Political Career
He entered politics as a member of the Portland City Council serving from 1877 to 1880. In 1880, he was elected to and served in the Oregon State Senate as a Republican. Simon represented Multnomah County in several districts during his tenure due to reapportionment, and served through the 1891 legislative session. During both the 1889 and 1891 sessions he served as the President of the Senate. Simon did not serve in the 1893 session, but returned to the state senate in 1895 and was again the President.
During this time he was a member of the Republican National Committee from 1892 to 1896. In 1897, Simon was again President of the Senate; the 19th Oregon Legislative Assembly, however, did not organize for its 1897 regular session (due to a dispute over leadership in the House), and no legislation was passed. Due to this inability, a special legislative session was held in 1898 where Simon served as President, and where he served for the final time in the Oregon Senate.
As the Oregon Legislative Assembly failed to fully organize in 1897, they did not elected a United States Senator, and Simon was then elected during the 1898 session, replacing incumbent and former employer John H. Mitchell. Simon served from October 8, 1898, until the term expired on March 4, 1903, and did not seek re-election. While in the Senate, he was chairman of the Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation of Arid Lands during the Fifty-sixth and Fifty-seventh Congresses.
Read more about this topic: Joseph Simon
Famous quotes containing the words political and/or career:
“Men conceive themselves as morally superior to those with whom they differ in opinion. A Socialist who thinks that the opinions of Mr. Gladstone on Socialism are unsound and his own sound, is within his rights; but a Socialist who thinks that his opinions are virtuous and Mr. Gladstone’s vicious, violates the first rule of morals and manners in a Democratic country; namely, that you must not treat your political opponent as a moral delinquent.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“Like the old soldier of the ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty. Goodbye.”
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964)