Don Beyer - Political Career

Political Career

During his tenure as Lieutenant Governor he served as president of the Virginia Senate. He chaired the Virginia Economic Recovery Commission, the Virginia Commission on Sexual Assault, the Virginia Commission on Disabilities, the Poverty Commission and was co-founder of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, an outgrowth of the Chamber of Commerce. He was active in promoting high-tech industries, and lead the fight to eliminate disincentives in the Virginia Tax Code to high-tech research and development.

He is also credited with writing the original welfare reform legislation in Virginia.

Beyer was the Democratic nominee for governor in 1997, losing in the general election to Republican James S. Gilmore III. He served as Finance Chairman for Mark Warner's Political Action Committee, "Forward Together" and as the National Treasurer for the 2004 presidential campaign of former Vermont Governor Howard Dean.

During 2007–08, he endorsed and campaigned extensively for President Barack Obama, for whom he also raised more than $500,000 in donations. He was appointed by the Democratic National Committee to serve at the 2008 DNC Convention on the Credentials Committee.

Following the 2008 election, President-elect Obama asked Beyer to head up the transition team at the Commerce Department.

Obama nominated Beyer for the post of United States Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein on June 12, 2009. In December 2010 Beyer attracted public attention when it was reported that he had warned the Swiss government against offering asylum to Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange.