Tom Bunn
American politician and law enforcement officer (born c. 1959)
title: "Tom Bunn" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1950s-births", "year-of-birth-uncertain", "living-people", "county-commissioners-in-oregon", "members-of-the-oregon-house-of-representatives", "republican-party-members-of-the-oregon-house-of-representatives", "mayors-of-places-in-oregon", "northwest-nazarene-university-alumni", "people-from-lafayette,-oregon", "oregon-city-council-members", "law-enforcement-in-oregon", "people-from-dayton,-oregon", "20th-century-american-politicians", "21st-century-american-politicians"] description: "American politician and law enforcement officer (born c. 1959)" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Bunn" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American politician and law enforcement officer (born c. 1959) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Tom Bunn |
| office | Member of the Oregon House of Representatives from the 29th district |
| term_start | July 1992 |
| term_end | January 1993 |
| predecessor | Stan Bunn |
| successor | Marilyn Dell |
| office2 | Yamhill County Commissioner |
| term_start2 | 1995 |
| term_end2 | 2003 |
| office3 | Mayor of Amity, Oregon |
| term3 | 1987–1988 |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Yamhill County, Oregon |
| residence | Dayton, Oregon |
| party | Republican |
| occupation | Law enforcement |
| relations | Jim Bunn (brother) |
| Stan Bunn (brother) | |
| spouse | Lona |
| children | 6 |
| :: |
| name = Tom Bunn | image = | size = | caption = | office = Member of the Oregon House of Representatives from the 29th district | term_start = July 1992 | term_end = January 1993 | predecessor = Stan Bunn | successor = Marilyn Dell | office2 = Yamhill County Commissioner | term_start2 = 1995 | term_end2 = 2003 | predecessor2 = | successor2 = | office3 = Mayor of Amity, Oregon | term3 = 1987–1988 | predecessor3 = | successor3 = | birth_date = | birth_place = Yamhill County, Oregon | death_date = | death_place = | residence = Dayton, Oregon | party = Republican | religion = | occupation = Law enforcement | relations = Jim Bunn (brother) Stan Bunn (brother) | spouse = Lona | children = 6 | website = | footnotes = Thomas E. Bunn (born c. 1959) is a former law enforcement officer and politician in the U.S. state of Oregon. A Republican, he served part of a term in the Oregon House of Representatives while two of his brothers, Jim Bunn and Stan Bunn, also served in the Oregon Legislative Assembly. A former sheriff’s deputy in Yamhill County, Tom later served two terms as a county commissioner. He was also mayor of Amity and a member of its city council.
Early life
Thomas Bunn was born around 1959 in Yamhill County, Oregon, to Ben and Viola (Fulgham) Bunn. Along with his twin brother Tim, he was the youngest of eleven children, with five brothers and five sisters. He grew up on the family farm near Dayton along the Yamhill River.
Tom graduated from Dayton High School and attended Northwest Nazarene College in Nampa, Idaho, where he was in the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps. Bunn graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in business. He was commissioned in the Oregon Army National Guard, eventually reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel. He also attended, but did not graduate from, Northwestern California University School of Law, a correspondence law school.
Following college, he returned to Oregon and worked for seven years as a deputy for the Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office. Bunn and his wife Lona married around 1980 and have six children: Mark, Thomas, Ukiah, Seth, McKenzie, and Peter.
Political career
Bunn’s first political office was as a city council member in Amity, where he served from 1983 to 1987. The next day, the Yamhill County Commission appointed Tom, also a Republican, to fill Stan’s seat in the House representing District 29. With his brother Jim already serving in the Senate, three Bunn brothers served in the Oregon Legislative Assembly simultaneously. Tom served until 1993, as the primary elections had already determined the candidates for the November election. He also served as a judge for the Yamhill Municipal Court.
In November 1994, he was elected as a commissioner of Yamhill County. As commissioner, he worked to pass a county ordinance prohibiting the sale or manufacture of drug paraphernalia in 1995, and twice tried to ban the possession of marijuana seeds, in 1996 and 1997. In 1997, he wrote a law that prohibited county employees from facilitating abortions. The law was subsequently challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union as unconstitutional at both the state and federal levels.
Bunn won re-election to a second four-year term on the commission. In 1999, his brother Jim, who had lost a re-election bid to Congress in 1996, applied for an appointment as county treasurer. Tom recused himself from the interviewing process but cast the tie-breaking vote to appoint his brother, after the county attorney advised that it would not be inappropriate.
References
References
- (March 31, 2005). "Viola May (Fulgham) Bunn". [[Dayton Tribune]].
- Sullivan, Julie. (April 7, 2002). "Bunn battles for family name". The Oregonian.
- Carter, Steven. (October 11, 1998). "Stan Bunn". The Oregonian.
- "November 2002 Yamhill County Voter’s Pamphlet". Yamhill County Elections.
- McNichol, Bethanye. (November 17, 1997). "County opens inmate center". The Oregonian.
- Tims, Dana. (May 14, 1998). "Ehry and Bunn, who mainly differ over abortion issue, trade barbs". The Oregonian.
- (May 14, 1998). "The candidates Yamhill County Commissioner, Position 3: Republicans the candidates". The Oregonian.
- Hortsch, Dan. (July 4, 1992). "Bring out the Bunns". The Oregonian.
- "Oregon Legislators and Staff Guide: 1992 Special Session (66th)". Oregon State Archives.
- (November 9, 1994). "Suburban voting results". The Oregonian.
- Fitzgibbon, Joe. (November 3, 1997). "Yamhill County's Bunn goes after marijuana seeds". The Oregonian.
- McNichol, Bethanye. (August 30, 1997). "ACLU files challenge to abortion law". The Oregonian.
- (November 9, 1998). "Election results southwest". The Oregonian.
- (November 7, 2002). "Election results: Here is how Clackamas, Washington, Yamhill and Multnomah counties voted". The Oregonian.
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