Duane Woodard
34th Attorney General of Colorado
In office
January 11, 1983 – January 8, 1991
GovernorRichard Lamm
Roy Romer
Preceded byJ.D. MacFarlane
Succeeded byGale Norton
Member of the Colorado Senate
from the 29th district
In office
January 12, 1977 (1977-Jan-12) – March 1980 (1980-March)
Preceded byHank Brown
Succeeded byRoy Shore
Personal details
Born (1938-01-12) January 12, 1938 (age 86)
Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic (since 1987)
Republican (before 1987)
ResidenceFort Collins, Colorado
EducationUniversity of Wyoming (BA)
University of Oklahoma (JD)
ProfessionAttorney
Politician
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/serviceUnited States Marine Corps Marine Corps

L. Duane Woodard (born January 12, 1938) is an American politician who served as the Attorney General of Colorado from 1983 to 1991. He previously served in the Colorado Senate from the 29th district from 1977 to 1980.[1][2]

Early life and career

L. Duane Woodard was born in Kansas City, Missouri on January 12, 1938. A military brat, he was raised in Greeley, Colorado, Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Casper, Wyoming. Woodard joined the United States Marine Corps serving in Japan and the Philippines. He was honorably discharged in 1959. He then attended the University of Wyoming and the University of Oklahoma College of Law. After his studies, he took a position at the Sinclair Oil Corporation. Two years later, he moved to Fort Collins to become a Deputy District Attorney for the Eighth Judicial District.[2] In 1974, he became a municipal judge in Windsor.[3]

Political career

He was elected to the Colorado Senate in the 1976 general election. In March 1980, Governor Richard Lamm appointed Woodard to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. Fellow Republican Roy Henry Shore succeeded Woodard in the Senate for a brief time before his own appointment to the University of Colorado Board of Regents.[3][4] In 1982, Woodard defeated Democratic candidate Gail Klapper.[5] In 1987, Woodard switched from the Republican Party to Democratic Party citing the party's advocacy for austerity and personal conflicts with its members.[6] In the 1988 general election, Woodard headed Colorado Unity, one of two groups organized to oppose an English-only amendment to the Colorado Constitution.[7] Republican candidate Gale Norton defeated Woodard in the 1990 general election.[6] While Attorney General, he chaired the National Association of Attorneys General's Environmental Control Committee.[8]

Post-political career

Woodard later served as General Counsel to his predecessor in the State Senate, Republican U.S. Senator Hank Brown.[9]

References

  1. ^ "Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph Archives, Dec 7, 1982, p. 26". Newspaperarchive.com. 1982-12-07. Retrieved 2018-08-14.
  2. ^ a b "Duane Woodward". Office of the Colorado Attorney General. Archived from the original on 2018-08-14. Retrieved 2018-08-14.
  3. ^ a b "L. Duane Woodard". Colorado General Assembly. Archived from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
  4. ^ "Roy Henry Shore".
  5. ^ https://www.longmontcolorado.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/20865/636523868709930000[bare URL PDF]
  6. ^ a b Cronin, Thomas F. (September 1, 1993). Colorado Politics & Government: Governing the Centennial State. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9780803214514. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
  7. ^ Saiz, Martin (April 9, 2019). "Cohesion Mobilization and Latino Political Influence: Colorado in 1988". In de la Garza, Rudolfo O.; DeSipio, Louis (eds.). From Rhetoric To Reality: Latino Politics In The 1988 Elections. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9780429715396. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
  8. ^ Woodard, Duane (1988). "Superfund: What It Means to States". Journal of State Government. Council of State Governments. 61 (3): 118.
  9. ^ Senate, United States. Congress (1996). Report to the Secretary of the U.S. Senate. pp. 39 and 143. Retrieved January 28, 2022.


Categories