(1935-2023)
- Oregon State Representative, 1967-1978.
- Speaker Pro Tempore, 1971.
- House Minority Leader, 1975-1978.
- Lobbyist, Roger E. Martin and Associates, 1978-present.
About Speaker Martin
Growing up in a family of Democrats, but also with a “staunch Western Republican” father; Roger Martin learned that all political opinions need to be heard, and compromises need to be made. This philosophy served him, first as an Oregon State Representative, and later as a lobbyist.
Martin determined that campaigning needn’t be dull—his campaign billboards used humor to convey his message. In his video, he vividly recalls a boisterous, but ultimately successful, “committee meeting” held at the Salem apartment he shared with Lee Johnson. The lengthy meeting finally resulted in Oregon’s famous Beach Bill, all while a lot of beer was consumed. During his tenure as an elected official, he experienced the direct connection between national politics and their effect on state and local politics.
Martin later resigned from his House seat for an unsuccessful bid for governor. After his resignation, he started the lobbying firm Roger E. Martin and Associates in 1978. While acknowledging that lobbyists are often not held in high esteem, he believed that “lobbyists play an important role in Salem.”
Roger Martin concluded his oral history this way: “Politics and government are totally essential if we want to maintain this great democracy we live in and this wonderful state we live in. If we want to maintain that quality, it’s the legislature that does it.”
– Interview recorded June 28, 2018