Talk about being used to change. Phil Lang, who recently retired from the chairmanship of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, has had multiple careers in his lifetime.
First, there was the three-year stint in the US Air Force, where he was stationed in Japan doing intelligence work immediately after World War II.
Then, he came back to Oregon and went to college, where he pursued an interest, sparked by his Air Force intelli- gence training, in criminology. Then, he became an Oregon State
Trooper for several years.
Then, he went to law school at night while working as an insurance claims adjustor during the day.
While he was doing that, he submit- ted his resume for the position of county sheriff. That position had been vacated when the current sheriff, Terry Schrunk, was elected mayor of Portland. Lang did not get the job of sheriff.
But then, “out of the blue,” Lang remembered, Schrunk, who had, up until that point never met him, asked Lang to be his chief of staff. Lang was, at this point, only 27 years old.
His position with the mayor piqued an interest in government and politics. He ran for the state legislature in 1960. He served for 18 years, the last four of them as Speaker of the House. Oh yes, and while serving in the Legislature, Lang also pursued “his day job,” a career in the insurance industry. He retired, after 35 years, in 1995.
“But the governor couldn’t stand that I had time on my hands,” joked Lang. In February 1998, Lang was appointed to be the chairper- son of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, where he served “for 13
26
years and three months,” the longest anyone has held that position. When he retired this month, Lang, 81, said, “The current gover- nor asked me what I was going to do next. I told him, ‘I’ll get back to you on that.’”
[While a new chairman has not yet been named, Michael E.
Harper, Sr., the former center-forward for the Portland Trail Blazers, has been appointed to be the OLCC’s newest commissioner. Harper, who, like Lang, also works in the insurance industry, has experience as a high-school basketball coach and extensive experience in public speaking. “He is a very nice man and is going to bring some very positive things to the OLCC,” said Lang. “I look forward to keeping in contact with him.”]
Retiring Chairman Phil Lang is presented with a commemorative photo of the commission’s building, signed by all the agency’s staff, as a thanks for his 13-plus years of service.
SW StateWays s www.stateways.com s July/August 2011
