Governor candidate will join Klamath Falls firm

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KLAMATH FALLS — Former Republican gubernatorial hopeful Ron Saxton is leaving the Portland law firm he co-founded for a job at Klamath Falls-based Jeld-Wen, one of the state’s largest privately held manufacturing companies.

Saxton will be senior vice president of external affairs, the window and door company said in a news release today. He will continue at his Portland firm, Ater Wynne, in an “advisory role.”

Rod Wendt, the chief executive officer of Jeld-Wen, was one of the top donors in Saxton’s failed challenge to Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski, giving hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Saxton got 43 percent of the vote to Kulongoski’s 51 percent. He has ruled out running for office again. But he said his new position will “allow me to remain active in Oregon’s civic affairs.”

As a lawyer, Saxton specialized in business and utility law.

Jeld-Wen has more than 150 divisions and more than 20,000 employees worldwide. Company officials have donated heavily to conservative-leaning initiatives, including the property rights law known as Measure 37.

Jeld-Wen has also branched out, through subsidiaries, into real estate and resort development throughout the region.

Dick Wendt, Jeld-Wen’s founder, regularly shows up on Forbes Magazine’s annual list of the 400 richest Americans, with an estimated fortune of $700 million.

— The Associated Press

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