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Mary Wendy Roberts
Mary Wendy Roberts (born December 19, 1944) is an American politician from the US state of Oregon.

A fifth generation Oregonian, she was the youngest woman, at 27, ever elected to the Oregon legislature  She was elected to the Oregon Senate in 1974. Then in 1978 at 33, she became the first woman Democrat to win Oregon statewide office, serving for 16 years as Oregon Labor Commissioner, the chief executive of the state agency that enforces the state civil rights, and wage-hour laws and oversees apprenticeship programs. [1]

She was the first woman to be elected to such a position, traditionally held by men, in the US. She also in 1980 became the first woman in the US to bear a child while in statewide office. [2]

She is a member of the Roberts political family of Oregon, based in Portland.

Contents
1 Early life and career

2 Legislative career

3 Oregon Labor Commissioner

4 Post-Elective Career

5 Personal life

6 The Roberts Political Family of Oregon

7 References

Early Life and Career
Roberts attended Portland grade schools, graduated from West Linn High School in Clackamas County in 1962, then the University of Oregon as an Honors College student, earning a BA degree (political science) in Dec 1965. She studied at the Chinese-Japanese Language Institute, University of Colorado in Boulder on a full fellowship. She received her MA degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. [2]

Roberts worked as a caseworker with the State Public Welfare Dept in Portland and then as a counselor for the Multnomah County Juvenile Court. [2]

Legislative Career
Roberts was elected in 1972 to the Oregon House of Representatives and was appointed in her freshman term to the Joint Ways and Means Committee which controlled the state's budget. She was elected to a term in the state Senate in 1974. [13]

Her legislative achievements included: 1) The repeal of the Tip-Credit law, thus ending the practice of  employers counting employees tips to reduce their obligation to pay the state minimum wage, 2) The Natural Death Act which enabled a person to file  a “living will”  to make binding their wishes on end of life decisions, including prohibiting artificial means to extend life (even though, brain dead, for example). 3) The ban on discrimination on the basis of pregnancy in employment. 4) The Independent Living Subsidy Act, for continued support for teenagers leaving out-of-home placements, such as foster care, transitioning them for independent living if in full time school or employment and 5) create, site and fund the state's first secure mental health facility exclusively for children and teens, separate from adult institutions. [2]

In the Senate Roberts was one of only three women, the most who had ever served there at once. She noted that it was very much a "mens club" but that the women worked to raise the consciousness of their colleagues. In recognition of Roberts' earnest feminism, the Senate President Jason Boe presented her with one of New York Congresswoman and feminst icon Bella Abzug's famous hats, autographed, and presented with Senate proclamation in front of the entire Senate. Her colleagues on the Ways and Means committee joined her in ridding civil service of job classifications under which males were paid more for performing the same duties as women. [2]

Oregon Labor Commissioner
Roberts was elected Labor Commissioner in 1978 and reelected in 1982, 1986 and 1990. [6]

She wrote the law in 1985 creating the first Wage Security Fund in the US. It guarantees workers up to $4,000 of owed wages left jobless by business closures. [8]

She sponsored the Oregon Family Medical Leave Act, which guaranteed up to 12 weeks job-protected leave to workers -- to allow time off for illness, injury or death of a family member. [7]

In 1989, she fought for passage of Parental Leave, enforced by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries. Roberts’ final orders on parental leave cases were upheld by the Oregon Supreme court on appeal, firmly established case law. Roberts testified on the act in Congress -- and the federal act was patterned in part on the state law. [5] When President Bush twice vetoed the national bill, Roberts was often quoted in the New York Times, which also published her op-ed column on the subject. [7] Roberts was in the advisory committee to the US Department of Labor for shaping the national act and it was the first one signed by President Clinton when he took office in 1993. [2]

Roberts was an early champion of civil rights protections, on the basis of sexual orientation, winning state awards for leadership. She worked against abuses of migrant labor, getting legislation passed to address needs for  better inspection of farm labor camps, civil rights protections, and more housing. [9] Other awards came from Hispanic, human resources and women’s rights groups. [2]

Roberts was a member of international delegations: the U.S. Labor Department delegation to the International Conference on Innovations in Apprenticeship in Paris, the U.S. delegation to China, 1980 and 2000, sponsored by the American Council of Young Political Leaders, at the behest of the US State Department -- and a school-to-work apprenticeship program in Germany, which she created, in partnership with the state of Upper Saxony. [10]

She was a speaker at President Jimmy Carter’s reelection kickoff dinner and at the 1980 Democratic National Convention. [12] Roberts was president of the National Association of Government Labor Officials and of the National Apprenticeship Program Board. She was profiled in the 1983 book Images of Oregon Women, by Ellen Nichols. [3]

Roberts ran for Secretary of State in 1992, and lost to incumbent Democrat Phil Keisling. [1]

Two years later, in 1994, Mary Wendy Roberts was defeated for Labor Commissioner by Republican Jack Roberts, no relation. [11]

Post-Elective Career
After elective office, Roberts managed real estate investments, operated a health and personal development business with her husband, and worked as a consultant to law firms on wage/hour and civil rights law. [2] Roberts helped found and served on the Board of Directors of Green Village Schools (www.greenvillageschools.org), a nonprofit that built and and funded primary schools (for boys and girls)  in Helmand province, Afghanistan. [10] She has given speeches to help raise money for breast cancer exams for low-income women.

Personal Life
Roberts married Richard Prentice Bullock in November 1976, divorced 1984, one child, Alexandra, born 1980, while she was in office as Labor Commissioner. She married Edward E. “Rhett” Simpson in Dec 1994.[2] She battled breast cancer in 2002. [2]

The Roberts Political Family of Oregon
A number of Oregon state legislators and statewide officeholders in the last half of the 20th century bore the surname Roberts, including Mary Wendy Roberts. Based in Portland, they started with Frank L. Roberts and either were his spouses or children, or the spouses of clan members.

The abundance of people with the Roberts name was often confusing to the public and media. Those related to Frank Roberts were liberal Democrats, but ironically, one, Mary Wendy Roberts, was defeated in a statewide office by a Republican opponent named Roberts who was not related. Here is a list of them: [2]

Frank Livezey Roberts (1915-1993)  Oregon House 1967-71. Oregon Senate, 1975-93. Married three times. Married 2) Betty Roberts, 3) Barbara Roberts.

Betty Roberts (1923-2011) Oregon House, 1965-69. Oregon Senate, 1969-77. Judge, Oregon Court of Appeals, 1977-82. Associate Justice, Oregon Supreme Court, 1982-86. Candidate for Governor. 1974, Democratic nominee for US Senate 1974

Keith Skelton -- (1918-95) Oregon House, 1957-73. Husband (#3) of Betty Roberts, 1968 til his death.

Barbara Roberts -- ( b. 1936) Oregon House, 1981-85. Oregon Secretary of State, 1985-91. Oregon Governor, 1991-95. Married to Frank Roberts, 1974 until his death.

Mary Wendy Roberts -- (b. 1944) Oregon House, 1973-75. Oregon Senate, 1975-79. Oregon Labor Commissioner, 1979-95. Candidate for Secretary of State 1992. First daughter of Frank Roberts and Mary Louise Roberts.

Richard Bullock -- (b. 1951)  Oregon Senate, 1979-1982. Husband of Mary Wendy Roberts, 1976-84.

Leslie Roberts -- (b. 1948)  Second daughter of Frank Roberts and Mary Louise Roberts. Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge, 2007 to present.

Rex Armstrong -- Oregon Court of Appeals Judge, 1994-present. Married Leslie Roberts in 1984. [2]