Klare to leave AFL-CIO to join political consulting firm

SALEM, OR -- Amy Klare, director of research and education of the Oregon AFL-CIO for the past nine years, announced that she will resign Oct. 1 to become a campaign and legislative consultant with The Sugerman Group.

The Sugerman Group was established in 1991 by Geoff Sugerman, a print and television journalist and political consultant.

Klare and Sugerman worked closely on the Minimum Wage Coalition's successful Ballot Measure 36 campaign to increase Oregon's minimum wage in the 1996 election. They also helped fight off numerous attempts to undermine the voter-approved minimum wage increase during the 1997 legislative session.

"My goal is to strengthen labor's voice in the legislative and political process," said Klare. "In 1998, our top priority will be to elect members to the Legislature who support organized labor and other progressive causes. A major part of my role with The Sugerman Group is working with labor unions to make sure their campaign dollars are spent wisely. We're very well qualified to take a candidate from filing for office to planning the victory party."

Klare and Sugerman have joined Communications Workers of America Local 7955, making theirs the only union political/legislative consulting firm in the state. "Amy adds extraordinary knowledge of the political process and the labor movement," said Sugerman. "Couple that with our proven ability to produce direct mail, radio and television advertising and we're going to be a valuable asset to any campaign team."

Klare has served as the state labor federation's chief lobbyist on health care reform, minimum wage, family and medical leave, workplace protections for whistle-blowers and on a myriad of other labor, family and consumer advocacy issues during the last five sessions of the Oregon Legislature, dating back to 1989. She has also served as the Oregon AFL-CIO's media relations coordinator and editor of its Legislative Update newsletter.

Klare played a key role in the development of the Oregon Health Plan, a partnership between government, business, labor and consumer activists to expand access to a basic level of health care for all Oregonians, especially the working poor.

Governor Neil Goldschmidt appointed her to the Health Services Commission in 1989, following passage of the Oregon Health Plan legislation authored and sponsored by Dr. John Kitzhaber when he was Senate president. Governors Barbara Roberts and Kitzhaber reappointed Klare to the commission.

Last fall, Governor Kitzhaber appointed Klare to the Oregon Health Council, which was reconstituted to identify key health care issues and formulate policy recommendations to the governor and the Legislature. The Health Council recently developed the Family Health Insurance Assistance Program, which provides financial assistance to low-income working families who want to buy health insurance.

She recently was appointed to the Mental Health Oversight Task Force, which will oversee the expansion of mental health services into the Oregon Health Plan. She also was named to the Oregon Health Outcomes Network, which will oversee the development of a consumer scorecard for various health plans. Since 1989 Klare has been on the executive committee of the Oregon Health Action Campaign, a coalition of labor, consumer, religious, senior and community groups advocating universal health care.

Sugerman came to Oregon in 1990 after running Texas Agricultural Commissioner Jim Hightower's last winning campaign. He was the first executive director of Forward Oregon -- the Democratic coordinated campaign -- before working as a speechwriter for Governor Roberts. His clients have included Senator Ron Wyden, Governor Kitzhaber, Oregon's Death With Dignity campaign, Supreme Court Justice Ted Kulongoski, Attorney General Hardy Myers and Portland Commissioner Jim Francesconi.