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Over the years, some political observers referred to former Gov. John Kitzhaber as Oregon's Marlboro man, because of his mustache, Western belt buckle and cowboy boots.
In reality, however, Mark W. Nelson was the Marlboro man in Salem, or more correctly, Marlboro's Man.
Since 1980, Nelson, 68, has been the state's leading business lobbyist and for many of those years, he was Big Tobacco's advocate in Oregon.
One of his signature victories came in 2007, when the manufacturer of Marlboros, then called Philip Morris, spent $7 million and Nelson's longtime client R.J. Reynolds spent another $5 million to fund his defeat of a ballot measure that would have increased tobacco taxes.
Nelson didn't win every battle, of course. He led the opposition campaign for Measures 66 and 67, the 2010 income tax increases that labor passed over the objections of Nelson's corporate clients.
On May 11, Nelson announced in a letter to lawmakers and fellow lobbyists that he was done lobbying.
"As you know, I have sold Public Affairs Counsel to J.L. Wilson," he wrote. "The sale included both the lobby and survey research part of the business. As part of the agreement I agreed to assist the firm through a transition period that included the 2015 legislative session and if needed, the 2016 short session. That transition is now over."
Many Democrats, who despised his tobacco clients and his ability to kill regulations and tax increases on behalf of other clients, were happy to see him go.
"Well, that explains the absence of the smell of sulfur in certain parts of the Capitol," said one.
Yet even people who were frequently on the other side of issues from Nelson admired his skills.
Former Gov. Ted Kulongoski, a Democrat, worked hard on behalf of the 2007 tobacco tax ballot measure only to see Nelson crush it. Kulongoski, who overlapped with Nelson in Salem for more than 30 years, has high praise for his former adversary.
"If I could have afforded him, I would have hired him," Kulongoski says. "One of the best—if not the best—lobbyists in Salem."
Nelson started his career working for then-state Treasurer James Redden, a Democrat, in 1973, but from the day he founded his company, Public Affairs Counsel, in 1980, he boasted a blue-chip list of corporate clients that in recent years included Anheuser Busch, Allstate Insurance, Daimler Trucks, Les Schwab, Koch Companies and 7-Eleven.
In a 1996 profile in WW, this newspaper reported that despite being Salem's go-to business lobbyist, Nelson was a lifelong Democrat who supported gay marriage, abortion rights and legalizing drugs. "Report that," Nelson said at the time, "and some of my clients will think I'm a flaming liberal." (He'd also represented purveyors of pornography, social workers and bong sellers.)
He's since changed his voter registration to Republican but continued to represent clients at odds with his image, including the Head Start Association and Oregon Independent Mental Health Practitioners.
Competitors and colleagues praise his preparation and work ethic.
"He doesn't sit around and bullshit in the halls or try to show everyone how much he knows about everything," says one lobbyist. "He just gets in, assesses the situation, crafts a plan and tries to get the job done—all the while making tons of money."
For more than 25 years, Nelson owned a resort-plantation in Costa Rica, and his parties at his riverfront Willamette River home toward the end of every legislative session are a Salem institution.
In her 25 years as a lawmaker, secretary of state and now governor, Kate Brown often found herself in conflict with Nelson's clients, although Brown says they also worked together to increase judicial salaries (Nelson represented judges) and to increase Head Start funding.
"I was always glad when I could work with Mark Nelson instead of going toe to toe with him. He did not lose many battles," Brown says. "He was extremely effective in the building, with some in the lobby referring to him as 'the 31st senator.'"
Willamette Week