Kevin Mannix

Kevin Leese Mannix (born November 26, 1949) is an American politician, business attorney, and former chairman of the Republican Party in the U.S. state of Oregon.

Mannix has served in both houses of the Oregon Legislative Assembly, as a Democrat and, later, a Republican.

He is known for his advocacy of statewide ballot measures and as a candidate for the statewide offices of attorney general and governor.

Mannix earned a bachelor's degree in liberal arts in 1971 from the University of Virginia.

In 1974, he earned his J.D. degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Prior to serving in the legislature, Mannix worked in several different capacities, including Assistant Attorney General of Oregon, Assistant Attorney General of Guam, and a law clerk to the Oregon Court of Appeals.

Mannix was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives five times beginning in 1988.

From 1989 through 1996, Mannix served in the Oregon House of Representatives as a Democrat.

In 1994, he authored Ballot Measure 11, which established mandatory minimum sentences for violent crimes, including murder, manslaughter, serious assault, kidnapping, rape, sodomy, unlawful sexual penetration, sexual abuse, and robbery.

This measure has also now been used to set automatic sentencing on accidental deaths due to addiction issues.

A companion measure, Measure 10, also passed, amending the Oregon Constitution to provide that any criminal sentence established by a vote of the people cannot be reduced by the legislature except with a two-thirds vote of both houses.

A third successful Mannix measure, Measure 17, amended the Oregon Constitution to establish a new section which requires that state prison inmates work full-time in useful work.

This also allowed work time to include education courses, counseling, and job training.

In 1996, Mannix brought Ballot Measure 40 to the ballot.

This contained several victims' rights and anti-crime provisions.

The effects of these Measures is to set the primary locus of control in sentencing decisions with victims and prosecutors.

Measure 40 passed by a margin of 59% to 41%, but was overturned by the Oregon Supreme Court in Armatta v. Kitzhaber, 327 Or.

In 1996, Mannix ran for Oregon Attorney General as a Democrat.

At the last minute, Hardy Myers was recruited by Democrats to run against Mannix in the Democratic primary, as some felt Mannix was too conservative for their party.

Myers defeated Mannix in the primary 62.8% to 36.8%.

Myers went on to easily defeat his Republican opponent in the November general election.

In 1997, he became a Republican and was appointed to the Oregon State Senate.

Mannix changed his party affiliation to Republican the following year, 1997.

He was appointed to the state Senate in 1997.

He was elected back into the Oregon House in November 1998 and served through 2000.

Mannix is a driving force behind the effort to get tougher sentences for criminals.

250, 959 P.2d 49 (1998) on the grounds that it contained more than one amendment to the Oregon Constitution and should have been subject to separate votes on each provision.

Measure 40 returned to voters by legislative referral (engineered by Representative Mannix) as Measures 69–75 in November 1999.

Of the seven referral measures four were passed by voters, which granted crime victims the right to be present during trial, to be consulted regarding plea bargains and to be heard at sentencing; limited the pre-trial release of violent criminals by authorizing courts to consider the safety of victims and the public; required that any term of imprisonment imposed by a court to be fully served, with the exception of the governor's clemency power; and prohibited felons from serving on grand juries and criminal trial juries.

In 2000, Mannix ran as a Republican for State Attorney General, winning the GOP nomination and facing Myers in a bitter campaign.

Myers again defeated Mannix 49.8% to 46.2%.

Libertarian candidate Tom Cox received 4.0%.

There is the possibility that Cox siphoned off votes from Mannix, although it's far from certain that enough of them would have supported him to deny Myers victory.

In 2002, Mannix ran for governor.

In 2008, Mannix helped lead a citizen initiative effort for Measure 61 which would have created mandatory minimum prison sentences for certain theft, identity theft, forgery, drug and burglary crimes.

This measure was trumped by Measure 57, a legislative referral which avoided mandatory minimum sentences in favor of increased sentences for drug trafficking, theft against the elderly, and certain repeat property and identity theft crimes.

Another citizen initiative effort led by Mannix in 2010, Measure 73, was approved.

This measure provided a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 25 years for repeat convictions of the worst sex crimes and required a minimum sentence of 90 days in jail, with costs reimbursed to the county by the state, for persons with a third DUII conviction within 10 years.

In 2012, Measure 84, an effort to repeal Oregon's estate tax, was also supported by Mannix but was defeated.

For the Oregon 2014 general election, Mannix, and Common Sense For Oregon, are supporting several initiatives including No Taxes on Family Giving and the Oregon Castle Doctrine.