Southern Oregon native, Simon Hare has recently returned home after more than 6 years of living and working on the east coast in the Washington, DC area. Having been born and raised here in Josephine County, he has always had a heart of service for the people of his community. Guided by faith and conservative convictions Hare has the skills and experience to lead our county in a new direction... the right direction.

Hare began his career as a legislative intern in Senator Gordon Smith's Washington, DC office and then was hired by the national service organization representing electric cooperative utilities, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). As a member of Government Relations for NRECA he worked on both state and federal legislation that focused on improving the lives of rural electric cooperative consumers.

His main responsibility was to advocate for reliable, clean, safe, and affordable electricity for the 47 million electric cooperative consumers nationwide. Over time he became very familiar with issues such as state renewable portfolio standards, cap and trade, climate change and renewable energy.

 

While working for NRECA, Hare gained significant leadership and management skills serving on several national boards of directors. He developed extensive experience in staff, budget and resource management while serving on the board of directors for Consumer Federation of America (CFA), the National Consumers League (NCL), Organizations Concerned for Rural Education (OCRE) and the Washington Area State Relations Group (WASRG).

Prior to moving east to Washington, DC Hare attended Oregon State University (OSU). He studied business, political science, agriculture and music and in 2002 graduated with a BS in Agricultural Business. During his junior year he was elected President of OSU’s Choral Department and as such hired a new Choral Director, restructured the department’s budget and organized a trip to Eastern Europe for 50 elite singers.

Hare has had many different employment experiences that have helped shape his character, expand his perspective and develop his skill set. In college he was a management intern for Enterprise Rent-a-Car, a sales associate for The Southwestern Company, an enumerator for the US Census Bureau, a Minor's Assistant (grunt), an expeditor for Wild River Pizza & Brewery and a farmer/rancher at his family's farm.

Hare grew up on the family farm, Oxbow Ranch, which has been in his family since the late 1950's. He was very involved in raising cattle, hay, hogs and horses and did very well in 4-H and FFA. While attending Illinois Valley High School Hare took advantage of a number of leadership opportunities including FFA's Washington, DC Leadership Conference, American Legion's Oregon Boys State, Oregon's Student Leadership Conference, and many others. Besides his leadership role in countless clubs and organizations in high school, Hare is still fondly remembered for his leadership role as student representative to the Board of Education for Three Rivers School District.

Combined with limited government, Hare has a passion for his family, traditional values and personal freedoms. From an early age he learned the importance and value of hard work from his parents, Denny and Evie Hare. Agriculture and sustainable timber production are a big part of his heritage and he believes that natural resources are to be valued and not wasted, but also managed efficiently to the benefit our community. With Hare's management experience and leadership skills combined with his understanding of state and national political areas, he is the kind of Commissioner that can lead our county in the direction toward a bright and prosperous future.