Don Bonker Don Leroy Bonker, an American politician, was born March 7, 1937 in Denver, Colorado. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1975-1989. He represented Washington’s Third Congressional District as a Democrat. Bonker attended public schools in Westminster, Colorado.
He received his Associate of Arts degree from Clark College in Vancouver, Washington, in 1962; his Bachelor of Arts from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, in 1964; and completed graduate work at American University in Washington, D.C. Bonker served in the United States Coast Guard as first class yeoman from 1955-1959.
He served as aide to United States Senator Maurine Brown Neuberger from 1964-1965, Clark County auditor in Vancouver from 1966-1974, and as a delegate to Washington State Democratic conventions from 1968-1970.
Bonker ran for Washington Secretary of State in 1972, but was defeated by incumbent Republican Lud Kramer. Bonker was elected as a moderate Democrat to the Ninety-fourth and to the six succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1975-January 3, 1989). He did not run for reelection in 1988 so he could run for nomination to the United States Senate, where he narrowly lost in the primary to Democrat Mike Lowry, who was defeated in the general election by Republican Slade Gorton. In 1992, Bonker again ran for a U.S. Senate seat, but was defeated in the primary by the eventual winner, Democratic Senator Patty Murray.
During his time in the House, Bonker was a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Chairman of the Subcommittee on International Economic Policy and Trade. He also served on the President’s Export Council and headed former House Speaker Tip O'Neill’s Trade Task Force, which led to passage of the 1988 Omnibus Trade Act. During his tenure in Congress, Bonker authored and was a principal sponsor of significant trade legislation, such as the Export Trading Company Act and the Export Administration Act.
He helped establish the Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge and the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, added Protection Island to the National Wildlife Refuge system, preserved the Point of Arches in the Olympic National Park, added 250,000 acres to the 1984 Washington Wilderness Act, and banned the export of Western Redcedar.
Bonker is now the President and CEO of the International Management and Development Institute, on the board of the Foundation for U.S.-Russia Business Cooperation, and is Executive Vice President of APCO Worldwide ().
He is the author of America’s Trade Crisis, published by Houghton Mifflin, and is a writer and speaker on trade policy. His monthly column on trade policy appears in a number of newspapers around the country.
He is a resident of Bainbridge Island, Washington.
Preceded by: Julia Butler Hansen (D) U.S. House of Representatives Washington 3rd district 1975-1989 Succeeded by: Jolene Unsoeld (D)
