Tobias Read

Tobias Read
29th Treasurer of Oregon
Assumed office
January 3, 2017
Governor Kate Brown
Preceded by Ted Wheeler
Member of the Oregon House of Representatives
from the 27th district
In office
January 8, 2007 – January 3, 2017
Preceded by Mark Hass
Succeeded by Sheri Malstrom
Personal details
Born (1975-07-01) July 1, 1975
Missoula, Montana, U.S.
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Heidi Eggert
Children 2
Education Willamette University (BA)
University of Washington, Seattle (MBA)
Website Government website

Tobias Read (July 1, 1975) is an American Democratic politician who is the current Oregon State Treasurer. He was a member of the Oregon House of Representatives, representing District 27 from 2007–2017, which comprises parts of Beaverton, southwest Portland, and unincorporated Multnomah and Washington Counties. He served as Speaker Pro Tempore, and was formerly the Democratic Majority Whip.

In 2016, Read ran for Oregon State Treasurer, to succeed State Treasurer Ted Wheeler, who was barred from running in 2016 by term limits. Read won the general election on November 8, 2016[1] and became the State Treasurer in January 2017.

Early life

Read was born in 1975 in Missoula, Montana. After attending high school in Idaho, he moved to Oregon where he attended Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.[2] where he graduated in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in politics and economics.[2] That year he started working for Nike, Inc. in footwear development, where he remained until 2012,[2] save for working at the U.S. Department of the Treasury as an aide to then Secretary Lawrence Summers from 1999 to 2001. His immediate supervisor at Treasury was Sheryl Sandberg.[3] In 2003, he earned an MBA from the University of Washington in Seattle.[2] He and his wife, Heidi Eggert, have two children, Annika, and Ellis.[4]

State Treasurer

In 2016, Read ran for Oregon State Treasurer, to succeed Ted Wheeler, who was barred by term limits from running again in 2016. He was unopposed in the primary and won the general election by a plurality on November 2016[1] and became the State Treasurer in January 2017.

Elliott State Forest sale

Breaking their prior silence on the issue, Read joined on February 15 with the incoming Secretary of State, fellow state Land Board member Republican Dennis Richardson, the two constituting a majority, to vote against Governor Kate Brown's proposal to float a bond issue to keep the 82,500-acre Elliott State Forest in public hands. Instead, they advanced a proposal to sell it to the Lone Rock Timber corporation, whose $221 million bid included partnering with the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians. Outgoing Land Board member Wheeler had voted in December 2016 to keep the forest public. Read had received $3,000 in campaign contributions from Lone Rock, $3,750 from the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, of which the Umpqua tribe is a member, $2,500 from Roseburg Forest Products, and a total of $15,750 from the logging and forest products industries. Richardson received $11,000 from Lone Rock, then $10,000 from the Cow Creek Band after he won office.[5][6] Read's vote particularly irked environmental groups, because he pledged to preserve the Elliott Forest as he campaigned and had introduced legislation in 2015, similar as was done in Washington state, to protect it from exploitation and privatization. Asked about his role reversal, Read said he was, "...in a different role now."[7]

General election

County results
Oregon State Treasurer election, November 8, 2016[8]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Tobias Read 828,354 44.11%
Republican Jeff Gudman 776,513 41.35%
Independent Chris Telfer 176,892 9.42%
Progressive Chris Henry 92,663 4.93%
Write-ins 3,497 0.19%
Total votes 1,877,919 100%

References

  1. 1 2 Marum, Anna (November 8, 2016). "Tobias Read elected Oregon treasurer". The Oregonian. Portland, Oregon: Oregonian Media Group. Retrieved 2016-11-16.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Brettman, Allan (June 8, 2012). "State Rep. Tobias Read leaves Nike to focus on legislative work". The Oregonian. Portland, Oregon: Oregonian Media Group. Retrieved June 8, 2012.
  3. ↑ Jaquiss, Nigel (September 27, 2016). "Five Things You Didn't Know About Tobias Read". Willamette Week. Portland, Oregon: City of Roses Newspapers. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  4. ↑ Inaugural Address, Tobias Read, January 6, 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  5. ↑ Davis, Rob (February 14, 2017). "Oregon takes big step toward privatizing Elliott State Forest". The Oregonian. Portland, Oregonian: Oregonian Media Group. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Tobias Read's Campaign Finances". Vote Smart. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  7. ↑ Theen, Andrew (February 23, 2017). "Tobias Read sticks by Elliott State Forest vote despite environmental outcry". The Oregonian. Portland, Oregon: Oregonian Media Group. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  8. ↑ "UNOFFICIAL 2016 GENERAL ELECTION NOVEMBER 8, 2016". OregonVotes. Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
Political offices
Preceded by
Ted Wheeler		 Treasurer of Oregon
2017–present		 Incumbent
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.