David B. Frohnmayer - Political Career

Political Career

Frohnmayer, a Republican, served three terms in the Oregon House of Representatives from 1975 to 1981, representing southern Eugene.

Frohnmayer was elected as Oregon Attorney General in November 1980, and was sworn into office on January 5, 1981. Re-elected in 1984 and then again in 1988, when he was nominated by both the Democratic and Republican parties. Frohnmayer served as Attorney General until his resignation on December 31, 1991, when he became Dean of the University of Oregon School of Law. As Attorney General, one of his most notable cases involved leading the prosecution of members of the Rajneesh movement (followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.) Frohnmayer prevailed in six out of the seven cases that he took to the United States Supreme Court.

Frohnmayer was the Republican nominee for Governor of Oregon in 1990. Popular Democratic incumbent Neil Goldschmidt withdrew after Frohnmayer's campaign manager, Donna Zajonc, said "...you've got to believe that the best family will win" at a news conference, which was then reported by Jeff Mapes in The Oregonian. Zajonc's statement was interpreted at the time as threat to use Goldschmidt's collapsing marriage as a political issue. Goldschmidt quickly withdrew from the race, an event that was considered one of the "great mysteries in Oregon politics" until 2004, when Goldschmidt admitted to having a sexual relationship with a minor in the 1970s. He and Goldschmidt had been classmates at University of California, Berkeley law school. Frohnmayer subsequently lost the election to Barbara Roberts, the Democrat who was nominated after Goldschmidt's withdrawal, in a three-way race that included independent, Oregon Citizens Alliance-backed candidate Al Mobley.