor. On June 18, over a month after the primary election, AuCoin was certified as having won by 330 votes. Upon conceding the race, Lonsdale pondered mounting a write-in campaign, reiterating that Oregon needed an "outsider" in the Senate.
By the end of June, when the recount was complete, AuCoin was nearly out of campaign funds; Packwood entered the general election race with $3.2 million and was ranked sixth nationwide among Senators raising funds outside their home state during the 1990–1992 election season.
AuCoin opposed weakening the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to erase the Northern Spotted Owl’s impact on the timber industry, but Packwood (“one of the timber industry’s chief allies,” according to Oregon State University political scientist William Lunch) assailed “environmental extremists” and introduced legislation to convene a presidential cabinet committee to exempt the endangered owl from the ESA.
In September, Packwood pulled ads that had falsely criticized AuCoin for missing votes while speaking to special interest groups. By October, Packwood had raised $8 million, spending $5.4 million more than AuCoin, and leading all Senate incumbents. Yet that fall, the two candidates were in a dead heat, with Packwood continuing to criticize AuCoin on attendance, his House bank account and the spotted owl, and AuCoin echoing the campaign of popular Presidential candidate Bill Clinton
by accusing Packwood of favoring the wealthy over the middle class.
The outcome of the bruising race was too close to call on election night, but on the following day, Packwood emerged as the winner with about 52% of the vote to AuCoin's 48. In his victory press conference, Packwood endorsed for AuCoin for Secretary of the Interior
in the Clinton administration. When told of Packwood's comments, AuCoin responded by saying "I think that's real special."
Magnifying the controversy of the race was a decision by the Washington Post to delay until after the election coverage of its year-long investigation into detailed claims of sexual abuse and assault made by 10 women against Packwood. The paper ultimately published the story two months after election day. Oregon's largest daily newspaper, The Oregonian
, did not break the story either, despite its own investigation and its congressional correspondent being subjected to Packwood's advances. This led to a joke, "If it matters to Oregonians, it's in the Washington Post (a twist on the Oregonian's slogan, "If it matters to Oregonians, it's in the Oregonian.") The paper's editor would later admit to having been less than aggressive in pursuing the story due to concerns about "…ruining a man's career."
A group of Oregon voters battled Packwood lawyers in briefs before the Senate Rules Committee
in an unsuccessful attempt to persuade the panel to refuse to seat the senator on the grounds of election fraud for lying about the abuses. The senator admitted to the acts in 1994 and was forced to resign after the Senate Ethics Committee censured him for his conduct in 1995.
AuCoin was considered for Secretary of the Interior
and Secretary of the Army in the new Clinton administration, though he was not offered either post. When news of Packwood's resignation broke, AuCoin stated that he would not come out of retirement to run for the seat. He also stated that he would not engage in professional lobbying, but was criticized the next year for becoming the chairman of the government relations practice group in the law firm Bogle & Gates.
A decade later, Governor Ted Kulongoski
nominated AuCoin for the Oregon Board of Forestry
, reportedly to balance out the perceived dominance of the timber industry on that board. But the industry mounted an extensive lobbying campaign against the former congressman, accusing him of environmental extremism, and his appointment was derailed in the Oregon State Senate
.
in Ashland as a visiting professor of political science and business ethics. He was named Outstanding Professor of the Year by the SOU chapter of Phi Kappa Phi
, the nation's largest scholarly society. AuCoin was also voted by SOU students as one of the university’s four “most popular professors.” While at SOU, he won an Oregon Associated Press award for political commentary at Jefferson Public Radio
. AuCoin writes on national issues for the Huffington Post, Daily Kos
, and Blue Oregon blogs, for Writers On The Range, an editorial service for newspapers across the West, freelances magazine articles and publishes book reviews for regional newspapers. He is co-author of The Wildfire Reader: A Century of Failed Forest Policy. In the 1960s, while working at Pacific University, he won several national awards for excellence in editing the school’s official magazine.
AuCoin and his wife Sue campaigned in Wisconsin in 2004 for Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry
for the last month of his presidential race. In 2008, they drove to Ohio to spend the last five weeks of the election cycle campaigning for Democratic nominee Barack Obama
.
The former congressman lectures at and serves on the advisory board to the Maxwell School’s National Security Studies program at Syracuse University
in New York. In 2009, Defense Secretary Robert Gates
appointed him to the Transformation Advisory Group of the Pentagon’s U.S. Joint Forces Command
. AuCoin is a corporate director at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle
and Teton Heritage Builders, Inc., a high-end residential housing contractor located in Jackson, Wyoming, and Bozeman, Montana. He has been an expert witness in federal district court on issues regarding fiduciary duties of corporate board directors, and he served as vice chair of the board of trustees of Pacific University
.
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from since it was formed in 1882. The seat has been held by a Democrat ever since.
AuCoin’s 18-year tenure—from the 94th United States Congress
94th United States Congress
The Ninety-fourth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1975 to January 3, 1977, during the administration...
through the 102nd
102nd United States Congress
-House of Representatives:- Senate :* President:Dan Quayle * President pro tempore: Robert Byrd - Majority leadership :* Majority Leader: George Mitchell* Majority Whip: Wendell Ford- Minority leadership :...
—is the sixth-longest in Oregon history. In his career, AuCoin took a prominent role in abortion rights, local and national environmental issues, multiple use management of federal forests, and national security. During the presidency of Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, he wrote the ban to stop Interior Secretary James Watt
James G. Watt
James Gaius Watt served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior for President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1983.-Early life and career:...
's plan to open the Pacific Outer Continental Shelf
Outer Continental Shelf
The Outer Continental Shelf is a peculiarity of the political geography of the United States and is the part of the internationally recognized continental shelf of the United States which does not fall under the jurisdictions of the individual U.S...
to oil exploration. AuCoin was an early advocate of diplomatic relations with The People's Republic of China and arms control with the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, and a critic of U.S. support for the Nicaraguan Contras
Contras
The contras is a label given to the various rebel groups opposing Nicaragua's FSLN Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction government following the July 1979 overthrow of Anastasio Somoza Debayle's dictatorship...
and the rightist government of El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
in the 1980s. At the time of his retirement in 1993, he was 84th in overall House seniority, dean of the Oregon House delegation, a majority whip-at-large, and a veteran member of the House Appropriations Committee.
AuCoin previously was a two-term member of the Oregon House of Representatives
Oregon House of Representatives
The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of 57,000. The House meets at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem....
(1971–1974). In his second term, he was House Majority Leader, at the age of 31. He is a full-time author, writer, lecturer and occasional blogger. He and his wife, Susan live in Bozeman, Montana
Bozeman, Montana
Bozeman is a city in and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. The 2010 census put Bozeman's population at 37,280 making it the fourth largest city in the state. It is the principal city of the Bozeman micropolitan area, which consists...
.
Early life
AuCoin was born in Portland, OregonPortland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
on October 21, 1942 to Francis Edgar AuCoin, a short order cook from Portland, Maine
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
, and Alice Audrey Darrar, a waitress from Madras, Oregon
Madras, Oregon
Madras is a city in Jefferson County, Oregon, United States. Originally called The Basin after the circular valley the city is located in, it is unclear as to whether Madras was named in 1903 for the cotton fabric called "Madras" that originated in the Madras area in India, or from the city of...
. When he was four, his father abandoned the family. Les and his brother Leland moved with their mother to Redmond, Oregon
Redmond, Oregon
Redmond is a city in Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. Incorporated on July 6, 1910, the city is located on the eastern side of Oregon's Cascade Range, in the High Desert, and is considered the geographical heart of Central Oregon...
, then a small Central Oregon
Central Oregon
Central Oregon is a geographic region in the U.S. state of Oregon and is traditionally considered to be made up of Deschutes, Jefferson, and Crook counties. Other definitions include larger areas, often encompassing areas to the north towards the Columbia River, eastward towards Burns, or south...
sawmill and farming town, living on her restaurant wages and tips. AuCoin attended Redmond High School
Redmond High School (Oregon)
Redmond High School is a public high school located in Redmond, Oregon, United States.-Academics:In 2008, 48% of the school's seniors received their high school diploma...
, where he was elected most valuable player on the school's basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
team. He also joined the staff of the school newspaper, where he discovered an aptitude for writing—a skill that would help propel him into journalism, Congress and, in political retirement, life as a writer. In 1960, he became the first male in his extended family to graduate from high school.
AuCoin enrolled at Pacific University
Pacific University
Pacific University is a private university located in Oregon, United States. The first campus began more than 160 years ago and is located about 38 km west of Portland in Forest Grove...
in Forest Grove, Oregon
Forest Grove, Oregon
Forest Grove is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States, west of Portland. Originally a small farm town, it is now primarily a bedroom suburb of Portland. Settled in the 1840s, the town was platted in 1850 and then incorporated in 1872 and was the first city in Washington County...
, then transferred to Portland State University
Portland State University
Portland State University is a public state urban university located in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1946, it has the largest overall enrollment of any university in the state of Oregon, including undergraduate and graduate students. It is also the only public university in...
. In 1961, he enlisted in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. He was assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division and the 10th Mountain Division
10th Mountain Division
The 10th Mountain Division is a light infantry division of the United States Army based at Fort Drum, New York. It is a subordinate unit of the XVIII Airborne Corps and the only division-sized element of the U.S. Army to specialize in fighting under harsh terrain and weather conditions...
where he served as a public information specialist, writing dispatches to The Nashville Banner
Nashville Banner
The Nashville Banner is a defunct daily newspaper of Nashville, Tennessee, United States, which published from April 10, 1876 until February 20, 1998...
, the Louisville Courier-Journal
The Courier-Journal
The Courier-Journal, locally called "The C-J", is the main newspaper for the city of Louisville, Kentucky, USA. According to the 1999 Editor & Publisher International Yearbook, the paper is the 48th largest daily paper in the United States and the single largest in Kentucky.- Origins :The...
, The Nashville Tennessean
The Tennessean
The Tennessean is the principal daily newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Its circulation area covers 39 counties in Middle Tennessee and eight counties in southern Kentucky....
, Stars and Stripes
Stars and Stripes (newspaper)
Stars and Stripes is a news source that operates from inside the United States Department of Defense but is editorially separate from it. The First Amendment protection which Stars and Stripes enjoys is safeguarded by Congress to whom an independent ombudsman, who serves the readers' interests,...
, and Army Times
Army Times
Army Times is a weekly newspaper serving active, reserve, guard and retired United States Army personnel and their families, providing news, information and analysis as well as community and lifestyle features, educational supplements, and resource guides.Army Times is published by the Gannett...
, among other publications. AuCoin's Army postings included Fort Ord
Fort Ord
Fort Ord was a U.S. Army post on Monterey Bay in California. It was established in 1917 as a maneuver area and field artillery target range and was closed in September 1994. Fort Ord was one of the most attractive locations of any U.S. Army post, because of its proximity to the beach and California...
, California; Fort Slocum, New York; Fort Campbell
Fort Campbell
Fort Campbell is a United States Army installation located astraddle the Kentucky-Tennessee border between Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and Clarksville, Tennessee...
, Kentucky; Fort Benning
Fort Benning
Fort Benning is a United States Army post located southeast of the city of Columbus in Muscogee and Chattahoochee counties in Georgia and Russell County, Alabama...
, Georgia; and Sullivan Barracks, West Germany. While stationed in the segregated South, AuCoin was caught up in a near race riot
Race riot
A race riot or racial riot is an outbreak of violent civil disorder in which race is a key factor. A phenomenon frequently confused with the concept of 'race riot' is sectarian violence, which involves public mass violence or conflict over non-racial factors.-United States:The term had entered the...
in reaction to a sit in by blacks at an all-white lunch counter, an event that crystallized his zeal for progressive politics.
Following his Army career, AuCoin worked at The Oregonian
The Oregonian
The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
newspaper in Portland
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, then returned to Pacific University, where he was hired as the director of the school's public information department and simultaneously completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism in 1969.
Oregon House of Representatives
In 1968, AuCoin's opposition to the Vietnam WarVietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
led him to co-chair Eugene McCarthy
Eugene McCarthy
Eugene Joseph "Gene" McCarthy was an American politician, poet, and a long-time member of the United States Congress from Minnesota. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the U.S. Senate from 1959 to 1971.In the 1968 presidential election, McCarthy was the first...
's Presidential campaign
Eugene McCarthy presidential campaign, 1968
The Eugene McCarthy presidential campaign of 1968 was launched by Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota in the latter part of 1967 to vie for 1968 Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States. The focus of his campaign was his support for a swift end to the Vietnam War through a...
in Oregon's Washington County, west of Portland. AuCoin stayed with McCarthy after President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
dropped out of the race. McCarthy's upset victory over Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
in the Oregon Democratic primary encouraged AuCoin to run for elective office in 1970, seeking and winning an open seat in the Oregon House of Representatives
Oregon House of Representatives
The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of 57,000. The House meets at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem....
in Washington County
Washington County, Oregon
- Major highways :* Interstate 5* Interstate 205* U.S. Route 26* Oregon Route 6* Oregon Route 8* Oregon Route 10* Oregon Route 47* Oregon Route 99W* Oregon Route 210* Oregon Route 217* Oregon Route 219-Demographics:...
. Two years later, he was re-elected to the 57th Oregon Legislative Assembly
57th Oregon Legislative Assembly
The 57th Oregon Legislative Assembly convened for its regular session from January 8 to July 6, 1973. There was also a special session from January 24 to February 24, 1974....
. The Democrats took control of the chamber and he was elected House Majority Leader, the second highest position in the House.
In his time in the Oregon House, AuCoin was noted for championing environmental, consumer protection, and civil rights issues.
As the Democrats’ floor leader, he helped pass maverick Republican Governor Tom McCall
Tom McCall
Thomas Lawson McCall was an American politician and journalist in the state of Oregon. A Republican, he was the 30th Governor of Oregon from 1967 to 1975. A native of Massachusetts, he grew up there and in Central Oregon before attending the University of Oregon...
's plan (opposed by legislative Republicans and later rejected by voters) to provide 95% state funding for public schools, enacted statewide land use planning rules, reduced penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana
Cannabis in Oregon
Cannabis in Oregon relates to a number of legislative, legal, and cultural events surrounding use of cannabis Oregon was the first U.S. state to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of cannabis, and among the first to authorize its use for medical purposes...
, and established funding of mass transit from highway funds previously earmarked solely for roads. AuCoin also chaired the committee that led the efforts to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution. The ERA was originally written by Alice Paul and, in 1923, it was introduced in the Congress for the first time...
.
U.S. Congress
In 1974, United States congressman Wendell WyattWendell Wyatt
Wendell Wyatt was a Republican United States Representative from Oregon's 1st congressional district who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1964 until 1975.- Life before Congress :...
of Oregon's 1st congressional district
Oregon's 1st congressional district
Oregon's 1st congressional district consists of the northwest corner of Oregon. It includes Clatsop, Columbia, Washington, and Yamhill counties, and southwest Portland, part of Multnomah County, which belonged to the 3rd district before the 2002 redistricting....
announced that he would not seek a fourth term. AuCoin won a five-way Democratic primary with more than 50% of the vote and then faced Republican state public utility commissioner Diarmuid O'Scannlain in the general election. With the Watergate scandal
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
fresh in the minds of voters, AuCoin became the first Democrat ever elected to the 1st district, winning 56% of the vote to O'Scannlain's 44%. He was subsequently re-elected eight times despite being initially targeted by the national Republican Party as "an easy mark." After AuCoin's departure, the Republican Party continued to regard the district as one they could expect to win, though Democrats have held the seat ever since.
Defense
In 1981, AuCoin won a seat on the House Appropriations CommitteeUnited States House Committee on Appropriations
The Committee on Appropriations is a committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is in charge of setting the specific expenditures of money by the government of the United States...
, and two years later, was appointed to the subcommittee on Defense appropriations
United States House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense
The House Subcommittee on Defense is a standing subcommittee within the United States House Committee on Appropriations.-Members, 112th Congress:-External links:* Official page...
. AuCoin became a legislative critic of weaponizing space
Space weapon
Space weapons are weapons used in space warfare. They include weapons that can attack space systems in orbit , attack targets on the earth from space or disable missiles travelling through space...
, opposing the Strategic Defense Initiative
Strategic Defense Initiative
The Strategic Defense Initiative was proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983 to use ground and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. The initiative focused on strategic defense rather than the prior strategic...
, basing his opposition on probability theory
Probability theory
Probability theory is the branch of mathematics concerned with analysis of random phenomena. The central objects of probability theory are random variables, stochastic processes, and events: mathematical abstractions of non-deterministic events or measured quantities that may either be single...
, holding that it could not fully defend the United States in the event of an attack. He also authored a legislative ban on U.S. flight tests of anti-satellite weapon
Anti-satellite weapon
Anti-satellite weapons are designed to incapacitate or destroy satellites for strategic military purposes. Currently, only the United States, the former Soviet Union, and the People's Republic of China are known to have developed these weapons. On September 13, 1985, the United States destroyed US...
s, which carried the force of law unless the President certified that the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
tested a similar weapon of its own. His amendment effectively legislated arms control for the first time through an act of Congress.
AuCoin supported the nuclear freeze movement and was a leading critic of President Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
's proposed MX missile, arguing that such "first strike" weapons would prompt the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
to match them, and, since a first strike ability favored the aggressor, reasoning that such an event would increase the vulnerability of the U.S.
Although he opposed the Reagan administration on strategic weapons, AuCoin used his position on the defense subcommittee to improve U.S. conventional arms. On an inspection tour at Fort Benning
Fort Benning
Fort Benning is a United States Army post located southeast of the city of Columbus in Muscogee and Chattahoochee counties in Georgia and Russell County, Alabama...
, he learned from the commander of the United States Army Infantry School
United States Army Infantry School
The United States Army Infantry School is located in Fort Benning, Georgia. It is made up of the following components:*192d Infantry Brigade...
that replacement of the aging M47 Dragon
M47 Dragon
The M47 Dragon is an American shoulder-fired, man-portable anti-tank missile system. It has since been phased out in US service, in favor of the newer FGM-148 Javelin system.-Description:...
anti-tank missile was a major infantry priority because it exposed its operator to enemy return fire until his round found its target. AuCoin, himself a former infantryman, pressed for the development of a modern substitute, often resisting the U.S. Army Missile Command
United States Army Aviation and Missile Command
The United States Army Aviation and Missile Command is primarily responsible for life cycle management of army missile, helicopter, unmanned ground vehicle and unmanned aerial vehicle weapon systems. The central part of AMCOM's job involves acquisition and sustainment support for aviation and...
and other agencies that favored other technologies. AuCoin's legislation resulted in the adoption of the FGM-148 Javelin
FGM-148 Javelin
The FGM-148 Javelin is a United States-made man-portable third generation anti-tank missile fielded to replace the Dragon antitank missile.-Overview:Javelin is a fire-and-forget missile with lock-on before launch and automatic self-guidance...
missile, which put its homing device in the round rather than the launcher to allow its operator to fire and immediately seek cover. The Javelin was first used in the 2003 Iraq War and is considered by some military scholars to be "revolutionary" in its potential to put infantry on a more equal footing against armor in conventional land warfare.
Foreign policy
AuCoin's opposition to U.S. support of authoritarian governments in El SalvadorEl Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
and Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
and the Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
n Contras
Contras
The contras is a label given to the various rebel groups opposing Nicaragua's FSLN Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction government following the July 1979 overthrow of Anastasio Somoza Debayle's dictatorship...
—irregular forces armed by the Reagan administration to topple the Sandinista government—led him to travel frequently to Central America to document right wing human rights abuses. In 1987, a constituent of AuCoin's named Ben Linder
Ben Linder
Benjamin Ernest "Ben" Linder , was an American engineer who was working on a small hydroelectric dam in rural northern Nicaragua when he was killed by anti-government Contra rebels. Coming at a time when U.S...
was killed by Contra forces while helping build a small hydroelectric electricity generator for Nicaraguan villagers. Pressed by AuCoin to investigate, the U.S. State Department noted discrepant accounts of Linder’s death: the Contras asserted that Linder died in a firefight, but village witnesses claimed the Contras gave no opportunity to surrender and assassinated Linder at point-blank range.
In his second Congressional term, AuCoin's 1978 amendment to grant partial most favored nation trade status to the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
was the first China trade bill to reach the House floor. Though narrowly defeated, it presaged the United States' formal normalization of political and trade relations with China
Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations
The Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations of January 1, 1979, established official relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China....
less than a year later. In February 1979, AuCoin led a trade mission of Oregon business leaders to China, the first such delegation from any U.S. state.
Oregon economy
AuCoin used his seat on the House Interior Appropriations SubcommitteeUnited States House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
The House Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies is a standing subcommittee within the House Appropriations Committee.-Members, 112th Congress:-External links:**...
to address a number of economic priorities throughout Oregon, including construction of the Oregon Trail Center
National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center
The National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center is a interpretive center about the Oregon Trail located northeast of Baker City, Oregon on Oregon Route 86 atop Flagstaff Hill...
in economically distressed Baker City
Baker City, Oregon
Baker City is a city in and the county seat of Baker County, Oregon, United States. It was named after Edward D. Baker. The population was 9,828 at the 2010 census.-History:...
, renovation of Crater Lake Lodge
Crater Lake Lodge
Crater Lake Lodge was built in 1915 to provide overnight accommodations for visitors to Crater Lake National Park in southern Oregon, USA. The lodge is located on the southwest rim of the Crater Lake caldera overlooking the lake below...
, restoration of the Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde
Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon
The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon consists of twenty-seven Native American tribes with long historical ties to present-day Western Oregon between the western boundary of the Oregon Coast and the eastern boundary of the Cascade Range, and the northern boundary of...
and Confederated Tribes of Siletz
Confederated Tribes of Siletz
The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians in the United States is a federally recognized confederation of 27 Native American tribal bands that once inhabited a range from northern California to southwest Washington.-Tribes:...
, and construction of the Seafood Consumer Research Center in Astoria
Astoria, Oregon
Astoria is the county seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Situated near the mouth of the Columbia River, the city was named after the American investor John Jacob Astor. His American Fur Company founded Fort Astoria at the site in 1811...
and the Fort Clatsop
Fort Clatsop
Fort Clatsop was the encampment of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the Oregon Country near the mouth of the Columbia River during the winter of 1805-1806...
Memorial Visitors Center.
Working together, AuCoin and Oregon Senator Mark Hatfield
Mark Hatfield
Mark Odom Hatfield was an American politician and educator from the state of Oregon. A Republican, he served for 30 years as a United States Senator from Oregon, and also as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee...
secured federal funding for the construction of Portland's acclaimed east- and west-side light rail projects, the largest public works project in Oregon history. Since its unveiling, the rail system has guided urban growth and spawned an estimated $3.5 billion in new construction in the Portland metropolitan area. For his work on the project, a plaza at one of the stations
Washington Park (MAX station)
Washington Park is a station in the MAX Light Rail system of TriMet, served by the Blue and Red lines. It is located in Portland, Oregon and is a part of the Robertson Tunnel under Portland's West Hills. It is the fourth station westbound on the Westside MAX alignment...
is dedicated to him.
AuCoin had a hand in the rescue of Northwest lumber and plywood mills during the recession of the early 1980s
Early 1980s recession
The early 1980s recession describes the severe global economic recession affecting much of the developed world in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The United States and Japan exited recession relatively early, but high unemployment would continue to affect other OECD nations through at least 1985...
. The mills faced financial ruin when federal timber sales contracts they had purchased at a face value of hundreds of millions of dollars were rendered worthless by the collapse of the lumber and plywood markets. Along with Senators Hatfield and Howard Metzenbaum
Howard Metzenbaum
Howard Morton Metzenbaum was an American politician who served for almost 20 years as a Democratic member of the U.S. Senate from Ohio . He also served in the Ohio House of Representatives and Senate from 1943 to 1951.-Early life:Metzenbaum was born in Cleveland, to a poor Jewish family, the son...
, AuCoin helped write the Federal Timber Contract Payment Modification Act of 1984. After requiring timber companies to pay a penalty to the U.S. Treasury, the bill released the firms from their contracts and allowed them to return approximately 9.5 billion board feet of standing timber to the government, much of it commercially pre-thinned.
Environment
AuCoin’s environmental record earned him the endorsement of major environmental organizations in each of his House elections. In addition to blocking offshore oil exploration, AuCoin prevented mining in the center of Oregon's Three Sisters WildernessThree Sisters Wilderness
The Three Sisters Wilderness is a wilderness area in the Cascade Range, within the Willamette and Deschutes National Forests in Oregon. It comprises 286,708 acres , making it the second largest Wilderness area in Oregon...
area by buying out a mining claim in the area’s geologically significant Rock Mesa and served on the committee that helped write the 200-mile offshore economic zone, which would become known as the Magnuson Act
Magnuson Act
The Magnuson Act also known as the Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act of 1943 was immigration legislation proposed by U.S. Representative Warren G. Magnuson of Washington and signed into law on December 17, 1943 in the United States...
. Although the Port of Portland
Port of Portland (Oregon)
The Port of Portland is the port district responsible for overseeing Portland International Airport, general aviation, and marine activities in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area in the United States....
shipyards, a major Oregon employer, stood to benefit from oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a national wildlife refuge in northeastern Alaska, United States. It consists of in the Alaska North Slope region. It is the largest National Wildlife Refuge in the country, slightly larger than the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge...
, AuCoin opposed the plan on environmental grounds. He also helped preserve Cascade Head
Cascade Head
Cascade Head is a headland and UNESCO biosphere reserve and United States Forest Service Experimental Forest. It is situated southwest of Portland, Oregon on the Oregon Coast between Lincoln City and Neskowin...
on the Oregon Coast, supported the Columbia Gorge Scenic Protection Act, helped stop the construction of Salt Caves Dam on the last free-flowing stretch of the Klamath River
Klamath River
The Klamath River is an American river that flows southwest through Oregon and northern California, cutting through the Cascade Range to empty into the Pacific Ocean. The river drains an extensive watershed of almost that stretches from the high desert country of the Great Basin to the temperate...
, co-authored the 1988 bill quadrupling the designation of National Wild and Scenic Rivers in Oregon, and fought the construction of a plant at the Umatilla Chemical Depot
Umatilla Chemical Depot
The Umatilla Chemical Depot, based in Umatilla, Oregon, was a U.S. Army installations in the United States that stored chemical weapons. The chemical weapons originally stored at the depot consisted of various munitions and ton containers containing GB and VX nerve agents and HD blister agent...
to incinerate excess chemical weapons.
His work on the 1984 Oregon Wilderness Act, which doubled wilderness acreage in Oregon’s federal forests, earned him a Distinguished Service award from the Sierra Club
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
.
Timber harvest controversies
Soon after the decades-long effort to expand wilderness was resolved, however, annual timber harvests on Forest Service lands in Oregon and Washington reached a flash point in the late 1980s. Critics charged that AuCoin, along with other Northwest members of Congress, were forcing unsustainable logging levels, noting that Congress's proposed annual timber harvests of more than 4 billion board feet per year—well above historical averages of 2.6 to 3 billion board feet (bbf) for the region.However, Randal O'Toole
Randal O'Toole
Randal O'Toole is an American public policy analyst. Although O'Toole studied economics at the University of Oregon, he did not receive a degree in economics...
, a leading environmental economist, observed that the harvest numbers cited by critics included timber that had been previously sold, often commercially pre-thinned, returned to the government through the Timber Contract Relief Act, and therefore were inaccurately inflated. Excluding the "buy-back" volume net harvests of new "green" timber were lower than average: 2.6 billion board feet (bbf) in 1986 and 1987, 2.3 bbf in 1988, and 1.9 bbf in 1989.
AuCoin was also criticized for working with Senator Hatfield, Washington Representative Norman D. Dicks
Norman D. Dicks
Norman DeValois "Norm" Dicks is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1977. He is a member of the Democratic Party...
, and House Speaker
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
Tom Foley
Tom Foley
Thomas Stephen Foley was the 57th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1989 to 1995. He represented Washington's 5th congressional district for 30 years as a Democratic member from 1965 to 1995....
for legislating a special timber sales program in 1990. The legislation, referred to disparagingly by some environmentalists as "The Rider from Hell," was in response to an injunction by federal judge William Lee Dwyer
William Lee Dwyer
William Lee Dwyer was a United States federal judge.Born in Olympia, Washington, Dwyer received a B.S. from the University of Washington in 1951 and an LL.B. from New York University School of Law in 1953. He was in the United States Army Lieutenant, J.A.G. Corps from 1953 to 1956...
that shut down all logging in federal forests in the Pacific Northwest after the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management failed to develop management plans for the threatened Northern Spotted Owl
Northern Spotted Owl
The Northern Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis caurina, is one of three Spotted Owl subspecies. A Western North American bird in the family Strigidae, genus Strix, it is a medium-sized dark brown owl sixteen to nineteen inches in length and one to one and one sixth pounds. Females are larger than males...
. Responding to the imminent collapse of jobs in timber and related industries, the amendment legislated a harvest, but also gave old-growth forests statutory status for the first time, directed that fragmentation of them be minimized, and banned logging of them in designated spotted owl habitat areas identified in the environmental impact statement., effectively overruling Judge Dwyer's order. While AuCoin and the other sponsors stated an intention for the law to be temporary while plans to protect forests and threatened species such as the spotted owl were put in place, it authorized a two-year harvest of more than 5 billion board feet in Oregon and Washington and became a precedent for future industry-supported environmental waivers long after AuCoin left Congress. In his last years in Congress, AuCoin worked to lower the regional harvest to 1.1 bbf in 1991, 0.8 bbf in 1992, and 0.6 bbf in 1993.
Abortion
AuCoin was one of the House's key leaders for abortion choice, helping to defeat the Hyde AmendmentHyde Amendment
In U.S. politics, the Hyde Amendment is a legislative provision barring the use of certain federal funds to pay for abortions. It is not a permanent law, rather it is a "rider" that, in various forms, has been routinely attached to annual appropriations bills since 1976...
, which barred public funds for abortion services for pregnant Medicaid recipients as well as in U.S. military hospitals abroad. The amendment was dropped in the Senate when President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
threatened to veto the entire defense appropriation measure if it remained in.
Gun control
Initially an opponent of gun control legislationGun politics in the United States
Gun politics in the United States refers to an ongoing political and social debate regarding both the restriction and availability of firearms within the United States. It has long been among the most controversial and intractable issues in American politics...
, a fact which angered many of his urban constituents while pleasing numerous rural voters, AuCoin switched his position during his legislative career, emphasized with an essay in The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, supporting what would become the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act
Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act
The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act is an Act of the United States Congress that, for the first time, instituted federal background checks on firearm purchasers in the United States....
which passed after he left office in 1993. At the time of his action, no other member of the Oregon delegation supported tighter gun control laws.
1992 race for the U.S. Senate
In 1992, AuCoin ran for the United States SenateUnited States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
against Republican incumbent Bob Packwood
Bob Packwood
Robert William "Bob" Packwood is a U.S. politician from Oregon and a member of the Republican Party. He resigned from the United States Senate, under threat of expulsion, in 1995 after allegations of sexual harassment, abuse and assault of women emerged.-Early life and career:Packwood was born in...
, giving up his seat in the House of Representatives. Both the Democratic primary and the general election were strongly contested, and involved several controversies.
As the election season got underway, analysts from both major parties predicted that Packwood would have one of the toughest seats to defend in what was anticipated to be a volatile election year. Packwood was regarded as one of the nation's "most powerful elected officials" with "extraordinary political instincts." But the state's largest newspaper, The Oregonian, had described AuCoin (Packwood's presumed main challenger) as having "persistence, imagination and clout [that] have made him the most powerful congressman in Oregon and one of the most influential members from the Northwest."
For AuCoin, however, first came the Democratic primary. He faced Portland attorney Joe Wetzel and Bend
Bend, Oregon
Bend is a city in and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, United States, and the principal city of the Bend, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bend is Central Oregon's largest city, and, despite its modest size, is the de facto metropolis of the region, owing to the low population...
businessman Harry Lonsdale
Harry Lonsdale
Harold K. Lonsdale is an American businessman and politician in the U.S. state of Oregon. A Democrat, he ran for United States Senate three times, losing twice in the primaries and once as the Democratic candidate, losing in the 1990 general election to incumbent Mark Hatfield.-Early life:Lonsdale...
in what became a "brutal, bitter" contest. Lonsdale, who had run a close race against incumbent Mark Hatfield
Mark Hatfield
Mark Odom Hatfield was an American politician and educator from the state of Oregon. A Republican, he served for 30 years as a United States Senator from Oregon, and also as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee...
for Oregon's other Senate seat two years prior, emerged as AuCoin's principal rival; Wetzel, who criticized Packwood and AuCoin as long-term, ineffective members of Congress, trailed throughout the race, and was not invited to an April debate sponsored by the City Club of Portland
City Club of Portland
The City Club of Portland is a nonprofit, nonpartisan civic organization based in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. It was organized in 1916 by a small group of men who began meeting in a downtown Portland restaurant to discuss the city's public institutions and government...
. Lonsdale took on "the Les AuCoin-Mark Hatfield-Bob Packwood coalition" as his primary cause, stating "I consider Les AuCoin a good man who has been corrupted by PAC money over the years".
In a race the Seattle Times called "as negative as many voters can remember," Lonsdale attacked AuCoin as "corrupt" and tied to the timber industry. Lonsdale's environmental credentials also came under scrutiny, and AuCoin noted Lonsdale's reversal of support for nuclear power and belated opposition to the re-opening of Trojan Nuclear Power Plant
Trojan Nuclear Power Plant
Trojan Nuclear Power Plant was a pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant located southeast of Rainier, Oregon, United States, and the only commercial nuclear power plant to be built in Oregon. After sixteen years of service it was closed by its operator, Portland General Electric , almost...
. AuCoin turned accusations of undue influence back on Lonsdale, pointing out that his company (Bend Research) had received millions in federal defense contracts.
On the Republican side, Packwood had gone through a divorce in 1991, and his ex-wife threatened to run against him amid mounting concerns about his "eye for the ladies." The socially conservative Oregon Citizens Alliance
Oregon Citizens Alliance
The Oregon Citizens Alliance was a conservative Christian political activist organization, founded by Lon Mabon in the U.S. state of Oregon. It was founded in 1986 as a vehicle to challenge then–U.S...
(OCA) was at the apex of its statewide prominence with 1992's anti-gay Measure 9
Oregon Ballot Measure 9 (1992)
Ballot Measure 9 was a ballot measure in the U.S. state of Oregon in 1992, concerning gay rights and public education, that drew widespread national attention.Measure 9 would have added the following text to the Oregon Constitution:...
and its newly formed American Heritage Party (AHP). The group endorsed Republican challenger Joe Lutz, who had run against Packwood in the past on a family values
Family values
Family values are political and social beliefs that hold the nuclear family to be the essential ethical and moral unit of society. Familialism is the ideology that promotes the family and its values as an institution....
platform; but Lutz soon withdrew, announcing a divorce of his own. As early as January, the OCA considered backing former gubernatorial candidate Al Mobley as an independent
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
or as a member of the AHP. Mobley ultimately decided in mid-August not to run, stating that he could not bear the idea that he might be responsible for causing AuCoin to be elected.
Even during the primary, Packwood and AuCoin traded barbs on various issues. Packwood joined Lonsdale in criticizing AuCoin for his involvement in what was reported as a rash of check-bouncing among members of Congress; AuCoin characterized the issue as a series of mistakes, rather than gross abuses. In what was believed to be an unprecedented move, Packwood attempted to influence the Democratic primary's outcome by running television ads against AuCoin.
Ultimately, the results of the Democratic primary were so close that an automatic recount was triggered. AuCoin held a news conference on May 23 in the South Park Blocks
South Park Blocks
The South Park Blocks form a city park in downtown Portland, Oregon. The Oregonian has called it Portland's "extended family room", as Pioneer Courthouse Square is known as Portland's "living room"....
stating he would wait for the recount, but the margin was currently 248 votes in his favor. On June 18, over a month after the primary election, AuCoin was certified as having won by 330 votes. Upon conceding the race, Lonsdale pondered mounting a write-in campaign, reiterating that Oregon needed an "outsider" in the Senate.
By the end of June, when the recount was complete, AuCoin was nearly out of campaign funds; Packwood entered the general election race with $3.2 million and was ranked sixth nationwide among Senators raising funds outside their home state during the 1990–1992 election season.
AuCoin opposed weakening the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to erase the Northern Spotted Owl’s impact on the timber industry, but Packwood (“one of the timber industry’s chief allies,” according to Oregon State University political scientist William Lunch) assailed “environmental extremists” and introduced legislation to convene a presidential cabinet committee to exempt the endangered owl from the ESA.
In September, Packwood pulled ads that had falsely criticized AuCoin for missing votes while speaking to special interest groups. By October, Packwood had raised $8 million, spending $5.4 million more than AuCoin, and leading all Senate incumbents. Yet that fall, the two candidates were in a dead heat, with Packwood continuing to criticize AuCoin on attendance, his House bank account and the spotted owl, and AuCoin echoing the campaign of popular Presidential candidate Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
by accusing Packwood of favoring the wealthy over the middle class.
The outcome of the bruising race was too close to call on election night, but on the following day, Packwood emerged as the winner with about 52% of the vote to AuCoin's 48. In his victory press conference, Packwood endorsed for AuCoin for Secretary of the Interior
United States Secretary of the Interior
The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...
in the Clinton administration. When told of Packwood's comments, AuCoin responded by saying "I think that's real special."
Magnifying the controversy of the race was a decision by the Washington Post to delay until after the election coverage of its year-long investigation into detailed claims of sexual abuse and assault made by 10 women against Packwood. The paper ultimately published the story two months after election day. Oregon's largest daily newspaper, The Oregonian
The Oregonian
The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
, did not break the story either, despite its own investigation and its congressional correspondent being subjected to Packwood's advances. This led to a joke, "If it matters to Oregonians, it's in the Washington Post (a twist on the Oregonian's slogan, "If it matters to Oregonians, it's in the Oregonian.") The paper's editor would later admit to having been less than aggressive in pursuing the story due to concerns about "…ruining a man's career."
A group of Oregon voters battled Packwood lawyers in briefs before the Senate Rules Committee
United States Senate Committee on Rules and Administration
The Senate Committee on Rules and Administration is responsible for the rules of the United States Senate, with administration of congressional buildings, and with credentials and qualifications of members of the Senate, including responsibility for dealing with contested elections.The committee...
in an unsuccessful attempt to persuade the panel to refuse to seat the senator on the grounds of election fraud for lying about the abuses. The senator admitted to the acts in 1994 and was forced to resign after the Senate Ethics Committee censured him for his conduct in 1995.
AuCoin was considered for Secretary of the Interior
United States Secretary of the Interior
The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...
and Secretary of the Army in the new Clinton administration, though he was not offered either post. When news of Packwood's resignation broke, AuCoin stated that he would not come out of retirement to run for the seat. He also stated that he would not engage in professional lobbying, but was criticized the next year for becoming the chairman of the government relations practice group in the law firm Bogle & Gates.
A decade later, Governor Ted Kulongoski
Ted Kulongoski
Theodore R. "Ted" Kulongoski is an American politician, who served as the 36th Governor of Oregon. A Democrat, he has served in both houses of the Oregon Legislative Assembly, as the state Insurance Commissioner, the Attorney General, and an Associate Justice on the Oregon Supreme Court.-Early...
nominated AuCoin for the Oregon Board of Forestry
Oregon Board of Forestry
The Oregon Board of Forestry is responsible for forest policy and oversight of forest management practices within the state of Oregon. The board appoints the state forester and oversees the Oregon Department of Forestry...
, reportedly to balance out the perceived dominance of the timber industry on that board. But the industry mounted an extensive lobbying campaign against the former congressman, accusing him of environmental extremism, and his appointment was derailed in the Oregon State Senate
Oregon State Senate
The Oregon State Senate is the upper house of the state-wide legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. Along with the lower chamber Oregon House of Representatives it makes up the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 30 members of the State Senate, representing 30 districts across the state,...
.
Life after political office
AuCoin went into higher education five years after leaving the Congress, joining the faculty at Southern Oregon UniversitySouthern Oregon University
is a public liberal arts college located in Ashland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1926, it was formerly known as Southern Oregon College and Southern Oregon State College . SOU offers criminology, natural sciences, including environmental science, Shakespearean studies and theatre arts programs...
in Ashland as a visiting professor of political science and business ethics. He was named Outstanding Professor of the Year by the SOU chapter of Phi Kappa Phi
Phi Kappa Phi
The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is an honor society established 1897 to recognize and encourage superior scholarship without restriction as to area of study and to promote the "unity and democracy of education"...
, the nation's largest scholarly society. AuCoin was also voted by SOU students as one of the university’s four “most popular professors.” While at SOU, he won an Oregon Associated Press award for political commentary at Jefferson Public Radio
Jefferson Public Radio
Jefferson Public Radio is a regional public radio broadcasting network serving a mostly rural area of Southern Oregon and Northern California. As of 2004, it reaches over 700,000 potential listeners via the largest translator network in public radio...
. AuCoin writes on national issues for the Huffington Post, Daily Kos
Daily Kos
Daily Kos is an American political blog that publishes news and opinions from a progressive point of view. It functions as a discussion forum and group blog for a variety of netroots activists, whose efforts are primarily directed toward influencing and strengthening the Democratic Party...
, and Blue Oregon blogs, for Writers On The Range, an editorial service for newspapers across the West, freelances magazine articles and publishes book reviews for regional newspapers. He is co-author of The Wildfire Reader: A Century of Failed Forest Policy. In the 1960s, while working at Pacific University, he won several national awards for excellence in editing the school’s official magazine.
AuCoin and his wife Sue campaigned in Wisconsin in 2004 for Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
for the last month of his presidential race. In 2008, they drove to Ohio to spend the last five weeks of the election cycle campaigning for Democratic nominee Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
.
The former congressman lectures at and serves on the advisory board to the Maxwell School’s National Security Studies program at Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
in New York. In 2009, Defense Secretary Robert Gates
Robert Gates
Dr. Robert Michael Gates is a retired civil servant and university president who served as the 22nd United States Secretary of Defense from 2006 to 2011. Prior to this, Gates served for 26 years in the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council, and under President George H. W....
appointed him to the Transformation Advisory Group of the Pentagon’s U.S. Joint Forces Command
United States Joint Forces Command
United States Joint Forces Command was a former Unified Combatant Command of the United States Armed Forces. USJFCOM was a functional command that provided specific services to the military. The last commander was Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno...
. AuCoin is a corporate director at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle
Federal Home Loan Banks
The Federal Home Loan Banks are 12 U.S. government-sponsored banks that provide stable, on-demand, low-cost funding to American financial institutions for home mortgage loans, small business, rural, agricultural, and economic development lending...
and Teton Heritage Builders, Inc., a high-end residential housing contractor located in Jackson, Wyoming, and Bozeman, Montana. He has been an expert witness in federal district court on issues regarding fiduciary duties of corporate board directors, and he served as vice chair of the board of trustees of Pacific University
Pacific University
Pacific University is a private university located in Oregon, United States. The first campus began more than 160 years ago and is located about 38 km west of Portland in Forest Grove...
.