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 more than 12 years on the OTEC Board before losing 60.4%-39.6% to Seth Musgrove on May 8, 2025.
Last updated August 9, 2026. Public-corpus sources are linked below; internal research references are labeled without a public link.
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. (the first chair of Grande Ronde Hospital's 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. The reviewed source describes him as retired from active practice.
Baum Jr. held OTEC (Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative) Board Position 8, representing Union County, for more than 12 years. On May 8, 2025, at the OTEC Annual Meeting in Baker City, challenger Seth Musgrove defeated him 1,810 to 1,184 (60.4% to 39.6%).
The reviewed sources identify Anna Witham Baum as a CPA operating Anna Baum Consulting and record a $200 contribution by David Baum Jr. to Walden for Congress in 2004.
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 and described as retired. The reviewed source identifies Wyatt Baum and Brent Smith as later partners; this profile does not claim a current firm roster.
source: players/baum-family.mdRelated corpus files
Public Markdown sources are citizen-auditable on GitHub. Any internal research references are identified below and intentionally are not exposed as broken public links.
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. Answers cite indexed leads and expose linked verification sources where available.
- “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 Investigates -- levi@valorinvestigates.com