Union lobbyist Mary Botkin has announced she’s leaving Oregon AFSCME after representing the union in the state capitol for the last 27 years.
Botkin, 65, has been on staff at the statewide public sector union since 1983. She served as an organizer on the 1985 campaign to unionize at what is today known as Oregon Health and Science University, and she’s been a full-time lobbyist for the union since 1987.
Botkin is known as an expert on PERS, Oregon’s Public Employee Retirement System, and has long been an advocate for the union’s public safety and corrections members. She was the subject of a Labor Press feature story in 2007.
On her own time, she’s been active in the Democratic Party, and has been an Oregon delegate to every Democratic National Convention but one since 1988. She’s currently active in the Ready for Hillary campaign to build support for a Clinton presidential run in 2016.
Botkin says she will leave the staff of Oregon AFSCME as of Dec. 31, 2014, and begin a practice as a contract lobbyist. She will represent Oregon AFSCME as a part-time contract lobbyist in the 2015 legislative session.
