Ben Westlund

Ben Westlund (September 3, 1949 – March 7, 2010) was a politician in the U.S. state of Oregon. A Democrat, he was elected State Treasurer in 2008. Previously, Westlund served in both houses of the Oregon Legislative Assembly, as a Republican from 1996 to 2006, as an independent from 2006 to 2007, and then as a Democrat. Westlund dropped his Republican party affiliation to run for Governor of Oregon in the 2006 election, but dropped out of the race in August. In December 2006 he became a Democrat. Westlund worked as a business analyst, and ran businesses in mining, ranching, and agriculture. Westlund was born in Long Beach, California and his family moved to Oregon when he was a teenager. He graduated from Oregon Episcopal School in...