It is official: Rep. Tom Butler to resign end of month

By In the news
In: Measure 37
Tuesday December 11, 2007

As forecasted by OregonCatalyst this week, State Representative Tom Butler announced that he will be stepping down on December 31st to begin preparing for missionary work. His press release below:

REP. BUTLER TO PURSUE CHURCH MISSIONARY WORK;
GIVES NOTICE OF PLANS TO RESIGN IN 2008
Five-Term Republican Legislator Called to Serve His Church

SALEM — Rep. Tom Butler (R-Ontario) announced today he will resign from his fifth term in the Oregon House of Representatives effective December 31, 2007. Last summer, Rep. Butler announced that he would not be seeking a sixth term in November 2008 in order to pursue a church service mission with his wife Darlene.
This week, the Butlers received a full-time church service mission call to serve a two-year mission in the California Los Angeles Mission and to report to the LDS Church’s Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah in early January. Rep. Butler said he and his wife, both Certified Public Accountants, had applied to serve LDS Church Area Audit Service missions in Latin America before Mrs. Butler’s recent illness.

In August, Mrs. Butler became Oregon’s first 2007 confirmed case of West Nile Virus which is a mosquito-borne virus affecting humans, horses and birds.

“Darlene has been blessed with restored good health and has the energy to serve,” Rep. Butler said. “In two years, we’ll return to our Ontario home and seek further opportunities to use our talents and resources to continue our service in Southeastern Oregon.”

Rep. Butler’s fifth term expires in January 2009. County Commissioners in Malheur, Baker, Harney and Grant counties will select a replacement among candidates nominated by the respective County Republican Central Committees.

“We will miss Rep. Butler’s leadership in our caucus, and his leadership on tax and revenue issues,” said House Republican Leader Bruce Hanna (R-Roseburg). “Oregon is a better place for his contributions in the Legislature, and for his stewardship of our state’s finances.”

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