Born in rural Missouri on November 5, 1940, Ted Kulongoski began his life humbly, growing up in a Catholic boys' home in St. Louis. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and served a tour of duty in Southeast Asia, returning home to work as a truck driver and a bricklayer in a steel mill in Alton, Illinois.

Thanks to the GI Bill, he was able to pursue higher education, and attended the University of Missouri, where he earned both an undergraduate degree and a law degree. To this day, Ted Kulongoski credits the GI Bill for giving him the opportunity to pursue his dream of a better life--an opportunity he believes everyone should have.

After landing a job as a judicial clerk in Eugene, Oregon, he set about establishing his own law firm. His early successes in representing labor organizations earned him a reputation as a leading labor lawyer. During a session of the Oregon legislature, he authored the Oregon Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act, a landmark piece of legislation that became the cornerstone of public employees' bargaining rights in Oregon.

A growing appreciation for public service, and a determination to level the playing field for all Oregonians, led him to seek election to the Oregon House of Representatives in 1974. He won. After serving two terms, he ran for the Oregon State Senate, where he served until 1983.

After receiving appointment to the office of Oregon Insurance Commissioner in 1987, he led a sweeping reform of the state's workers' compensation system, which quickly gained national recognition as a model for reducing employers' costs while upgrading workers' benefits. Thanks in part to his record as Insurance Commissioner, Ted Kulongoski won election as Oregon's Attorney General in 1992.

As the state's chief legal officer, his first order of business was reforming the state's juvenile justice system, bringing certainty and accountability not only to juvenile offenders, but also to the system itself. His love of the law, and his belief in using the law to help make society more equitable and fair, led him to seek and win a seat as an Associate Justice on the Oregon Supreme Court, a position he held until mid-2001, when he decided to run for Governor. He began serving his first term as Governor in January 2003, becoming the first Oregon Governor to serve in all three branches of state government--legislative, judicial and executive.

Throughout his 30 years of public service, Ted has won admiration for his ability to bring people together to solve difficult issues. He has fought to protect older citizens from fraud and abuse, raise the minimum wage and strengthen safety laws for workers. He has led an aggressive effort to provide a first-rate education for every child in Oregon, and has championed health care for everyone, both old and young. And he has signed into law the toughest measures in America to fight meth crimes.

When he became Governor in January 2003, Ted Kulongoski took the reins of a state government burdened with a budget deficit of $3 billion, and the loss of more than a fifth of its revenue, thanks to a national recession that ravaged Oregon's high-tech economy and reduced both personal and corporate income.

Knowing that strong management measures were needed if Oregon could ever again aspire to prosperity, the new Governor changed the way the state handles its budget. He cut expenses and reformed state purchasing to save tax dollars. And most important, he made creating jobs his first priority, and aggressively promoted business opportunities in rural and urban areas while protecting the environment. He opened the doors to college for more Oregonians by nearly doubling the availability of state help to low-income students. He brought new jobs by the tens of thousands into the state, and made Oregon's economy the sixth-fastest growing economy in the nation.

Ted Kulongoski's vision for Oregon includes an education system that produces the world's best-trained and most reliable workers; a health care system that covers every child under 19 and provides affordable health care for all; and a commitment to renewable, clean energy that helps achieve energy independence while creating jobs in the exciting new industries of the Twenty-First Century.

The Governor and his wife, Mary Oberst, have three grown children. They enjoy backpacking and hiking. An avid fly-fisherman, Ted will throw a fly into any puddle or stream he happens to find.

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