Les AuCoin

|date=June 15, 2008

}} AuCoin was an early advocate of diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China"To amend and extend the Export-Import Bank act of 1945": hearings the House Subcommittee on International Trade, Investment, and Monetary Policy of the Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs, House of Representatives, Ninety-fifth Congress, second session on H.R. 11384, March 13, 15-17, 1978 and arms control with the Soviet Union,{{cite news

|title=House Votes For Defense Bill Loaded With Arms Curbs

|first=Bob

|last=Secter

|work=Los Angeles Times

|date=August 16, 1986

}} and a critic of U.S. support for the Nicaraguan Contras and the rightist government of El Salvador in the 1980s.House Committee Hearings by Date, Digest, Congressional Record, 101st Congress, January 23, 1990-January 3, 1991. At the time of his retirement in 1993, he was 84th in overall House seniority, dean of the Oregon House delegation,{{cite news

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1345&dat=19910722&id=cLgSAAAAIBAJ&pg=6552,2671489

|title=Northwest's Senate races will be dirty

|last=Swisher

|first=Larry

|date=July 22, 1991

|work=Spokane Chronicle

|page=A6

|access-date=August 11, 2009}} a majority whip-at-large, and a veteran member of the House Appropriations Committee.

AuCoin was a two-term member of the Oregon House of Representatives from 1971 to 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. AuCoin is a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One.{{Cite web|url=https://www.issueone.org/reformers/|title = Issue One – ReFormers Caucus| date=2025 }} He and his wife Susan live in Portland.{{cite news

|title=Think Too Much: AuCoin reflects on a life in politics

|url=https://www.gazettetimes.com/opinion/editorial/think-too-much-aucoin-reflects-on-a-life-in-politics/article_9ec67e5d-5df4-5dd0-8ec4-f60f8b0377d0.html

|work=Corvallis Gazette-Times

|date=September 22, 2019

|last=McInally

|first=Mike

|access-date=November 20, 2019

}}

Early life

AuCoin was born in Portland, Oregon, 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.{{cite news

|title=AuCoin carries baggage of incumbency

|date=April 11, 1992

|last=Walth

|first=Brent

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fH8VAAAAIBAJ&pg=3283,2475015

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} Les and his brother Leland moved with their mother to Redmond, Oregon, then a small Central Oregon sawmill and farming town,{{cite web

|title=Oregon Central Oregon: Adaptation & Compromise in an Arid Landscape (Subtopic: Pre-Industrial Period: 1870–1910: Pre-Industrial Communities: Redmond)

|url=http://www.ohs.org/the-oregon-history-project/narratives/central-oregon-arid-landscape/

|year=2004

|work=Oregon History Project

}} 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.{{cite news

|title=AuCoin named most valuable

|date=March 26, 1960

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3DYVAAAAIBAJ&pg=4999,3900881

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} 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.{{cite news|title=Aucoin-Engdahl part of Pacific

|work=Pacific University Index

|publisher=Pacific University

|date=October 3, 1980

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RUIWAAAAIBAJ&pg=1708,3453570

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}} 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 for one summer at The Redmond Spokesman newspaper,{{cite news|last=Mapes|first=Jeff|title=AuCoin, insider, vs. Lonsdale, challenger|newspaper=The Sunday Oregonian|date=April 19, 1992|page=1}} 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. He married Susan Swearingen in 1964, and the couple had two children: Stacy in 1965 and Kelly in 1967.

Oregon House of Representatives

In 1968, AuCoin's opposition to the Vietnam War 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.

During his time in the Oregon House, AuCoin championed environmental, consumer protection, and civil rights issues.

As the Democratic 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,{{cite news

|title=McCall tax reform plan rejected

|date=March 21, 1973

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=t-USAAAAIBAJ&pg=4626,1582312

}}{{cite news

|title=Oregon voters soundly defeat proposal to alter tax system

|work=The Los Angeles Times

|date=May 2, 1973

|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/692259482.html?dids=692259482:692259482&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023081604/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/692259482.html?dids=692259482:692259482&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI

|url-status=dead

|archive-date=October 23, 2012

| first=Philip

| last=Hager

}} enacted statewide land use planning rules,{{cite news

|title=Subdivision control bill given support

|date=March 27, 1973

|last=Uhrhammer

|first=Jerry

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SWoRAAAAIBAJ&pg=5087,6539401

|access-date=October 8, 2009}} reduced penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana,{{cite news

|title=Bill would cut pot penalties

|date=June 21, 1973

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LDcVAAAAIBAJ&pg=2851,4699145

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} and established funding of mass transit from highway funds that had been earmarked solely for roads.{{cite news

|title=Mass transit funding backed

|date=February 23, 1973

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SWoRAAAAIBAJ&pg=5087,6539401

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} AuCoin also chaired the committee that led the efforts to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.{{cite news

|title=Oregon 25th state to ratify rights amendment

|date=February 7, 1973

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tzoTAAAAIBAJ&pg=3000,4716877

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}}

U.S. Congress

In 1974, United States congressman Wendell Wyatt of Oregon's 1st congressional district announced that he would not seek a sixth term.{{cite news

|title=4 More Representatives Plan to Retire Before Next Election

|date=February 16, 1974

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/16/archives/4-more-representatives-plan-to-retire-before-next-election.html

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} AuCoin won a five-way Democratic primary with more than 50% of the vote{{cite news

|title=Official primary results

File:Les AuCoin in 1986.jpg

|date=June 27, 1974

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=sS8VAAAAIBAJ&pg=6505,1292961

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}} 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%.{{cite web

|title=Oregon District 1 race, November 4, 1974

|publisher=OurCampaigns.com

|access-date=September 1, 2009

|url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=32584

}}{{cite news

|title=The lost innocence of Congressman AuCoin

|work=The New York Times Magazine

|date=August 31, 1975

|first=James M.

|last=Naughton

|url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F10711FD3C5E1A7493C3AA1783D85F418785F9

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} 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,{{cite news

|title=GOP woos 1st district voters anew

|date=September 19, 1993

|work=The Oregonian

|first=Jeff

|last=Mapes

}} though the Democratic Party has held the seat ever since.

=Defense=

In 1981, AuCoin won a seat on the House Appropriations Committee, and two years later, was appointed to the subcommittee on Defense appropriations.{{cite news

|title=Senate losing some of its stature

|date=August 21, 1983

|last=Forrester

|first=Steve

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bogRAAAAIBAJ&pg=5684,4780850

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} AuCoin became a legislative critic of weaponizing space, opposing the Strategic Defense Initiative,{{cite news

|title=Allies surprised by plans to speed 'Star Wars' tests

|first=Michael R.

|last=Gordon

|date=February 6, 1987

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/06/world/allies-surprised-by-plans-to-speed-star-wars-tests.html

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} 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 weapons, 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.{{cite news

|title=Congress makes own arms control treaty

|last=Nelson

|first=Lars-Erik

|work=The Evening Independent

|date=February 21, 1986

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19860221&id=XxcMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6880,1681412

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}}

AuCoin supported the nuclear freeze movement{{cite news

|title=AuCoin keeps up a formal front

|date=September 27, 1992

|last=Walth

|first=Brent

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=b3wVAAAAIBAJ&pg=5636,6213925

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}}{{cite journal

|date=November 1984

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1AUAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA7

|access-date=October 8, 2009

|title=Freeze

|last=AuCoin

|first=Les

|journal=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

|page=7

|volume=40

|number=9

|doi = 10.1080/00963402.1984.11459276|bibcode = 1984BuAtS..40i...7A|url-access=subscription

}} and was a leading critic of President Reagan's proposed MX missile,{{cite magazine

|date=June 20, 1983

|url=https://www.newyorker.com/archive/1983/06/20/1983_06_20_039_TNY_CARDS_000337300

|access-date=October 8, 2009

|title=A Political Journal

|last=Drew

|first=Elizabeth

|magazine=The New Yorker

|page=39

}}{{cite news

|title=Congress urged to support MX

|work=The Los Angeles Times

|date=March 10, 1985

|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-03-10-mn-25699-story.html

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} 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{{cite web

|title=Pilum High: The Javelin Anti-Armor Missile

|date=July 12, 2009

|url=http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/pilum-high-the-javelin-anti-armor-missile-03440/

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} 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.{{cite news

|title=Arms and the Congress: Anti-Tank Weapons: Pork-Barrel Politics Takes a Back Seat

|newspaper=The Washington Post

|date=June 13, 1990

|first=Dan

|last=Morgan

|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1131879.html

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025211654/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1131879.html

|url-status=dead

|archive-date=October 25, 2012

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} 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.Javelin: The Potential New Beginning in Land Warfare, monogram by U.S. Army Major Dennis S. Sullivan, School of Advanced Military Studies, U.S. Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

=Foreign policy=

AuCoin's opposition to U.S. support of authoritarian governments in El Salvador and Guatemala and the Nicaraguan 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.{{cite news

|title=Room honors Ben Linder: Volunteer killed in Nicaragua remembered

|first=Jeff

|last=Wright

|date=April 24, 1990

|work=The Register-Guard

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=i3oVAAAAIBAJ&pg=3003%2C5884473

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}}{{cite news

|title=U.S. groups lay blame for killing of volunteers on administration

|first=Elaine

|last=Sciolino

|date=April 30, 1987

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/30/world/us-groups-lay-blame-for-killing-of-volunteers-on-administration.html

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} 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.{{cite news

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/16/world/contras-killing-of-american-doubt-cast-on-rebel-account.html

|title=Contras' killing of American: doubt cast on rebel account

|last=LeMoyne

|first=James

|date=June 16, 1987

}}

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.{{cite news

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=sPJVAAAAIBAJ&pg=5399,3104711

|access-date=April 8, 2011

|title=Oregonians depart for China

File:LesAuCoinPlaza.jpg]]

|date=February 11, 1979

}}{{cite web

|url=http://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/aucoin_les_1942_/

|title=Les AuCoin (1942– )

|last=Pavlich

|first=Paul

|publisher=The Oregon Encyclopedia

|access-date=April 8, 2011}}

=Oregon economy=

AuCoin used his seat on the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee to address a number of economic priorities throughout Oregon, including construction of the Oregon Trail Center in economically distressed Baker City,{{cite news

|title=Oregon enjoying yummy meal feasting at federal 'pork barrel'

|first=Larry

|last=Swisher

|date=August 21, 1988

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AWwVAAAAIBAJ&pg=3226%2C5058736

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} renovation of Crater Lake Lodge,{{cite news

|title=Oregon gets its pork, but Washington fattens up

|first=Larry

|last=Swisher

|work=The Register-Guard

|date=December 12, 1989

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=920VAAAAIBAJ&pg=2158%2C3390173

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} restoration of the Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde{{cite web

|title=Grand Ronde Restoration Hearing

|publisher=Oregon Historical Society

|work=The Oregon History Project

|year=1983

|url=http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/historical_records/dspDocument.cfm?doc_ID=DF2B3771-A6C1-EF95-0A6FD64CE0E0A00A

|access-date=October 8, 2009}} and Confederated Tribes of Siletz,{{cite news

|title=Restoration due

|date=November 7, 1977

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rxMRAAAAIBAJ&pg=6218%2C1674255

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} and construction of the Seafood Consumer Research Center in Astoria{{cite news

|title=Research center

|work=Ellensburg Daily Record

|date=June 10, 1987

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SN4PAAAAIBAJ&pg=4560%2C5043751

|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130126061507/http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SN4PAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cI8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4560,5043751

|url-status=dead

|archive-date=January 26, 2013

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} 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{{cite journal

|title = America's Street Car Renaissance

|journal = Infrastructurist

|date = May 4, 2008

|url = http://www.infrastructurist.com/2009/05/04/chart-americas-streetcar-renaissance/

|last = Freemark

|first = Yonah

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091002053251/http://www.infrastructurist.com/2009/05/04/chart-americas-streetcar-renaissance/

|archive-date = October 2, 2009

}} 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.{{cite journal

|title = Words, Words, Words

|last = Farmer

|first = Paul

|journal = Blueprints

|volume = XXVII

|number = 1–2

|date = Winter–Spring 2008

|url = http://www.nbm.org/about-us/publications-news/blueprints/words-words-words.html

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100505060532/http://www.nbm.org/about-us/publications-news/blueprints/words-words-words.html

|archive-date = May 5, 2010

}} 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 {{convert|9.5|e9board feet|m3}} of standing timber to the government, much of it commercially pre-thinned.{{cite news

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZjgTAAAAIBAJ&pg=7264

|access-date=October 8, 2009

|title=Senate OKs timber firms' bailout

|work=The Spokesman-Review

|date=September 27, 1984

|last=Rose

|first=Robert L.

}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}{{cite news

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=b2oVAAAAIBAJ&pg=4783,7433936

|access-date=October 8, 2009

|title=Timber contracts bill textbook example

|date=September 30, 1984

|last=Forrester

|first=Steve

}}

=Environment=

File:RockMesa.jpg]]

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 Wilderness area by buying out a mining claim in the area's geologically significant Rock Mesa{{cite news

|title=Environmentalists applaud wilderness area mining ban

|publisher=Associated Press

|work=The Spokesman-Review

|date=November 21, 1982

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SdgRAAAAIBAJ&pg=7115%2C2693841

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}} and served on the committee that helped write the 200-mile offshore economic zone, which would become known as the Magnuson Act.{{cite news |last=Smith |first=A. Robert |date=March 9, 1975 |title=200-mile limit in hopper again |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19750309&id=TbITAAAAIBAJ&pg=5103,1967013 |url-status=dead |access-date=October 15, 2009 |work=The Register-Guard}} 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.{{cite web

|url = http://www.lcv.org/images/client/pdfs/1979_Scorecard.pdf

|title = How Congress Voted on Energy and the Environment

|publisher = League of Conservation Voters

|access-date = October 15, 2009

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100620213853/http://www.lcv.org/images/client/pdfs/1979_Scorecard.pdf

|archive-date = June 20, 2010

}} He also helped preserve Cascade Head on the Oregon Coast,{{cite book

|title=Necessary Work: Discovering Old Forests, New Outlooks and Community on the H. J. Andrews Forest: 1948–2000

|publisher=U.S. Forest Service publication

|last=Geier

|first=Max G.

|year=2007}} supported the Columbia Gorge Scenic Protection Act,{{cite news|title=House Panel Hears Plan For Gorge |work=The Spokesman-Review |date=June 20, 1986 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19860620&id=ie8RAAAAIBAJ&pg=5347,2354312 |access-date=October 15, 2009 }} helped stop the construction of Salt Caves Dam on the last free-flowing stretch of the Klamath River,{{cite news

|title=Klamath Falls Still Fighting For Its Hydroelectric Plant – Scenic River Pitted Against City's Economic Recovery

|work=Seattle Times

|date=August 29, 1990

|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19900829/1090351/klamath-falls-still-fighting-for-its-hydroelectric-plant----scenic-river-pitted-against-citys-economic-recovery

}} co-authored the 1988 bill quadrupling the designation of National Wild and Scenic Rivers in Oregon,{{cite news

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kcYUAAAAIBAJ&pg=5351,779083

|title=Hatfield bill would protect scenic rivers

|date=March 5, 1988

}} and fought the construction of a plant at the Umatilla Chemical Depot to incinerate excess chemical weapons.{{cite news|

title=An Aging Cache Of Nerve Gas – U.S. Plan To Burn Huge Stores Of Outdated Chemical Munitions In Oregon Has Its Risks

|work=Seattle Times

|date= February 17, 1991

|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19910217/1266687/an-aging-cache-of-nerve-gas----us-plan-to-burn-huge-stores-of-outdated-chemical-munitions-in-oregon-has-its-risks

|first=Eric

|last=Nalder

}}

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.

==Timber harvest controversies==

Soon after the decades-long effort to expand wilderness was resolved, annual timber harvests on Forest Service lands in Oregon and Washington had increased to reach a crisis point in the late 1980s. Critics charged that AuCoin, along with other Northwest members of Congress, were forcing unsustainable logging levels, noting 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.{{cite book

|url=http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/publications/pnw_rb198/pnw_rb198b.pdf

|access-date=October 8, 2009

|title=Production, prices, employment, and trade in Northwest forest industries, third quarter 1993.

|last=Warren

|first=Debra D.

|year=1993

|publisher=United States Forest Service

|page=107

}}

However, Randal O'Toole, a self-described libertarian and environmental economist,{{cite news

|title= A Son of Portland, Ore., Tries to Puncture the Myth of 'Smart Growth'

|first=Saqib

|last=Rahim

|date=July 15, 2009

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/07/15/15climatewire-a-son-of-portland-ore-tries-to-puncture-the-52412.html

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} observed that the harvest numbers cited by critics included timber that had been sold, often commercially pre-thinned, returned to the government through the Timber Contract Relief Act, and therefore were inaccurately inflated.{{cite journal

|title=Are Region 6 Forests Being Overcut?

|last=O'Toole

|first=Randal

|author-link=Randal O'Toole

|date=May 1987

|journal=Forest Watch

}} Excluding the "buy-back" volume{{cite book

|title=U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Department of the Interior and Related Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations for 1989. Part 2: Justification of the Budget Estimate

|chapter=1989 Budget Explanatory Notes for Committee on Appropriations

|author=100th United States Congress, Second Session

|publisher=United States Government Printing Office

|location=Washington, D.C.

|year=1988

|page=1255

}} 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,"{{cite book

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R7ybC3kgcQkC&pg=PA119

|access-date=October 8, 2009

|title=The Rebirth of Environmentalism: Grassroots Activism from the Spotted Owl to the Polar Bear

|last=Bevington

|first=Douglas

|year=2009

|pages=119–120

|publisher=Island Press

|location=Washington, DC

|isbn=978-1-59726-656-7

}} 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,{{cite news

|title=Conferees Reach Timber Compromise; Plan Protects Owl's Virgin-Forest Habitat, Lifts Ban on Lumbering

|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/73901593.html?dids=73901593:73901593&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Sep+30%2C+1989&author=Dan+Morgan&pub=The+Washington+Post+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=Conferees+Reach+Timber+Compromise%3BPlan+Protects+Owl%27s+Virgin-Forest+Habitat%2C+Lifts+Ban+on+Lumbering&pqatl=google

|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130131232342/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/73901593.html?dids=73901593:73901593&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Sep+30,+1989&author=Dan+Morgan&pub=The+Washington+Post+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=Conferees+Reach+Timber+Compromise;Plan+Protects+Owl's+Virgin-Forest+Habitat,+Lifts+Ban+on+Lumbering&pqatl=google

|url-status=dead

|archive-date=January 31, 2013

|access-date=October 8, 2009

|newspaper=The Washington Post

|last=Morgan

|first=Dan

|date=September 30, 1989

}} 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.Section 318, H.R. 2688 [Enrolled], 101st U.S. Congress 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{{cite journal

|url = http://www.andykerr.net/GenForests/Opt9.html

|access-date = October 8, 2009

|last = Kerr

|first = Andy

|author2 = Rick Brown

|date =Summer 1997

|title = The Bottom Line on Option 9.

|journal = Wild Earth

|volume = 7

|number = 2

|pages = 31–34

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090101223915/http://andykerr.net/GenForests/Opt9.html

|archive-date = January 1, 2009

}} 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,{{cite news

|title=AuCoin is only missing, not lost

|date=July 27, 1993

|last=Duin

|first=Steve

|work=The Oregonian

|url=http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=NewsBank&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=0EB087DCB64276B1

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} helping to defeat the Hyde Amendment, which barred public funds for abortion services for pregnant Medicaid recipients{{cite news

|title=House, in big shift, votes to restore aid for abortions

|first=Robin

|last=Toner

|date=October 12, 1989

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/12/us/house-in-big-shift-votes-to-restor-aid-for-abortions.html

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} as well as in U.S. military hospitals abroad.{{cite news

|title=House Defense Bill Eases Abortion Ban Military

|work=The Los Angeles Times

|first=Paul

|last=Houston

|date=May 23, 1991

|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/61297280.html?dids=61297280:61297280&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=May+23%2C+1991&author=PAUL+HOUSTON&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=House+Defense+Bill+Eases+Abortion+Ban+Military%3A+Overseas+hospitals+would+again+be+allowed+to+perform+the+procedure.+The+measure%2C+sent+to+the+Senate%2C+faces+a+veto+threat+over+the+issue.&pqatl=google

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021041030/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/61297280.html?dids=61297280:61297280&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=May+23,+1991&author=PAUL+HOUSTON&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=House+Defense+Bill+Eases+Abortion+Ban+Military:+Overseas+hospitals+would+again+be+allowed+to+perform+the+procedure.+The+measure,+sent+to+the+Senate,+faces+a+veto+threat+over+the+issue.&pqatl=google

|url-status=dead

|archive-date=October 21, 2012

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} 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.{{cite news

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=19910605&id=ysMLAAAAIBAJ&pg=4227,867513

|access-date=October 8, 2009

|title=Bush threatens veto on abortion reform

|date=June 5, 1991

|work=The Victoria Advocate

}}

=Gun control=

His opposition to gun control legislation angered many of his urban constituents while pleasing numerous rural voters.{{cite news

|title=Lawmaker is target on gun issue

|date=May 7, 1991

|first=Gwen

|last=Ifill

|author-link=Gwen Ifill

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/07/us/lawmaker-is-target-on-gun-issue.html

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} AuCoin switched his position during his legislative career, emphasized with an essay in The Washington Post,{{cite news

|title=Confessions Of A Former NRA Supporter

|newspaper=The Washington Post

|date=May 18, 1991

|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19910320/1272727/confessions-of-a-former-nra-supporter

|last=AuCoin

|first=Les

|access-date=October 15, 2009

}} 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.

1992 race for the U.S. Senate

In 1992, AuCoin ran for the United States Senate 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.{{cite news

|title=Demos, GOP look to the West for vote gains

|work=The Oregonian

|date=December 21, 1991

|first=Roberta

|last=Ulrich

}} Packwood was regarded as one of the nation's "most powerful elected officials"{{cite news

|title=Bob Packwood

|work=Willamette Week

|date=September 16, 2009

}} with "extraordinary political instincts."{{cite news

|title= Packwood Is Leaving As a Pariah In His State

|first=Timothy

|last=Egan

|work=The New York Times

|date=September 9, 1995

}} 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."The Oregonian, June 13, 1988.

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"{{cite news

|title=Great political lineup in Oregon primary, but it's not the NBA – is voters' mood a pregame show for Washington?

|first=Mark

|last=Matassa

|work=The Seattle Times

|date=May 18, 1992

}} contest.{{cite news

|title=Senate aspirant proposes restoring tax deductions

|date=December 31, 1991

|first=Jeff

|last=Mapes

|work=The Oregonian

}} 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,{{cite news

|title=U.S. Senate candidate urges tax law reforms

|first=Dan

|last=Hortsch

|date=January 30, 1992

|work=The Oregonian

}} trailed throughout the race, and was not invited to an April debate sponsored by the City Club of Portland.{{cite news

|title=No debate for Wetzel? Inconceivable!

|first=Steve

|last=Duin

|date=January 28, 1992

|work=The Oregonian

}} 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".{{cite news|title=THE RETURN OF A CAREER CANDIDATE|last=Duin|first=Steve|date=September 19, 1991|work=The Oregonian|pages=B07}}

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.{{cite news

|title=Demo Senate primary gets rough

|first=Jeff

|last=Mapes

|date=February 9, 1992

|work=The Oregonian

}} Lonsdale's environmental credentials also came under scrutiny,{{cite news

|title=Lonsdale Firm's Hazardous Waste Violated No Rules

|work=The Register – Guard – Eugene, Or.

|last=Walth

|first=Brent

|date=March 21, 1992

|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/registerguard/access/6606344.html?dids=6606344:6606344&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT

|access-date=October 8, 2009

|archive-date=October 23, 2012

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023081627/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/registerguard/access/6606344.html?dids=6606344:6606344&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT

|url-status=dead

}} and AuCoin noted Lonsdale's reversal of support for nuclear power and belated opposition to the re-opening of Trojan Nuclear Power Plant.{{cite news

|title=Lonsdale, in about-face, opposes nuclear power, Trojan restart

|first=Jeff

|last=Mapes

|date=January 5, 1992

|newspaper=The Oregonian

}} AuCoin turned accusations of undue influence back on Lonsdale, pointing out that his company (Bend Research) had received millions in federal defense contracts.{{cite news

|title= AuCoin takes Lonsdale's role in debate

|first=Jeff

|last=Mapes

|date=March 29, 1992

|newspaper=The Oregonian

}}

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.{{cite news

|title=Mobley, OCA consider independent Senate race

|first=Jeff

|last=Mapes

|date=January 16, 1992

|newspaper=The Oregonian

}}{{cite news

|title= OCA party needs more normal name

|first=David

|last=Sarasohn

|author-link=David Sarasohn

|date=July 26, 1992

|newspaper=The Oregonian

}} Mobley 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.{{cite news

|title=Big break for Sen. Packwood

|first=Maralee

|last=Schwartz

|author2=Thomas B. Edsall

|newspaper=The Washington Post

|date=August 16, 1992

}}

Even during the primary, Packwood and AuCoin traded barbs on various issues.{{cite news

|title=Packwood, AuCoin exchange accusations

|first=Jeff

|last=Mapes

|date=February 18, 1992

|newspaper=The Oregonian

}} 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.{{cite news

|title=Oregonians check books

|first=Alan K.

|last=Ota

|author2=Roberta Ulrich

|date=March 14, 1992

|work=The Oregonian

}} In what was believed to be an unprecedented move, Packwood attempted to influence the Democratic primary's outcome by running television ads against AuCoin.{{cite news

|title=The 1992 Campaign; Close Vote for Oregon Senate Seat Insures Recount

|date=May 24, 1992

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/24/us/the-1992-campaign-close-vote-for-oregon-senate-seat-insures-recount.html

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}}

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.{{cite news|title=AUCOIN WAITS FOR OFFICIAL DECLARATION OF VICTORY|last=Hamilton|first=Don|date=May 24, 1992|work=The Oregonian|pages=D05}} On June 18, over a month after the primary election, AuCoin was certified as having won by 330 votes.{{cite news

|title=State puts its seal on AuCoin's victory

|work=The Oregonian

|date=June 18, 1992

|first=Jeff

|last=Mapes

}} Upon conceding the race, Lonsdale pondered mounting a write-in campaign, reiterating that Oregon needed an "outsider" in the Senate.{{cite news

|title= A recount in the Democratic Senate primary is...

|work=The Oregonian

|date=June 9, 1992

|first=Jeff

|last=Mapes

}}{{cite news

|title=Lonsdale concedes primary loss with attack on AuCoin, Packwood

|first=Jeff

|last=Mapes

|date=June 19, 1992

|work=The Oregonian

}}

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{{cite news

|title=Let's make a deal

|date=June 26, 1992

|work=The Oregonian

}}{{cite news

|title=Packwood rejects AuCoin's spending-lid plan

|first=Jeff

|last=Mapes

|date=June 23, 1992

|work=The Oregonian

}} and was ranked sixth nationwide among senators raising funds outside their home state during the 1990–1992 election season.{{cite news

|title= Packwood ranked sixth in Senate in raising money outside of state

|first=Alan K.

|last=Ota

|date=July 2, 1992

|work=The Oregonian

}}

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{{cite news

|title=Catching a 'Chameleon': Senate Wrestles With Packwood

|work=Los Angeles Times

|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-11-03-mn-52686-story.html

|date=November 3, 1993

| first=Karen

| last=Tumulty

| access-date=May 7, 2010

}}) assailed "environmental extremists" and introduced legislation to convene a presidential cabinet committee to exempt the endangered owl from the ESA.{{cite news

|title=Packwood Wants Changes In Endangered Species Act

|work=Spokane Chronicle

|date=October 18, 1990

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1345&dat=19901018&id=EssSAAAAIBAJ&pg=6800,2600184

}}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

In September, Packwood pulled ads that had falsely criticized AuCoin for missing votes while speaking to special interest groups.{{cite news

|title= Inaccuracy found

|first=Jeff

|last=Mapes

|work=The Oregonian

|date=September 26, 1992

}} By October, Packwood had raised $8 million,{{cite news

|title=Data sparse on Packwood's donors

|first=Alak K.

|last=Ota

|work=The Oregonian

|date=October 30, 1992

}} spending $5.4 million more than AuCoin, and leading all Senate incumbents.{{cite news

|title=Packwood sets '92 campaign spending record

|work=The Oregonian

|date=May 25, 1993

|first=Don

|last=Hamilton

|url=http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:ORGB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0EB087CBCE407D62&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=0D10F2CADB4B24C0

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} 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.{{cite news

|title= Packwood, AuCoin in dead heat, new poll finds

|first=Jeff

|last=Mapes

|work=The Oregonian

|date=October 29, 1992

}}

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 AuCoin for Secretary of the Interior in the Clinton administration.{{cite news

|title=Sen. Packwood Backs Foe For Cabinet

|work=The San Francisco Chronicle

|date=November 5, 1992

|author=The Associated Press

}} When told of Packwood's comments, AuCoin responded by saying "I think that's real special."{{cite news

|title=Victorious Packwood boosts foe for cabinet

|first=Jeff

|last=Mapes

|date=November 5, 1992

|work=The Oregonian

}}

Magnifying the controversy of the race was a decision by the Washington Post to delay until after the election{{cite news

|title=What Delayed Packwood Expose?

|date=December 3, 1992

|first=Raymond R.

|last=Coffey

|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4143666.html

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025112731/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4143666.html

|url-status=dead

|archive-date=October 25, 2012

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}}{{cite news

|title=Packwood may quit soon, his lawyer says

|work=Chicago Tribune

|date=November 20, 1993

|first=Elaine S.

|last=Povich}} coverage of its year-long investigation into detailed claims of sexual abuse and assault made by 10 women against Packwood. The paper 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.{{cite news

|title=A Newspaper Confesses: We Missed the Story

|date=January–February 1993

|first=Cheryl

|last=Reid

|work=American Journalism Review

|url=http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=2101

|access-date=October 8, 2009

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613032339/http://ajr.org/Article.asp?id=2101

|archive-date=June 13, 2010

|url-status=dead

}} 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."){{cite news

|title=Dubious achievements: The Oregonian 1974–1999 (The Oregonian's Big Oh's)

|first=Paul

|last=Koberstein

|work=The Willamette Week

|year=1999

}} 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."{{cite news

|title=A Newspaper Confesses: We Missed the Story

|first=Cheryl

|last=Reid

|date=January–February 1993

|work=American Journalism Review

|url=http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=2101

|access-date=October 8, 2009

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613032339/http://ajr.org/Article.asp?id=2101

|archive-date=June 13, 2010

|url-status=dead

}}

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.{{cite news

|title=Group says Packwood lied, asks Senate to nullify election

|work=Chicago Tribune

|date=May 11, 1993

|first=Elaine S.

|last=Povich

|url=http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:CTRB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0FFEC9C4E25EA4AA&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=0D10F2CADB4B24C0

|access-date=October 8, 2009

}} 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.{{cite news

|title=Decline and fall: Senator Bob Packwood resigns after censure by Senate Ethics Committee

|work=Newsweek

|date=September 25, 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.{{cite news

|title=Capitol to Cabinet: Some potential picks

|work=USA Today

|date=December 3, 1992

|first=Richard

|last=Wolf

|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/USAToday/access/56243132.html?dids=56243132:56243132&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT%3A

|access-date=October 8, 2009

|archive-date=October 23, 2012

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023081639/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/USAToday/access/56243132.html?dids=56243132:56243132&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT:

|url-status=dead

}} 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.{{cite news

|title=AuCoin takes job as lobbyist in D.C.

|first=Foster

|last=Church

|date=January 26, 1993

|work=The Oregonian

}}{{cite news

|title=AuCoin now lobbying for timber industry

|first=Jeff

|last=Mapes

|date=June 11, 1993

|work=The Oregonian

}}

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.{{cite news

|title=AuCoin says no to Board of Forestry

|first=Michelle

|last=Cole

|date=March 12, 2005

|work=The Oregonian

}}{{cite news

|title=Moderate picked to lead Oregon Board of Forestry