Don Bonker

Don Leroy Bonker (born March 7, 1937 in Denver , Colorado ) is an American politician . Between 1975 and 1989 he represented the state of Washington in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Don Bonker attended Westminster public schools . He then studied at Clark College in Vancouver (Washington) until 1962 and then at Lewis & Clark College in Portland ( Oregon ) until 1964 . He also studied at the American University in the federal capital Washington . In the meantime he was a member of the US Coast Guard from 1955 to 1959 . Between 1966 and 1974, Bonker worked as an auditor in Clark County . In 1964 and 1965 he was on the staff of US Senator Maurine Brown Neuberger from Oregon.

Bonker became a member of the Democratic Party . In 1972 he unsuccessfully applied for the office of Secretary of State of Washington. In 1968 and 1970 he was a delegate at the regional democratic party congresses of this state. In the 1974 congressional elections he was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington DC in the third constituency of his state, where he succeeded Julia Butler Hansen on January 3, 1975 . After six re-elections, he was able to complete seven legislative terms in Congress by January 3, 1989 . There he was temporarily a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and chairman of the sub-committee for international economic policy and trade.

In 1988 Don Bonker decided not to run again for the US House of Representatives. Instead, this year and again in 1992, he unsuccessfully applied for his party's nomination for the US Senate elections. Today Bonker is CEO of the International Management and Development Institute . He is also on the board of the Foundation for Russian-American Business Relations.

Web links

• Don Bonker in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)