"There are a lot of talented people in the Oregon Legislature.  The voters in Klamath and Lake Counties will have an opportunity next November to add one more.  Gail Whitsett has announced that she will run to represent House District 56, formerly represented by Bill Garrard who is retiring.

Gail is a remarkable woman, whose background and experience will make her an excellent legislator and an effective representative of the people of southern Oregon.

Gail was born in Hawaii and raised on a sheep and cattle ranch in Montana before moving to Klamath Falls as a high school student.  She earned a degree in geology from Oregon State University and went to work for AMOCA in Denver, Colorado, while earning a Masters of Science degree in geology, also from OSU.  She was hired by SOHIO and continued to work in the oil and gas industry for several years in Colorado and Nevada

In the late 1980s Gail started an equine breeding business and was soon one of the leading breeders and trainers of dressage horses for the US sporthorse market.  A decade later she married Dr. Doug Whitsett and together they established Sunset Ridge Farms in Klamath Falls.  Sunset Ridge proved to be a very successful business, both in terms of its national reputation for horse breeding and its contributions to the local economy.

Gail’s husband, Doug, was elected to the Oregon Senate in 2004.  Since 2005 Gail has served as Doug’s legislative Chief of Staff.  In that capacity she has become expert in the formal and informal ways of the capital and Oregon politics.  She is expert on a wide array of topics important to the Oregon legislature, with particular expertise in natural resources, water and energy.

I have had the opportunity to work with Gail on a few occasions and am always impressed with her knowledge of the facts and her judgment about what needs to be done to meet Oregon’s many challenges.  Her extensive business experience combined with her many years working in Salem on behalf of rural Oregon makes Gail an unusually qualified candidate for the state legislature.

Gail Whitsett will be a superb legislator.  The entire state of Oregon will benefit from her intellect and common sense.  Rural Oregon in particular, will be well represented in the Oregon House."