Barbara Roberts

Barbara K. Roberts ( born December 21, 1936 in Corvallis, Oregon) is an American politician. She was from 1991 to 1995 Governor of the State of Oregon.

Early years and political rise

Barbara Roberts attended 1961-1964 Portland State University. Later she was also at Harvard University and at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Early on, she was committed to children with disabilities. For their efforts, she was elected in 1973 in the School Board of Park Rose, where they remained for ten years. She was also on the Board of the Mount Hood Community College.

Between 1981 and 1985, Barbara Roberts Member of the House of Representatives from Oregon. In the years 1983 and 1984 she was there as the first woman leader of the Democrats. In 1984 she was elected to the office of the Secretary of State of Oregon. So she was the first member of the Democratic Party in this office for over 100 years. In 1990 she was elected to the Governor of Oregon, where she prevailed with 45.7 percent of votes in the Republican David B. Frohnmayer.

Governor of Oregon

Roberts stepped up her new post on 14 January 1991. She was the first and so far only woman in the office of governor of this U.S. state. As Governor she campaigned for an improved education policy and strengthened the rights of the disabled. They also worried about the environment and the management tried to reform and adapt the conditions of time. They also strove for the rights of homosexuals. Their plan to raise VAT in favor of health insurance, was rejected by the citizens. Then they had to cut spending and thus breaking one of their election promises. In 1994, she opted not to run again. For this reason she left in January 1995 to hold office.

Further CV

After the end of her tenure she got a job as a department director at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. In 1998 she took up a similar position at Portland State University. Roberts is a board member of several charitable organizations, acting as guest speaker. She was married to State Senator Frank Roberts, who died in 1993. Her son, Mike, one of two children is autistic.