Joan Bauer (Michigan politician)

Infobox Politician
name = Joan Bauer


width =
height =
caption =
birth_date =
birth_place =
death_date =
death_place =
party = Democratic Party
residence = Lansing, Michigan
occupation = Politician
religion =
relations =
spouse = Doug Langham
civil partner =
children =
website =
office = Councilmember
term_start = 1995
term_end = 2006
predecessor =
successor =
constituency = City of Lansing
majority =
office3 = Michigan State Representative
term_start3 = 2007
term_end3 = present
predecessor3 = Michael C. Murphy
successor3 =
constituency3 = 68th House District
majority3 = Democratic Party
footnotes =

Joan Bauer is a Democratic Party politician from Michigan. She is the current member of the Michigan House of Representatives from the 68th District, which is in Ingham County in the northern portion of the city of Lansing.

Early life

Representative Bauer graduated from Western Michigan University with a major in history and minors in political science and secondary education. Bauer was a high school and adult education government teacher and she served as the Director of Volunteer Services at Ingham Regional Medical Center for 21 years. Bauer chaired the Ingham County Women’s Commission and serving as President of the Michigan Women in Municipal Government from 2004 to 2005.

Community involvement

Representative Bauer has been an active community leader for numerous organizations over the past 30 years. She currently is a member of the Lansing Rotary Foundation Board, the Lansing Rotary Club, the Junior League of Lansing, the Capital Regional Community Foundation Board of Directors, and the Capital Area United Way Board of Directors. Joan has received several awards for her community service including the Athena Award from the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Diana Award from the YWCA, and the Distinguished Citizen award from the Girl Scouts.

Political career

In 1995, Bauer was elected as a member at-large to the Lansing City Council, and re-elected in 1999, and 2003, where she served until 2006, when she resigned to run for the Michigan State House of Representatives. Bauer defeated first runner-up Jerry Hollister, the son of former Lansing Mayor David Hollister by nearly six percentage points in the Democratic Primary, garnering 32.83% of the vote. Bauer coasted to victory in the general election by receiving 74% of the vote defeating Republican businessman Harilaos I. Sorovigas. She currently serves on the powerful Appropriations Committee.

House committees

She is currently a member of the following House Appropriations committee.

Representative Bauer was elected to her first term in 2006. She serves on the House Appropriations Committee and on three Appropriations Subcommittees: Higher Education, Community Colleges, and Economic Development.

Representative Bauer was appointed by the Speaker of the House (Andy Dillion) to serve on the Capitol Committee. She is a Co-Chair of the Local Government Caucus and is a member of several other caucuses including the Urban Caucus, the Children’s Caucus, the Tourism Caucus, the Arts Caucus, and the Fire Caucus.

Personal

Joan Bauer is married to Doug Langham, the former Administrator of Vocational Rehabilitation in the Bureau of Workers Compensation in Michigan, and they live on Lansing's Westside.

External links

* [http://068.housedems.com/ Official House Democrats Webpage]
* [http://www.joanbauer.org/ Official Campaign Website]
* [http://www.michiganvotes.com/SearchVotes.aspx?Results=10&StartDate=1%2F1%2F2007&EndDate=3%2F27%2F2007&EntityID=10858&Keywords=&op=Search Joan Bauer's Voting Record]