Rick Bauman
Rick Bauman | |
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Member of the Oregon House of Representatives from the 11th/13th district | |
In office 1977–1986 | |
Preceded by | Earl Blumenauer |
Succeeded by | Judy Bauman |
Personal details | |
Born | April 1950 (age 74) Portland Bridge Pedal , an annual bicycle tour crossing all the bridges in Portland.
Early life and careerBauman was born in 1950 in Oregon Health Sciences University with hopes of becoming a doctor, but was not admitted.[3]
Political careerHaving been energized by liberal Democratic politics while at UC Santa Cruz, In 1979, Bauman announced a run for the Portland mayor, but again withdrew and ran again for his Oregon House seat.[3]
In 1986, Bauman resigned his seat in favor of his wife to run for the Democratic nomination in the House Ethics Committee probe into Weaver's campaign finances led him to withdraw his candidacy and the Oregon Democratic State Central Committee selected Bauman to replace Weaver on the ballot in August, just 10 weeks before the general election against three-term incumbent Bob Packwood.[7] Packwood went on to defeat Bauman 63%–36%.[8]
Following his loss in the Senate race, Bauman began working with the poor and homeless in Portland, organizing vigils and protests to draw attention to their plight. In 1987, he staged a solid-food fast to urge the Oregon Legislature to increase funding for social services, ending it when Oregon Governor Neil Goldschmidt proposed funding increases.[3] Bauman became vice chairman of the Burnside Community Council, a service center for homeless adults in Portland, but later resigned in protest after the council voted to keep secret a report detailing allegations of sexual misconduct against the founder of the council; Bauman opposed the decision.[3][9][10] Bauman was elected to the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners in 1988.[11] In 1990, Bauman was the target of a recall campaign after he wrote a controversial gun control law, but survived the recall.[12] Two years later, he was defeated for re-election to the commission board by Tanya Collier.[13] Bicycle toursFollowing his loss, Bauman announced that he was finished with politics and began organizing Portland Bridge Pedal, a bicycle tour with a route over all 10 Portland bridges that cross the Willamette River. Bauman said he was inspired to organize such an event after he had a view of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens from the Marquam Bridge in his car and thought bicyclists should have a chance to enjoy the views normally available only to drivers.[15][16] The first event drew 7,500 riders; Providence Health & Services began sponsoring the event a year later and renamed it the Providence Bridge Pedal. By 2007, the tour was the third-largest of the largest organized cycle tours in the world, behind New York City's Five Boro Bike Tour and Montreal's Tour de l'Île.[15] Bauman is still involved with the event.
PersonalBauman divorced Judy Bauman in 1987,[3] and has since remarried twice.[2] He is currently married to Ginnie Cooper, formerly the head librarian of the Multnomah County Library system, and now the chief librarian of the District of Columbia Public Library system.[17][18] References
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