For many years, Salem — Oregon’s capital — was a sleepy, slow-growing town. The legislature met in the capitol building (designed, some say, to look like a tree stump) only six months every two years. So the city did not attract a lot of the high-powered lobbyists that you find in Washington, Sacramento, or other capitals with full-time legislatures.
Oregon’s capitol building in the state capital of Salem; photo from salemoregon.com.
