David Combs Baum Jr.
Retired Attorney, Baum Smith LLC -- Former OTEC Board Director
Retired partner at Baum Smith LLC (predecessor Mautz Baum & O'Hanlon); served 12+ years on the OTEC Board (Position 8, Union County) before losing 60.4-39.6 to Seth Musgrove on May 8, 2025 -- the only popular-vote removal of a Baum from institutional power.
Key facts
- Law practice
- Partner at Mautz Baum & O'Hanlon, then Baum Smith LLC (now retired from active practice) source: players/baum-family.md
- OTEC defeat
- Lost to Seth Musgrove on May 8, 2025 -- 1,184 votes (39.6%) to Musgrove's 1,810 (60.4%) source: players/baum-career-findings.md
Role narrative
David Combs Baum Jr. is the son of David C. Baum Sr. (founder of the Grande Ronde Hospital governing Board of Trustees) and brother of the late Oregon legislator Ray Baum. He was admitted to the Oregon Bar in 1975 after graduating from Willamette University College of Law and Eastern Oregon University, and practiced as a named partner at the predecessor firm Mautz Baum & O'Hanlon before its split into Baum Smith LLC around 2009-2010. He is now retired from active practice.
Baum Jr. held the OTEC (Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative) Board of Directors seat for Position 8, representing Union County, for more than 12 years. The seat was the only Baum family position ever subject to popular election. On May 8, 2025, at the OTEC Annual Meeting in Baker City, he was defeated by challenger Seth Musgrove -- an Iraq War veteran, Eastern Oregon University graduate, and 20-plus-year Oregon Army National Guard officer -- by a decisive margin of 1,810 to 1,184 (60.4% to 39.6%). The Valor Investigations corpus identifies this as the first and only removal of a Baum from institutional power by popular vote.
Baum Jr.'s wife, Anna Witham Baum, is a CPA who operates Anna Baum Consulting. He made a $200 contribution to Walden for Congress in 2004. No disciplinary record has been found for him in any accessible Oregon State Bar source.
Boards & affiliations
Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative (OTEC)
Director, Position 8 (Union County)
~2013-May 2025 (lost reelection)
source: players/baum-family.mdBusiness entities
Baum Smith LLC (and predecessor Mautz Baum & O'Hanlon)
Law firm (retired partner)
- Address:
- 808 Adams Ave / 1902 4th St Ste 1, La Grande, OR 97850
Named partner at the predecessor firm. Now retired from active practice; Wyatt Baum and Brent Smith are the current active partners.
source: players/baum-family.mdRelated corpus files
These Markdown source files back up every claim on this page. They are public and citizen-auditable on GitHub.
Ask the Union County corpus
The Union County research engine can answer specific questions about David Combs Baum Jr. and the broader term-limits story. Every answer cites a specific source file.
- “Who defeated David Baum on the OTEC board?”
- “What was the 2025 OTEC Position 8 vote?”
- “Who are the living partners of Baum Smith?”
Valor Investigations -- levi@valorinvestigates.com