Stan Bunn
Encyclopedia
Stan Bunn is an American politician and lawyer in the U.S. state of Oregon
. Born and raised in Yamhill County
, he is part of a political family that includes his brother Jim Bunn
who served in Congress. A self-described moderate Republican, Stan served in both houses of the Oregon Legislative Assembly
, including a successful run for the Oregon House of Representatives
while in law school
in 1972. Later he served as Oregon Superintendent of Public Instruction
from 1999 to 2003, in a political career spanning four decades. In non-elective offices, he was chairman of the state's ethics commission and on the Oregon Traffic Safety Commission between stints in the legislature.
Bunn also made unsuccessful attempts to be elected as Oregon Attorney General
in 1976 and to serve in Congress representing Oregon’s first congressional district
in 1996, when his brother was running for re-election in the neighboring Congressional district. Bunn faced scrutiny over back taxes
while Superintendent of Public Instruction and also was found to have committed over one thousand ethics violations by the Oregon Government Ethics Commission, stemming primarily from the use of a state car and use of a state cell phone for personal use. Bunn challenged their findings and later reached a settlement in which he did not admit wrong doing and paid $25,000 to the Commission in a payment that could not be called a fine.
, Yamhill County, Oregon
, on June 25, 1946. One of eleven children in the family with five brothers and five sisters, he was the fourth oldest of Ben and Viola (Fulgham) Bunn’s children. His grandfather was once mayor of Lafayette, Oregon
, and his father was on the city’s school board. He was raised on a dairy near Dayton, Oregon
, and went to school at Lafayette Grade School and later Dayton High School
.
In high school he wrestled and was a member of the Future Farmers of America, where he raised pigs. At 16 years old, he purchased his first piece of property, a vacant lot in Lafayette. He also persuaded his parents to co-sign on a loan in order for him to buy cattle that year. Soon afterwards, he purchased a used mobile home, his first rental property. The 6’ 2” tall student also was class president his senior year, graduating in 1964.
After high school he attended Willamette University
in Salem, Oregon
, where he majored in economics. Bunn paid for much of the tuition to the small liberal arts school with the funds he earned raising hogs. He served as a page at the 1964 Republican National Convention
in San Francisco, which led to an internship with Oregon Senator Mark Hatfield
in Washington, DC. During his internship Bunn tutored inner city kids there, which helped shape his political views. "I believed until then that anybody could bootstrap themselves, but I came to believe that the social problems we face need to be dealt with by government." Bunn graduated from Willamette in 1969 with a bachelor of arts degree and then enrolled at Willamette's law school
.
During his third and final year of law school in 1972, he ran for a seat in the Oregon House of Representatives as a Republican, to represent Yamhill County. He won the five-person primary, and then won the general election in November. After winning the seat, Democrats challenged Bunn’s residency in the district, since he was attending in school in Salem. The challenge failed, and he was sworn in as a 26-year-old legislator in January 1973, while still a law student. Bunn then wrote his third year law school paper on residency requirements. He graduated cum laude from Willamette with a juris doctorate degree in 1973.
Following law school Bunn began practicing law in Newberg
. There he built a practice that expanded to as many eight lawyers and two offices. He later sold the practice after election to a statewide office in 1998. Bunn also continued expanding his real estate holdings and owned as many as 14 rental properties. He lived in Yamhill County during these times, first in his hometown of Dayton and later near Newberg.
after Nixon ended the war in Vietnam
. He also worked to pass legislation in 1975 to create the Willamette Greenway
, and to make the state’s laws tougher against drunk drivers
.
In 1976, Bunn then ran to serve as the Oregon Attorney General
, but lost in the Republican primary, coming in third, and did not run for re-election to the House. After leaving the House he served as chairperson of the Oregon Government Ethics Commission from 1979 to 1981 and was on the Oregon Traffic Safety Commission. He remained out of elected office until he was elected to the Oregon House again in 1984. Representing District 29, he won re-election to successive two-year terms in 1986, 1988, and 1990. In July 1987, Republicans appointed his brother Jim to the Oregon State Senate
, a seat Stan had hoped to be appointed to instead.
The seat became open when Tony Meeker
was appointed as Oregon State Treasurer
. Stan considered challenging his brother in the primary election the following May, but declined and ran for re-election in the House. The possible contest between brothers created some tension in the family. In August 1987, Stan declined to pursue the House Minority Leader position after Larry Campbell
left the position. Bunn then ran in the 1992 election to replace John Brenneman
in Oregon Senate District 2, where Bunn then lived after redistricting. On July 2, 1992, he was appointed to the position when Brenneman resigned from the seat. His younger brother Tom
was appointed to the House to fill Stan’s seat the next day, which lead to three Bunns serving in the Oregon Legislative Assembly
simultaneously.
Bunn won the November 1992 election and the four-year term in the Senate. He served through the 1996 special session representing parts of Yamhill, Lincoln, Polk, Lane, and Tillamook counties. While in the legislature this second time, he went against his party and voted to place a Democrat on the Northwest Power Planning Council, with his vote the decisive vote. Other work included writing and passing welfare reform to move recipients into the workforce and medical insurance portability for employees, both in 1995. Later legislator Larry George
described Bunn as “...more of a stoic character, more standoffish...” while fellow legislator Bill Bradbury
said "[h]e really does absorb the facts of a situation,' and not just have an ideological view to it." Bunn himself described his views as moderate.
In 1996, Stan ran in the Republican primary to represent Oregon’s 1st congressional district, at a time when his brother Jim was running for re-election in Oregon’s 5th Congressional district. One of six Republicans in the primary, he finished third in the race with Bill Witt wining the party’s nomination. During his campaign, he teamed up with his brother to run a joint commercial featuring two talking hamburger buns with the tag line “We just have to get our Bunns to Washington”.
to replace the retiring Norma Paulus
as head of the Oregon Department of Education
. He was one of sixteen candidates in the May primary, finishing first and faced Democratic Senator Margaret Carter
in a runoff in the November 1998 election. Bunn’s campaign focused on stabilizing funding for schools, continuing school reform, smaller class sizes, and supported charter schools, but not school voucher
programs. He spent over $100,000 of his own money in winning the position, defeating Carter 522,263 votes to 412,235 votes.
Taking office on January 4, 1999, with plans to reduce class sizes, increase teacher training, create a reserve fund to help stabilize school funding, and work to better the relationship between teachers unions and the Department of Education. He also supported the concept of charter schools as long as local schools retained control of those schools. While in office, the state adopted legislation to allow for charter schools in 1999.
Bunn also proposed changing the state’s certificate of initial mastery
(CIM) to a program with seven separate CIMs, but the Oregon State Board of Education declined to adopt his proposal.
In 2001, potential ethics violations arose over use of a state cell phone and state vehicle for personal use. Soon after, a previously tabled bill in the legislature that would change Bunn’s office to an appointed position in lieu of an election was reintroduced. The legislation never made it into law. While an ethics investigation was pending, it came to light in 2001 that Bunn was delinquent on almost $15,000 in property taxes. The taxes were owed in two counties, some as far back as 1997, with one property facing foreclosure by the county. County records disclosed a pattern of late payments on property taxes dating to as early as 1992. Bunn paid all the back taxes, including interest, and apologized for the transgression, blaming it partly on a change of address due to selling his law firm and on not having the money after leaving private legal practice.
Meanwhile, an Oregon circuit court judge ruled against Bunn’s decision to allow Boy Scouts
to recruit at public school. Judge Ellen F. Rosenblum determined Bunn had abused his discretion in not finding evidence that the group discriminated against those who did not believe in God. Thus, state antidiscrimination laws prohibited the group from recruiting at schools, and Bunn was ordered to alter the policy that allowed the Boy Scouts to recruit in schools.
Regarding the ethics complaint, the state commission determined Bunn made 1,433 violations of the ethics laws and faced up to a $1,000 fine for each violation as well as a fine for as much as double the value of the improper benefits. The commission also removed 1,334 of the charges made against Bunn. Bunn had reimbursed the state for many of the personal expenses and returned the state car and state cell phone after the improprieties were discovered by The Oregonian
newspaper. Some of the long-distance phone calls at issue were to his ex-wife, who also worked for the Department of Education in the same building as Bunn. There was also a charge he used his office to get a free trip to Los Angeles for his daughter. He drew further scrutiny when he mailed his defense of the allegations to state legislators using state funds and letterhead, which ked to anther ethics complaint.
Bunn did not accept the findings of the commission, so the commission sued to enforce the findings in court. While the legal action was in progress, the ethics commission decided to pursue the allegations against Bunn concerning the free trip for his daughter, but declined to investigate the mailing incident. Ultimately, Bunn and the ethics commission reached a settlement on all the allegations with Bunn paying $25,000 to the commission. Federal judge Robert E. Jones
mediated the settlement where Bunn did not admit to any violations, and the $25,000 could not be characterized as a penalty.
In March 2002, he filed to run for re-election to his office while the ethics case against him was still pending. Bunn was optimistic the investigation would exonerate him and that voters would focus on his record instead of the ethics issues. He ran against State Senator Susan Castillo
and Rob Kremer in the May primary, and finished a distant third to Castillo with 114,203 votes to her 406,247. Castillo won enough votes to avoid a runoff in the November general election and took over for Bunn on January 5, 2003.
for five years.
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. Born and raised in Yamhill County
Yamhill County, Oregon
-National protected areas:*Siuslaw National Forest *Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge -Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 84,992 people, 28,732 households, and 21,376 families residing in the county. The population density was 119 people per square mile . There were 30,270...
, he is part of a political family that includes his brother Jim Bunn
Jim Bunn
James Lee Bunn is an American politician from Oregon. A native of Yamhill County, he served in the Oregon State Senate before election to the United States House of Representatives where he served one term...
who served in Congress. A self-described moderate Republican, Stan served in both houses of the Oregon Legislative Assembly
Oregon Legislative Assembly
The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper and lower house: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the House of Representatives, with 60 members elected to...
, including a successful run for the Oregon House of Representatives
Oregon House of Representatives
The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of 57,000. The House meets at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem....
while in law school
Law school
A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...
in 1972. Later he served as Oregon Superintendent of Public Instruction
Oregon Superintendent of Public Instruction
The Superintendent of Public Instruction, sometimes referred to as the State Superintendent of Schools, is a constitutional office within the executive branch of the Oregon state government, and acts as administrative officer of the State Board of Education and executive head of the Department of...
from 1999 to 2003, in a political career spanning four decades. In non-elective offices, he was chairman of the state's ethics commission and on the Oregon Traffic Safety Commission between stints in the legislature.
Bunn also made unsuccessful attempts to be elected as Oregon Attorney General
Oregon Attorney General
The Oregon Attorney General is a statutory office within the executive branch of the state of Oregon, and serves as the chief legal officer of the state, heading its Department of Justice with its six operating divisions. The Attorney General is chosen by statewide partisan election to serve a term...
in 1976 and to serve in Congress representing Oregon’s first congressional district
Oregon's 1st congressional district
Oregon's 1st congressional district consists of the northwest corner of Oregon. It includes Clatsop, Columbia, Washington, and Yamhill counties, and southwest Portland, part of Multnomah County, which belonged to the 3rd district before the 2002 redistricting....
in 1996, when his brother was running for re-election in the neighboring Congressional district. Bunn faced scrutiny over back taxes
Back taxes
Back taxes is a term for taxes that were not paid when due. They are typically taxes that are owed from a prior year....
while Superintendent of Public Instruction and also was found to have committed over one thousand ethics violations by the Oregon Government Ethics Commission, stemming primarily from the use of a state car and use of a state cell phone for personal use. Bunn challenged their findings and later reached a settlement in which he did not admit wrong doing and paid $25,000 to the Commission in a payment that could not be called a fine.
Early life
Stan Bunn was born in McMinnvilleMcMinnville, Oregon
McMinnville is the county seat and largest city of Yamhill County, Oregon, United States. According to Oregon Geographic Names, it was named by its founder, William T. Newby , an early immigrant on the Oregon Trail, for his hometown of McMinnville, Tennessee...
, Yamhill County, Oregon
Yamhill County, Oregon
-National protected areas:*Siuslaw National Forest *Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge -Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 84,992 people, 28,732 households, and 21,376 families residing in the county. The population density was 119 people per square mile . There were 30,270...
, on June 25, 1946. One of eleven children in the family with five brothers and five sisters, he was the fourth oldest of Ben and Viola (Fulgham) Bunn’s children. His grandfather was once mayor of Lafayette, Oregon
Lafayette, Oregon
Lafayette is a city in Yamhill County, Oregon, United States on the Yamhill River and Oregon Route 99W. It was founded in 1846 and incorporated in 1878...
, and his father was on the city’s school board. He was raised on a dairy near Dayton, Oregon
Dayton, Oregon
Dayton is a city in Yamhill County, Oregon, United States. The population was 2,119 at the 2000 census. As of July 2007 its estimated population was 2,495.-History:...
, and went to school at Lafayette Grade School and later Dayton High School
Dayton High School (Oregon)
Dayton High School is a public high school in Dayton, Oregon, United States. The building was built in 1937 and remodeled in 2000.-Academics:...
.
In high school he wrestled and was a member of the Future Farmers of America, where he raised pigs. At 16 years old, he purchased his first piece of property, a vacant lot in Lafayette. He also persuaded his parents to co-sign on a loan in order for him to buy cattle that year. Soon afterwards, he purchased a used mobile home, his first rental property. The 6’ 2” tall student also was class president his senior year, graduating in 1964.
After high school he attended Willamette University
Willamette University
Willamette University is an American private institution of higher learning located in Salem, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest university in the Western United States. Willamette is a member of the Annapolis Group of colleges, and is made up of an undergraduate College of Liberal Arts and...
in Salem, Oregon
Salem, Oregon
Salem is the capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river forms the boundary between Marion and Polk counties, and the city neighborhood...
, where he majored in economics. Bunn paid for much of the tuition to the small liberal arts school with the funds he earned raising hogs. He served as a page at the 1964 Republican National Convention
1964 Republican National Convention
The 1964 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States took place in the Cow Palace, San Francisco, California, on July 13 to July 16, 1964. Before 1964, there had only been one national Republican convention on the West Coast...
in San Francisco, which led to an internship with Oregon Senator Mark Hatfield
Mark Hatfield
Mark Odom Hatfield was an American politician and educator from the state of Oregon. A Republican, he served for 30 years as a United States Senator from Oregon, and also as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee...
in Washington, DC. During his internship Bunn tutored inner city kids there, which helped shape his political views. "I believed until then that anybody could bootstrap themselves, but I came to believe that the social problems we face need to be dealt with by government." Bunn graduated from Willamette in 1969 with a bachelor of arts degree and then enrolled at Willamette's law school
Willamette University College of Law
Willamette University College of Law is a private law school located in Salem, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1842, Willamette University is the oldest university in the Western United States...
.
During his third and final year of law school in 1972, he ran for a seat in the Oregon House of Representatives as a Republican, to represent Yamhill County. He won the five-person primary, and then won the general election in November. After winning the seat, Democrats challenged Bunn’s residency in the district, since he was attending in school in Salem. The challenge failed, and he was sworn in as a 26-year-old legislator in January 1973, while still a law student. Bunn then wrote his third year law school paper on residency requirements. He graduated cum laude from Willamette with a juris doctorate degree in 1973.
Following law school Bunn began practicing law in Newberg
Newberg, Oregon
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 18,064 people, 6,099 households, and 4,348 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,599.4 people per square mile . There were 6,435 housing units at an average density of 1,282.2 per square mile...
. There he built a practice that expanded to as many eight lawyers and two offices. He later sold the practice after election to a statewide office in 1998. Bunn also continued expanding his real estate holdings and owned as many as 14 rental properties. He lived in Yamhill County during these times, first in his hometown of Dayton and later near Newberg.
Political career
Bunn’s political career began with his election to the Oregon House in 1972 to represent District 29 and parts of Yamhill, Polk, and Marion counties. He won re-election to a second two-year term in 1974 and served through the 1975 special session of the legislature. In 1973 during this time in the Oregon House, he was the only Republican there who voted against a resolution that praised Republican U.S. President Richard NixonRichard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
after Nixon ended the war in Vietnam
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. He also worked to pass legislation in 1975 to create the Willamette Greenway
Willamette Greenway
The Willamette River Greenway Program, established by the 1967 Oregon legislature, is a cooperative state and local government effort to maintain and enhance the scenic, recreational, historic, natural and agricultural qualities of the Willamette River and its adjacent lands...
, and to make the state’s laws tougher against drunk drivers
Driving under the influence
Driving under the influence is the act of driving a motor vehicle with blood levels of alcohol in excess of a legal limit...
.
In 1976, Bunn then ran to serve as the Oregon Attorney General
Oregon Attorney General
The Oregon Attorney General is a statutory office within the executive branch of the state of Oregon, and serves as the chief legal officer of the state, heading its Department of Justice with its six operating divisions. The Attorney General is chosen by statewide partisan election to serve a term...
, but lost in the Republican primary, coming in third, and did not run for re-election to the House. After leaving the House he served as chairperson of the Oregon Government Ethics Commission from 1979 to 1981 and was on the Oregon Traffic Safety Commission. He remained out of elected office until he was elected to the Oregon House again in 1984. Representing District 29, he won re-election to successive two-year terms in 1986, 1988, and 1990. In July 1987, Republicans appointed his brother Jim to the Oregon State Senate
Oregon State Senate
The Oregon State Senate is the upper house of the state-wide legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. Along with the lower chamber Oregon House of Representatives it makes up the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 30 members of the State Senate, representing 30 districts across the state,...
, a seat Stan had hoped to be appointed to instead.
The seat became open when Tony Meeker
Tony Meeker
Tony Meeker is a politician in Oregon. He was appointed State Treasurer in 1987. Oregon Governor Neil Goldschmidt appointed him to fill the vacancy created when Bill Rutherford resigned from office. Meeker was elected to a full term in 1988...
was appointed as Oregon State Treasurer
Oregon State Treasurer
The Oregon State Treasurer is a constitutional officer within the executive branch of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon, elected by statewide vote to serve a four year term. As chief financial officer for the state, the office holder heads the Oregon State Treasury, and with the Governor...
. Stan considered challenging his brother in the primary election the following May, but declined and ran for re-election in the House. The possible contest between brothers created some tension in the family. In August 1987, Stan declined to pursue the House Minority Leader position after Larry Campbell
Larry Campbell
Larry W. Campbell was the 37th Mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently a member of the Canadian Senate. Starting in 1969 Campbell worked for the RCMP in Vancouver and then in 1973 as a member of the Drug Squad...
left the position. Bunn then ran in the 1992 election to replace John Brenneman
John Brenneman
John Gary Brenneman is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. In 159 NHL career games, he scored 21 goals and 19 assists as a left winger....
in Oregon Senate District 2, where Bunn then lived after redistricting. On July 2, 1992, he was appointed to the position when Brenneman resigned from the seat. His younger brother Tom
Tom Bunn
Thomas E. Bunn is a former law enforcement officer and politician in the U.S. state of Oregon. A Republican, he served part of a term in the Oregon House of Representatives while two brothers served in the Oregon State Senate. A former sheriff’s deputy in Yamhill County, he later served two terms...
was appointed to the House to fill Stan’s seat the next day, which lead to three Bunns serving in the Oregon Legislative Assembly
Oregon Legislative Assembly
The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper and lower house: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the House of Representatives, with 60 members elected to...
simultaneously.
Bunn won the November 1992 election and the four-year term in the Senate. He served through the 1996 special session representing parts of Yamhill, Lincoln, Polk, Lane, and Tillamook counties. While in the legislature this second time, he went against his party and voted to place a Democrat on the Northwest Power Planning Council, with his vote the decisive vote. Other work included writing and passing welfare reform to move recipients into the workforce and medical insurance portability for employees, both in 1995. Later legislator Larry George
Larry George
Larry George is an American politician and businessman in Oregon. A Republican, he is a member of the Oregon State Senate representing District 13 since election in 2006. He previously was the leader of the political group Oregonians In Action...
described Bunn as “...more of a stoic character, more standoffish...” while fellow legislator Bill Bradbury
Bill Bradbury
Bill Bradbury is an American politician from the U.S. state of Oregon. A native of Illinois, he grew up in Chicago and Pennsylvania before moving to the West Coast where he worked in broadcast journalism before running for public office. Democrat, he served as Oregon Secretary of State from 1999...
said "[h]e really does absorb the facts of a situation,' and not just have an ideological view to it." Bunn himself described his views as moderate.
In 1996, Stan ran in the Republican primary to represent Oregon’s 1st congressional district, at a time when his brother Jim was running for re-election in Oregon’s 5th Congressional district. One of six Republicans in the primary, he finished third in the race with Bill Witt wining the party’s nomination. During his campaign, he teamed up with his brother to run a joint commercial featuring two talking hamburger buns with the tag line “We just have to get our Bunns to Washington”.
State school superintendent
Bunn returned to politics in February 1998 to run for the non-partisan Oregon Superintendent of Public InstructionOregon Superintendent of Public Instruction
The Superintendent of Public Instruction, sometimes referred to as the State Superintendent of Schools, is a constitutional office within the executive branch of the Oregon state government, and acts as administrative officer of the State Board of Education and executive head of the Department of...
to replace the retiring Norma Paulus
Norma Paulus
Norma Paulus is an American attorney and former politician in the state of Oregon. A native of Nebraska, she was raised in Eastern Oregon before becoming a lawyer...
as head of the Oregon Department of Education
Oregon Department of Education
The Department of Education of the U.S. state of Oregon is responsible for implementation of state policies with respect to public education at the kindergarten through community college level, including academic standards and testing, credentials, and other matters not reserved to the local...
. He was one of sixteen candidates in the May primary, finishing first and faced Democratic Senator Margaret Carter
Margaret Carter
Margaret L. Carter was a Democratic member of the Oregon State Senate, representing the 22nd District from 2000 to 2009...
in a runoff in the November 1998 election. Bunn’s campaign focused on stabilizing funding for schools, continuing school reform, smaller class sizes, and supported charter schools, but not school voucher
Voucher
A voucher is a bond which is worth a certain monetary value and which may be spent only for specific reasons or on specific goods. Examples include housing, travel, and food vouchers...
programs. He spent over $100,000 of his own money in winning the position, defeating Carter 522,263 votes to 412,235 votes.
Taking office on January 4, 1999, with plans to reduce class sizes, increase teacher training, create a reserve fund to help stabilize school funding, and work to better the relationship between teachers unions and the Department of Education. He also supported the concept of charter schools as long as local schools retained control of those schools. While in office, the state adopted legislation to allow for charter schools in 1999.
Bunn also proposed changing the state’s certificate of initial mastery
Certificate of Initial Mastery
The Certificate of Mastery was created by report "America's Choice: High Skills or Low Wages". The CIM has been called an outcome-based education diploma as it would be either be necessary to receive or replace the high school diploma, and was characteristic of education reform legislation in many...
(CIM) to a program with seven separate CIMs, but the Oregon State Board of Education declined to adopt his proposal.
In 2001, potential ethics violations arose over use of a state cell phone and state vehicle for personal use. Soon after, a previously tabled bill in the legislature that would change Bunn’s office to an appointed position in lieu of an election was reintroduced. The legislation never made it into law. While an ethics investigation was pending, it came to light in 2001 that Bunn was delinquent on almost $15,000 in property taxes. The taxes were owed in two counties, some as far back as 1997, with one property facing foreclosure by the county. County records disclosed a pattern of late payments on property taxes dating to as early as 1992. Bunn paid all the back taxes, including interest, and apologized for the transgression, blaming it partly on a change of address due to selling his law firm and on not having the money after leaving private legal practice.
Ethics investigation and Boy Scouts controversy
In August 2001, Oregon’s ethics commission began a formal investigation of the accusations against Bunn for using his office for personal gain. Bunn denied any wrongdoing and expected to be cleared by the commission where he was once chairman. The investigation focused on his use of a state issued cell phone, a state owned automobile, travel expenses, long-distance telephone calls, and even use of frequent flyer miles earned while traveling for state business. They also examined whether he used his office to continue his legal practice. His department was also undergoing a state audit at the time over concerns of lack of oversight on state issued contracts.Meanwhile, an Oregon circuit court judge ruled against Bunn’s decision to allow Boy Scouts
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
to recruit at public school. Judge Ellen F. Rosenblum determined Bunn had abused his discretion in not finding evidence that the group discriminated against those who did not believe in God. Thus, state antidiscrimination laws prohibited the group from recruiting at schools, and Bunn was ordered to alter the policy that allowed the Boy Scouts to recruit in schools.
Regarding the ethics complaint, the state commission determined Bunn made 1,433 violations of the ethics laws and faced up to a $1,000 fine for each violation as well as a fine for as much as double the value of the improper benefits. The commission also removed 1,334 of the charges made against Bunn. Bunn had reimbursed the state for many of the personal expenses and returned the state car and state cell phone after the improprieties were discovered by The Oregonian
The Oregonian
The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
newspaper. Some of the long-distance phone calls at issue were to his ex-wife, who also worked for the Department of Education in the same building as Bunn. There was also a charge he used his office to get a free trip to Los Angeles for his daughter. He drew further scrutiny when he mailed his defense of the allegations to state legislators using state funds and letterhead, which ked to anther ethics complaint.
Bunn did not accept the findings of the commission, so the commission sued to enforce the findings in court. While the legal action was in progress, the ethics commission decided to pursue the allegations against Bunn concerning the free trip for his daughter, but declined to investigate the mailing incident. Ultimately, Bunn and the ethics commission reached a settlement on all the allegations with Bunn paying $25,000 to the commission. Federal judge Robert E. Jones
Robert E. Jones (judge)
Robert Edward Jones is an American politician and judge in Oregon. He is currently a senior judge for the United States District Court for the District of Oregon in the Portland...
mediated the settlement where Bunn did not admit to any violations, and the $25,000 could not be characterized as a penalty.
In March 2002, he filed to run for re-election to his office while the ethics case against him was still pending. Bunn was optimistic the investigation would exonerate him and that voters would focus on his record instead of the ethics issues. He ran against State Senator Susan Castillo
Susan Castillo
Susan Castillo heads the Oregon Department of Education as the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Although she currently holds an elective statewide non-partisan office, she is a Democrat, and served from 1997 to 2003 in the Oregon State Senate as a member of that party...
and Rob Kremer in the May primary, and finished a distant third to Castillo with 114,203 votes to her 406,247. Castillo won enough votes to avoid a runoff in the November general election and took over for Bunn on January 5, 2003.
Later life
Bunn married Mary and they had two children including daughter Kristine. The couple divorced in 1991, and Stan did not remarry, but maintained joint-custody of the children. As of 2002, Bunn lived in Newberg. There he taught law and government at George Fox UniversityGeorge Fox University
George Fox University is a Christian university of the liberal arts and sciences, and professional studies located in Newberg, Oregon, United States. Founded as a school for Quakers in 1885, the private school has more than 3,400 students combined between its main campus in Newberg and its centers...
for five years.
External links
- "The Death of School Reform" - Willamette WeekWillamette WeekWillamette Week is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Portland, Oregon, United States. It features reports on local news, politics, sports, business and culture....
- "Homework Rebellion" - Willamette WeekWillamette WeekWillamette Week is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Portland, Oregon, United States. It features reports on local news, politics, sports, business and culture....
- "Who still thinks Oregon's school reform is working?" - Willamette WeekWillamette WeekWillamette Week is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Portland, Oregon, United States. It features reports on local news, politics, sports, business and culture....