John Kroger
John Kroger (born 1966 in Ohio) is the current President of Reed College and former Democratic Attorney General of Oregon. He was first elected attorney general in November 2008 and served in the position until June 29, 2012. He was succeeded by Ellen Rosenblum (D), who was appointed to serve out the remainder of his term following Kroger's resignation.
Biography
Although Kroger was born in Ohio, he spent most of his young life in Indiana and Texas. He joined the United States Marine Corps in 1983 at the age of seventeen, serving in a Force Reconnaissance Companies (FORECON) unit, a special operations force providing pertinent military intelligence to the combined combat elements of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF). He volunteered to go to Lebanon in the wake of the United States invasion of Grenada, but President Ronald Reagan withdrew United States forces following the 1983 Beirut barracks terrorist bombing attack before Kroger's unit could be transferred.
Upon graduating from Yale University, Kroger moved to Washington, D.C. in order to work as a legislative assistant to United States Representative Tom Foley (D-Washington-5) and Senator Chuck Schumer (D-New York). He was appointed in 1991 to act as Bill Clinton's Deputy Policy Director for his 1992 presidential campaign. Following Clinton's victory, he served as part of the president-elect's transition team. For a short time during Clinton's inaugural year in office, Kroger was a senior policy analyst at the United States Treasury Department.
Shortly after obtaining his law degree from Harvard, he worked as a clerk for a federal appellate judge in Brooklyn, New York. Kroger later joined the United States Attorney's office there as a federal prosecutor. Kroger's first high-profile conviction was New York Mafia captain Gregory Scarpa, Jr., who was convicted of racketeering and multiple homicides after a five-week trial. Kroger also worked on drug trafficking cases, litigating against traffickers Juan "La Puma" Rodriguez and Alphonse Persico.
In the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001, Kroger worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation pursuing leads on potential New York-based terrorist cells through the allocation of search warrants and subpoenas. A year later he moved to Oregon where he replaced criminal law professor Bill Williamson at the Lewis & Clark Law School. In his time there, he received the Award for Teaching Excellence three times.
Education
- Bachelor's degree, Yale University (1990) in philosophy
- Master's degree, Yale University in philosophy
- Juris Doctorate degree, Harvard Law School (1996)
Political career
Attorney General (2008-2012)
Kroger was elected Oregon's attorney general in November of 2008. On October 18, 2011, Kroger announced that he would not seek a second term in office in 2012. Kroger stated that he had recently been diagnosed with "a significant but non-life-threatening medical condition" and said, "Though I believe very much in public service, my wife and I agree that my health and our family come first."[1]
Kroger vacated his position on June 29 to become president of Reed College in Portland.[2] He coordinated with Governor of Oregon John Kitzhaber (D) on a plan to guarantee the office's coverage in the intervening period before his successor took over. 2012 Democratic nominee for attorney general Ellen Rosenblum (D) was appointed to serve out the remainder of Kroger's term.[3]
Issues
Public records
One of the topics of Attorney General Kroger's campaign was government transparency. Upon assuming office, Kroger appointed one of his attorneys, Michael Kron, to serve as the public records 'czar' in an effort to facilitate a "statewide standard for releasing government documents." Past attorneys general typically did not comment on criminal cases; Kroger's office indicated that he would continue this practice. Kroger's office also indicated that he would not confirm or deny open investigations on civil matters, which constituted a departure from what previous attorneys general had done in the past.[4]
In a December 2009 interview Kroger gave with the Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) program, Think Out Loud, Kroger commented on his office's ability to order the release of documents as public records:
"Well, we are the legal adviser...In many cases I won't be able to order a state agency to release something. All I can do is tell them whether under the law whether we believe it should be released or not. In some cases, they may have a very solid argument for not releasing something that frankly I would prefer as a policy matter to release, so ultimately, I don't control the system."[5]
The Attorney General's Public Records and Meetings Manual states that any individual who requests public records can appeal an agency's refusal to the attorney general, who "acts not as legal counsel for state agencies, but in a quasi-judicial role." In addition, the manual states further that "if the Attorney General orders the agency to disclose the record, the agency must comply with the order in full within seven days."[6]
Noteworthy events
Sued by veterans group
Kroger faced a court hearing in November in Eugene after an Oregon-based veterans group brought a case against him. The Oregon War Veterans Association was created in 2003 to “assist other, less active veteran organizations and veterans who do not belong to another established veteran service organization (VSO).”
OWVA works to serve other veteran service organizations in a “team effort to affect some of the systemic problems relating to the government’s benefits and services,” the website says.
The OWVA filed suit for a Permanent Injunction on October 22, 2010 against Kroger, in conjunction with a request for a Restraining Order. The restraining order was denied.
The OWVA said it was pursuing the suit to protect its private donors’ and members’ personal information from being released to the media through an audit performed by the Attorney General’s office.[7]
Elections
2008
| 2008 Race for Attorney General - Democratic Primary[8] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Percentage | |||
 John Kroger (D)
|
55.8% | |||
| Greg Macpherson (D) | 43.9% | |||
| Write Ins | 0.3% | |||
| Total votes | 508,954 | |||
On November 4, 2008, John R. Kroger won election to the office of Oregon Attorney General. He defeated James E. Leuenberger (C), J. Ashlee Albies (WF) and Walter F. Brown (PG) in the general election.
| Oregon Attorney General, 2008 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  John R. Kroger |
72.6% | 1,096,507 | |
| Constitution | James E. Leuenberger | 11.2% | 168,866 | |
| Working Families | J. Ashlee Albies | 10.7% | 161,655 | |
| Pacific Green | Walter F. Brown | 5.1% | 76,856 | |
| Misc. | Various | 0.5% | 7,047 | |
| Total Votes | 1,510,931 | |||
| Election results via Oregon Secretary of State. | ||||
Campaign contributions
Ballotpedia collects information on campaign donors for each year in which a candidate or incumbent is running for election. See the table below for more information about the campaign donors who supported John Kroger.[9] Click [show] for more information.
| John Kroger Campaign Contributions | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 Attorney General of Oregon | |||||||||||||||||||
| Total raised | $1,048,841 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Total raised by opponents | $6,635 (Constitution Party) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Top 5 contributors | Oregon Public Employees Local 503 | $320,958 | |||||||||||||||||
| Oregon Education Association | $50,000 | ||||||||||||||||||
| The Bill National | $34,496 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Democratic Attorneys General Association | $25,000 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Rudy and Linda Kroger | $25,000 each | ||||||||||||||||||
| Individuals | $385,338 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Institutions | $593,591 | ||||||||||||||||||
| In-state donations | $783,322 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Out-of-state donations | $261,259 | ||||||||||||||||||
Contact information
Capitol Address:
Department of Justice
1162 Court Street Northeast
Salem, OR 97301-4096
Phone: (503) 378-4400
Toll Free Phone: (800) 735-2900
See also
External links
- Official Oregon Attorney General website
- John Kroger's Facebook profile
- Lewis & Clark Law School - John Kroger faculty biography (dead link)
- Project Vote Smart - John Kroger biography
Footnotes
- ↑ OregonLive.com, "Oregon Attorney General John Kroger shocks employees with announcement that he won't seek re-election," October 18, 2011
- ↑ Oregon Department of Justice, "Attorney General Ellen F. Rosenlbum," accessed June 29, 2012
- ↑ The Daily Astorian, "Oregon Attorney General Candidate Visits Astoria," April 26, 2012
- ↑ Oregon Live, "Kroger appoints public records czar but limits consumer information" 2 Dec. 2009
- ↑ Oregon Live, "Kroger's "not very clear response" on public records act" 8 Dec. 2009
- ↑ Oregon Department of Justice - Public Records and Meetings Manual
- ↑ "Veterans group files suit against AG over privacy issues," Oregon Capitol News, November 8, 2010
- ↑ Oregon Secretary of State: Elections Division - 2008 Primary Election Results
- ↑ Follow the Money.org, "Home," accessed May 7, 2021
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Hardy Myers (D) |
Attorney General of Oregon 2009 - 2012 |
Succeeded by Ellen Rosenblum (D) |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
