Lynn Snodgrass

Lynn Snodgrass (née Lynn Dee Grenz, born c. 1951) is a politician in the U.S. state of Oregon. She served in the Oregon House of Representatives. A Republican, she was elected Speaker in 1998, succeeding fellow Republican Lynn Lundquist.^[1][2] At the time, many Republicans felt Lundquist was too accommodating to Democratic Governor John Kitzhaber. Snodgrass was the first Portland-area Speaker since Vera Katz, whose term in that position ended in 1991.^[1]

Early life

Snodgrass was born in Oregon, growing up in Milwaukie.^[1] She attended Oregon State University, and earned an elementary teaching degree at Portland State University.^[1] She competed for the Miss Oregon crown in 1969, losing to Margie Elaine Huhta.^[3] She competed again, and was crowned Miss Oregon in 1971.^[1] She married Drake Snodgrass in 1974.^[1] As of 1998, they owned a successful local nursery and landscaping company.^[1] They moved to Boring, Oregon in the early 1980s.^[1] She held a seat on the Damascus school board, and served on Portland's Metro Home Builder Association.^[1] (Drake's family owned the $15 million business 7 Dees Nursery.^[1])

Political career

Snodgrass's political involvement began when a bill advanced by then-Speaker Larry Campbell forced Boring's school district to merge with that of neighboring Gresham.^[1] Snodgrass was enraged by that and her daughter's increasing class size, and made her first run for the legislature in 1994, which she won.^[1]

She represented District 10, which included her home town of Boring as well as Clackamas, Happy Valley, Damascus, South Gresham, Estacada, and portions of Oregon City.^[1] It straddled Portland's urban growth boundary.^[1] She ascended quickly in the ranks of the Oregon House, as a result of the term limits that were in place in the late 1990s.^[1]

Snodgrass was chosen Republican majority leader for the 1997 session. In 1998 Snodgrass defeated Democratic challenger Mike Smith, who got only 35% of the vote.^[1]

She supported sending the then-recently approved Oregon Death with Dignity Act back to voters, and pushed for a bill to recriminalize marijuana.^[1] She supported Senate Bill 600, an early version of Measure 37, and a bill requested by the Associated Oregon Industries that would have limited student activity fees for political purposes.^[1] The Oregon League of Conservation Voters asserted that she cast environmentally-friendly votes 7 percent of the time in the 1997 session, and 0% in 1995.^[1] She led the campaign to send Measure 65 to the voters in 1997.^[1] Measure 65 was widely viewed as an attempt to gut the powers of the Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission.^[1]

She drew support from the Oregon Right to Life PAC and the NRA.^[1]

She is a deeply religious woman, and holds early-morning bible studies in her home.^[1] She occasionally sang hymns with fellow legislator Margaret Carter.^[1] (Carter considered Snodgrass a close friend, but worried in 1998 that her social agenda would undermine important social services.^[1])

Snodgrass tried to pass a law in 1997 that would have established April as "Christian Heritage Month."^[1]

A 1998 Willamette Week article questioned the accuracy of Snodgrass's understanding of how tax laws affected urban and rural school funding. The article asserted that Measure 5 of 1990 impacted Portland schools negatively, while benefitting schools like those in Snodgrass's district; and contrasted that fact with Snodgrass's assertion that her district's schools had suffered while Portland schools did not.^[1]

Kate Brown was elected Senate Minority Leader in the same year.^[1] Fellow Representative Chris Beck, a Democrat, noted that Snodgrass was the first Portland-area speaker in over 10 years, and expressed hope that she would rise above partisan politics and help solve the problems of Portland.^[1] Snodgrass was noted for strongly supporting an openly gay candidate for the House, Chuck Carpenter, over a more religious and conservative Republican (Bill Witt, who went on to win the election).^[1] She had a contentious relationship with her predecessor, Lynn Lundquist, over education funding.^[3]

Snodgrass ran unsuccessfully for Oregon Secretary of State in 2000.^[4] She was defeated by Democrat Bill Bradbury; it was suggested that the loss resulted from the labor vote energized in opposition to anti-tax activist Bill Sizemore.^[5]

References