20 Facts About Ted Kulongoski

Theodore Ralph Kulongoski is an American politician, judge, and lawyer who served as the 36th Governor of Oregon from 2003 to 2011.

Ted Kulongoski was the Attorney General of Oregon from 1993 to 1997 and a justice of the Oregon Supreme Court from 1997 to 2001.

Ted Kulongoski has served in all three branches of the Oregon state government.

Ted Kulongoski was born in St Louis, Missouri, in 1940 to Theodore Ted Kulongoski, the son of Polish immigrants, and his wife Helen, nee Newcomer.

Ted Kulongoski was one year old when his father died of cancer, and spent the rest of his childhood in a Catholic boys' home.

In 1974, Kulongoski was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives and, in 1978, to the Oregon State Senate.

At the 1980 Democratic National Convention then-State Senator and US Senate nominee Kulongoski received 8 delegate votes for Vice President of the United States.

In that role, Kulongoski reformed the state's workers' compensation insurance system, a move that is widely credited for lowering costs to business.

In 1992, Kulongoski was elected as Oregon Attorney General, defeating Republican Rich Rodeman.

In 1996, Ted Kulongoski decided against running for re-election as Attorney General, and instead successfully ran for the Oregon Supreme Court.

Ted Kulongoski resigned from the court in 2001 to run for governor.

Ted Kulongoski ran a low-key campaign, emphasizing his reputation as a consensus-builder and problem solver.

Ted Kulongoski argued for a pragmatic approach to solving the state's budget crisis and recession, a marked departure from the more confrontational style of outgoing governor John Kitzhaber.

Ted Kulongoski narrowly won the election, winning 618,004 votes, with 581,785 votes going to Mannix, and 57,760 votes going to Libertarian candidate Tom Cox.

Ted Kulongoski inherited a state facing a massive budget deficit and high unemployment.

Ted Kulongoski faced multiple opponents in the general election: Republican Party candidate Ron Saxton, Constitution Party candidate Mary Starrett, Libertarian Party candidate Richard Morley, and Pacific Green Party candidate Joe Keating.

Ted Kulongoski said the state needs a consistent message on reducing greenhouse gases to combat climate change.

Ted Kulongoski signed two LGBT rights bills into law: a domestic partnership bill and an anti-discrimination bill at a ceremony May 9,2007.

In May 2010, Ted Kulongoski suffered a vitreous hemorrhage in the eye due to fragile, abnormal blood vessels that have grown in the retina of the eye.

In 2012, Ted Kulongoski joined the faculty at Portland State University in the school's Mark O Hatfield School of Government.