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Wollheim, named to the bench Feb. 27, is known as an experienced appellate lawyer. What's less well-known, though hardly a secret, is that he's also a convicted draft dodger. The new judge is forthright about his stint as a Vietnam war protester 30 years ago. "It's not something I'm embarrassed about," he says. "I opposed the war. I felt I had to take responsibility for that and face the consequences." Back in 1967, a year after coming to Portland to attend Reed College, Wollheim gave his draft card back to the feds as a symbolic protest to the war. At the time, the 19-year-old student was in little danger of being drafted. Only older men were classified A1, which meant they could be called any time. After he turned in his card, however, the military reclassified Wollheim and called him up for induction. When he refused to report to his draft board, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison by the legendary U.S District Court Judge Gus Solomon. Wollheim served only a third of his sentence, however; he successfully appealed on the grounds that the government had illegally reclassified him. His conviction was overturned. After the war, Wollheim continued working for peace in Vietnam and began attending Lewis & Clark College's Northwestern School of Law. In 1984 he once again faced Solomon, this time to be sworn in as a member of the Oregon State Bar. Wollheim had no trouble gaining admittance, he says, because his draft resistance was not considered a "crime of moral turpitude" (such as murder, fraud, forgery, etc.), the only thing that could have kept him from getting his law license. Wollheim has spent the past 13 years specializing in appellate, workers compensation and social security disability law. He says his war resistance and willingness to go to jail are not necessarily at odds with his new job. "That fits into my judicial philosophy that people should be responsible for their actions," he says. Wollheim's name was sent to Kitzhaber on a list of recommended candidates from the Oregon State Bar's Board of Governors, with whom Wollheim had discussed the conviction. Kitzhaber spokesman Bob Applegate says the governor knew about the draft dodging, and it didn't matter. In fact, he says, in a sense, it's admirable. "The bottom line is that Bob was willing to stand up for his beliefs and be accountable, which is frankly what you want in a judge," says Applegate. Political observers say they doubt the appointment will hurt Kitzhaber's re-election bid, particularly since Wollheim didn't run from his past. "Being open and up-front about something like this is, in a certain sense, a defense," says Oregon State University political scientist Bill Lunch. "It looks a lot better to most citizens than being evasive. Having said that, I suspect there is some segment of the Oregon population that will be unhappy about his high post in the judicial system." The appointment, Lunch says, could give some ammunition to Republican gubernatorial challenger Bill Sizemore, who would like to paint Kitzhaber as a bleeding-heart liberal. "I suspect that Sizemore and his folks will want to create a persona for Sizemore as defender of traditional values, and this would fit into that very well," says Lunch. "It's possible that Sizemore or one of the other folks opposed to the governor might want to seize on this and hold a press conference with the American Legion in front of a flag." Sizemore says he wasn't aware of Wollheim's conviction, but agrees that it won't sit well with some voters. "I'm sure your story will have some political consequences, although I don't know whether they will come from me," he told WW. "I don't want to shoot from the hip on this one, but I know there is a constituency out there that will object to this." Sizemore, who turned 18 in 1969, also was eligible for the draft, although his number was high enough that he was not in danger of being drafted--but, he adds, "I was prepared to go if my number came up." |
