Barbara Roberts

Barbara Roberts
34th Governor of Oregon
In office January 14, 1991 – January 9, 1995
Preceded by	Neil Goldschmidt
Succeeded by	John Kitzhaber
21st Secretary of State of Oregon
In office January 7, 1985 – January 14, 1991
Governor	Victor Atiyeh Neil Goldschmidt
Preceded by	Norma Paulus
Succeeded by	Phil Keisling
Member of the Oregon House of Representatives from the 17th district
In office January 1981 – January 1985
Preceded by	George Starr
Succeeded by	Mike Burton
Personal details
Born	(1936-12-21) December 21, 1936 Corvallis, Oregon, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Neal Sanders (1954–1972) Frank Roberts (1974–1993)
Alma mater	Portland State University

Barbara Kay Roberts (born December 21, 1936) is an American politician from the state of Oregon. A native of the state, she served as the 34th Governor of Oregon from 1991 to 1995. She was the first woman to serve as Oregon governor, and the only woman elected to that office until 2016.^[1] A Democrat, Roberts was also the first woman to serve as majority leader in the Oregon House of Representatives. She also won two terms as Oregon Secretary of State and served in local and county government in Portland. Roberts was married to Oregon State Senator Frank L. Roberts from 1974 until his death in 1993. From February 2011^[2] until January 2013 she served on the council of Metro, the regional government in the Portland metropolitan area.^[3]

Early life

Roberts was born Barbara Kay Hughey on December 21, 1936, in Corvallis, Oregon, to Bob and Carmen Murray Hughey. Her father, a millworker, was a descendant of Oregon Trail pioneers.^[4] The Hugheys' second daughter Pat was born a few years later and then they moved to Los Angeles, California in 1940 where her father worked as a machinist. Following World War II, the Hugheys returned to Oregon, settling in Gold Creek in Yamhill County in 1945, and then finally in Sheridan.^[4]

In 1954, she married her high school sweetheart Neal Sanders, graduating the following year from Sheridan High School.^[4] The couple moved to Texas, where they had two children, Mike and Mark, before returning to Oregon several years later, settling in Portland where she attended Portland State University from 1961 to 1964.^[5]

With her older son Mike diagnosed in 1962 as "severely emotionally disturbed" (later identified as autism), she became an advocate for special-needs children. In 1971, she successfully lobbied the Oregon State Legislature to require public schools to guarantee educational rights to these children.^[5][6] In 1972, her marriage to Neal ended in divorce.^[4]

Political career

In 1973, she was elected to Parkrose School Board and later, to the Mount Hood Community College board.^[5][7] In 1974, she married Oregon state representative and later state senator Frank L. Roberts, who became her political mentor. In 1981, she was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives as a Democrat, was re-elected in 1983, and was elected Majority Leader, Oregon's first woman to hold that post.^[5]

Secretary of State

In 1984, Roberts was elected as Oregon Secretary of State, the first Democrat elected to that post in over 100 years, and was re-elected in 1988. Her significant achievements as Secretary of State include election reform legislation, the construction of a new state archives building, and broader audit powers for the Secretary of State. The Portland Gay Men's Chorus sang at her inauguration. It is widely believed that this was the first time that a gay-identified chorus sang for the inauguration of a statewide elected official of any state.^[4] During her second term, Roberts attended an executive program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.^[4][5]

Governor

Shortly after incumbent Democratic governor Neil Goldschmidt announced that he would not seek a second term as Governor of Oregon, Roberts announced her candidacy in the 1990 Oregon gubernatorial election.^[4] She ran unopposed in the Democratic primary and went on to defeat Republican Attorney General David B. Frohnmayer and Independent Al Mobley in the November general election, the first woman elected Governor of Oregon. During that same election, voters passed Ballot Measure 5, which established constitutional limits on property tax rates.

During her term as governor, Roberts worked with the Clinton administration to secure federal waivers and funding for the Oregon Health Plan. She also helped to increase the number of children in the Head Start Program, secured financing for additional units of affordable housing, and developed programs to help move Oregonians from welfare to the workplace. The Roberts administration was known for its strong support of gay rights and appointed women to positions in state government.

Her husband, Frank L. Roberts, died in 1993 from prostate cancer while she was still governor. After his death, Barbara Roberts wrote the book Death Without Denial Grief Without Apology: A Guide for Facing Death and Loss.^[8]

There were several factors that were responsible for Roberts' decision not to seek re-election in 1994. They included her low approval rating with the voters, as well as voters' refusal to pass a measure to enact a sales tax which would have funded the Oregon Health Plan. As a result of the failed sales tax measure, Roberts was forced to break her campaign promise not to cut spending.

Later life and family

Roberts with Terry Bean in 2014

Soon after she left office, Roberts accepted a position at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University as director of the Harvard Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government and later as a senior fellow to the Women and Public Policy Program. In 1998, Roberts joined Portland State University's Hatfield School of Government's Executive Leadership Institute as Associate Director of Leadership Development.^[9]

Roberts has continued her community service, sitting on the board of trustees for several major nonprofit organizations, including the Oregon Hospice Association, the Human Rights Campaign, and the advisory council of Oregon’s Compassion in Dying. She has also maintained an active public speaking career, addressing issues of death and grieving, leadership, women in politics, and environmental stewardship.^[10] Roberts has two sons, Mark and Mike.

Roberts High School in Salem, Oregon, was named after her in 1996.^[9]

Return to government service

In early 2011, Roberts returned to government service, as a member of the six-person Metro council, the Portland metropolitan area's elected regional government, after Robert Liberty resigned in January from his position as councillor representing Metro district 6. Roberts was appointed to the council in February, to fill the remainder (about 22 months) of Liberty's four-year term, by a vote of the council.^[11] Although Metro council positions are publicly elected offices, an election is not required when filling a council vacancy in mid-term. She was sworn in on February 24, 2011.^[2] Metro district 6 includes portions of Northeast, Southeast and Southwest Portland. She indicated that she would not be a candidate for the position when it next came due for election, in May 2012,^[11] and Bob Stacey was elected to the district 6 seat at that time.^[12] Roberts' council term ended, and Stacey succeeded her, in January 2013.^[3]

References

External links

• Barbara Roberts' Inaugural Message
• Barbara Roberts' 1995 Farewell Message
• Oregon State Archives, Governor Barbara Roberts
• Oregon Historical Project, Women in Oregon politics
• Brief Profile of Governor Barbara Roberts

Governors of Oregon
Provisional (1843–49)	Executive Committee Abernethy
Territorial (1849–59)	Lane Prichette Gaines Davis Curry
State (since 1859)	Whiteaker Gibbs Woods Grover Chadwick Thayer Moody Pennoyer Lord Geer Chamberlain Benson Bowerman West Withycombe Olcott Pierce I. Patterson Norblad Meier Martin Sprague Snell Hall McKay P. Patterson Smith Holmes Hatfield McCall Straub Atiyeh Goldschmidt Roberts Kitzhaber Kulongoski Kitzhaber Brown