By Kristine Thomas
Mt. Angel resident Victor Hoffer knows the reason he doesn’t stand a chance of being elected to a public office.
“It’s because I won’t satisfy the power base by letting them tell me what to do,” he said. “Instead, I care about working for the people and sticking to my values.”
That creed has served him well.
A Republican, Hoffer has the ability to work across party lines. He was recently appointed by Gov. Ted Kulongoski to the Oregon Transportation Safety Committee and serves on the Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers’ Elder Abuse Task Force.
He also keeps a busy schedule between his law firm specializing in elder abuse, working as a paramedic for Rural/Metro Ambulance in Salem, giving lectures on elder abuse and child abuse protection and serving as vice president of the Oregon International Air Show and the chief paramedic for the Portland Marathon committee.
Hoffer, 55, ran for Oregon’s attorney general in 1996 against Myers and received 517,035 votes. Although he lost the election, he gained an association with Myers.
“We are friends today and I serve on the attorney general’s elder abuse task force,” he said. “The reason we are friends is because during the campaign we never talked about each other and only talked about the issues.”
Winning an election, he said, is not about how many yard signs you have. Instead, it’s about having integrity.
“Consumer fraud protection was my number one issue during the election,” he said. “Although I lost the election, Myers made it part of his platform, so in a sense I won.”
Hoffer said he got his sense of civic responsibility from his parents. On one side of his desk is a photograph of his father, Vic, who was fire chief from 1972 until he retired in 1987 and on the other side a photograph of his mother, Margaret, who was mayor of Mt. Angel from 1981 to 1987 and served a total of 20 years on the city council. He credits his parents for teaching him the importance of giving back to his community and installing the value of “Beyond Mere Duty.”
“We all have a duty to do what’s right,” he said. “My parents went beyond that community duty to serve and serve and serve some more.”
And placing oneself in the public eye, often isn’t easy, he added.
“My mother always said, ‘If you are doing something, someone always will complain. If you do nothing, no one will complain.’”
Hoffer said “many years ago” he lost a job because he was told he was disabled.
“I met with a labor lawyer named Ted who I gave a whole bunch of information to,” he said. “He was impressed with my ability to research an issue and suggested I go to law school. The lawyer was Ted Kulongoski.”
Hoffer graduated from Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College in 1992.
He seems to gain from whatever he undertyakes. Last summer, he attended the Campaign Management School at the Leadership Institute, Alexandria, Va.
Founded by Morton C. Blackwell in 1979, the Leadership Institute teaches conservatives the nuts and bolts of how to succeed in the public policy process.
He plans to help other candidates with the information he learned. He is the Republican precinct committee person and participated in the Oregon Republican Convention and the 5th Congressional District Convention this year.
Ask Hoffer what the most priceless objects in his wallet are and he’ll answer the photographs of his family. He is married to Lynell, a second grade teacher. They have two sons, Victor, 31, and Paul, 19.
One thing Hoffer says he stays away from is the political details of what’s happening in Mt. Angel.
Sitting in his law office after the election, Hoffer said in order to solve the problems facing Mt. Angel, Oregon and even the United States requires people working together to make the community a better place.
“We have to have vision to solve today’s problems and anticipate tomorrow’s problems,” he said. “We need to do what will benefit and help the entire community and not just a few people.”
What has served him well during his career is the ability to look at things from everyone’s viewpoint.
“I don’t take partisan sides,” he said. “I believe in protecting the people of Oregon on issues and not to make things personal.”
