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Uherbelau has always reached out to all sides By Dani Dodge MailTribune.com By Dani Dodge Posted Dec. 17, 2000 at 2:00 AM Updated Feb 16, 2011 at 8:28 AM By Dani Dodge Posted Dec. 17, 2000 at 2:00 AM Updated Feb 16, 2011 at 8:28 AM » Social News As she leaves Legislature, her constituents in diverse District 52 give her high marks — ASHLAND — Judy Uherbelau — a three-term state legislator known for her bipartisan approach — grew up learning the importance of working across the aisle at home. It was the only way she could get anyone to pass the peas at the dinner table. Growing up, my father was a strong Democrat. My mother was a strong Republican, Uherbelau said. Around the dinner table, it was always a political discussion. As Uherbelau finishes her last term as the Democratic House representative from District 52, she enjoys rave reviews from community leaders as well as state Democrats and Republicans about her time in office. She wasn't one to propose a lot of legislation or grab a lot of headlines, but she became well-known for her hard work and devotion to her constituents. Her legislative district, which stretches from Ashland to Butte Falls, is made up of both liberal and conservative segments, and fellow legislators say she would listen to both sides of an argument. She compiled a voting record that defied prediction and made close friends on both sides of the aisle. I can say honestly and candidly, even though we are in different parties, that I've never worked with a finer person as a legislator or as an individual, said state Sen. Lenn Hannon, R-Ashland. Judy and I are good friends, and that transcends parties. Uherbelau, 62, grew up near Youngstown, Ohio, in a family with two brothers. After graduating high school in 1956, she went on to nursing school to start her first career as a nurse. But the nurturing environment of nursing didn't blunt Uherbelau's political enthusiasm. Her early induction into politics at home led her to work for John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign in 1960, then in Nelson Rockefeller's Republican nomination bid against Barry Goldwater in 1964. In 1966, she joined the Peace Corps and spent two years in the Pacific as an instructor at a nursing school. She stayed an extra two years. After she returned to the States, she worked as a nurse at the University of California at Los Angeles and had two daughters, in 1971 and 1974. She earned a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Ball State University in 1978. She graduated from UCLA law school in 1981 and moved to Ashland. My brother said it was a great place to raise kids, Uherbelau said. At first, her political involvement in Ashland was limited to bar association events and community activities. But eventually, she joined the AIDS Task Force, the Ashland Community Hospital board and then, at the urging of County Commissioner Sue Kupillas, the Jackson County Budget Committee. When Uherbelau was first asked by the Woman's Political Caucus to run for the Legislature, she said she would do it only if her daughter, Angela, would run her campaign. I didn't think Angela would do it because she was scuba diving in the South Pacific, Uherbelau said. But she messed me up. She said she'd be on the next plane out. In 1994, with Angela's help, Uherbelau beat Republican Jerry Barnes by 55 votes. In her first legislative session, one of her speeches was credited with saving a bill allowing physicians to administer medication more freely to patients with intractable pain. The same session, she voted against a bill that recriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana. And she was named the Oregon Hunters Association's Legislator of the Year for her support of hunters in the aftermath of a ban on using bait and dogs to hunt bears and cougars. Uherbelau explained simply that her district encompasses both liberal Ashland as well as more conservative places like Butte Falls. She tried to listen to all of her constituents and understand their sensibilities. When Barnes ran against her a second time in 1996, though, he complained about her voting record. Her voting record is all over the board, Barnes said. She votes against things you would expect a person of the liberal philosophy to vote for. She also votes for things liberals normally vote for. It's hard to campaign against a person whose voting record has little logic to it. One bill that Uherbelau shepherded through all three of her legislative sessions, until it was finally passed in 1999, was Angela's Bill. The bill allows police to confiscate the cars of drunken drivers who have been previously convicted of drunken driving or another crime involving vehicle-related death or injury. Uherbelau began working on the bill in 1995 at the urging of Angela Barber and her family. Barber was a student at Southern Oregon University when her car was broadsided by a drunken driver in 1992. Barber suffered brain damage. The driver who struck Barber's car already had a suspended license because he was a habitual traffic offender and he had several drunken driving convictions. She fought like crazy to get that done, said Sen. Kate Brown, D-Portland, noting that Uherbelau faced some powerful opposition over the bill. Most people would have backed down, Brown said. But she kept fighting for what she thought was right. Married since 1997, Angela Barber Austbo said she was extremely grateful for Uherbelau's work on the bill. I feel like for once the law is working the way it's supposed to, Barber Austbo said. When this goes into effect, I'll feel safe to have children. But passing legislation was never Uherbelau's focus in the Legislature. Some people are of the philosophy that their crowning glory is all the bills they pass, Uherbelau said. My philosophy is the public shouldn't be overwhelmed by laws. So that was never my thrust. Uherbelau stayed in close contact with her constituents — and often solved their problems. Peg Crowley, the executive director of the Community Health Center in Ashland, recalled a phone call she received from Uherbelau about two years ago. Uherbelau had heard that one of her constituents who was on the Oregon Health Plan needed a hernia operation. The man couldn't do his carpenter job because of the problem, but the operation wasn't covered under the plan because it wasn't yet life-threatening. We worked with the local medical society to get him the care he needed, Crowley said. And she ultimately got the rule changed. But despite her willingness to work with and for local people, she always showed personal integrity, said Steve Reno, the former Southern Oregon University president who is now the chancellor of the University System of New Hampshire. Reno said he worked very closely with Uherbelau while she was in the House, and she was a passionate advocate of education. At the beginning of Uherbelau's last session, SOU students presented her with a symbolic check to sign demonstrating a specific dollar amount of support. Uherbelau declined to sign — even though she was in front of a roomful of students and administrators who had driven all the way up to Salem for that moment. She said it was too early in the session and there are a lot of competing needs, Reno recalled. It was an extraordinarily courageous thing to do. And in the end, Uherbelau signed on to a bill that was even more generous than the students had requested. Uherbelau said she's loved her time in the Legislature and would have run again if term limits hadn't forced her to quit. Despite all her work, she's left some dreams undone. She said she would have liked to continue to improve the health care system. The whole issue of how we deliver health care in this country is a huge problem, Uherbelau said. We are the only industrialized nation without nationalized care. Why is it the richest country in the world affords the worst health care? And though her political career is over for now, her political involvement is not. Just like I was involved before, I'll be involved after, she said. She?ll be spending February at Harvard University attending a leadership and policy program. In 1996 and 1997, she helped oversee elections in Bosnia. She said she may continue that work, or perhaps teach law and government in emerging countries. She's been approached by a number of nonprofit agencies to join their boards. There's a lot of options out there, Uherbelau said. Who knows where I'll go or what I'll do? — Reach reporter at 776-4471, or e-mail [email protected] By Dani Dodge MailTribune.com By Dani Dodge Posted Dec. 17, 2000 at 2:00 AM Updated Feb 16, 2011 at 8:28 AM » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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