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Mike Synar
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromOklahoma's2nd district
In office January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1995
Preceded by	Ted Risenhoover
Succeeded by	Tom Coburn
Personal details
Born	Michael Lynn Synar (1950-10-17)October 17, 1950 Vinita, Oklahoma, U.S.
Died	January 9, 1996(1996-01-09) (aged 45) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Party	Democratic
Education	University of Oklahoma (BS,LLB) University of Edinburgh Northwestern University (MA)

Michael Lynn Synar (October 17, 1950 – January 9, 1996) was an AmericanDemocraticpolitician who representedOklahoma's 2nd congressional district inCongress for eight terms.^[1]

Synar was born inVinita, Oklahoma,^[1] His father, Ed Synar, was a World War IIB-24 tailgunner in Europe. His father's family line was Polish Catholics. Mike Synar was graduated fromMuskogee High School in 1968.^[1] He attended theUniversity of Oklahoma (OU) and graduated in 1972 with aB.S.; later Synar also earned hisJ.D.^[2] degree from theUniversity of Oklahoma College of Law in 1977.^[1] While Synar was studying at theUniversity of Oklahoma, he was a member ofOklahoma Intercollegiate Legislature.^[3] Synar was also aRotary International Scholar and attended the Graduate School of Economics at theUniversity of Edinburgh (inScotland) in 1973, and earned anM.A. fromNorthwestern University in 1974.^[1]

While Synar's primary profession was thepractice of law, he also worked as arancher and areal estate broker/agent^[1] in the Muskogee area.

He was first elected to Congress in 1978 at the age of 28, by defeating incumbentTed Risenhoover. Synar's campaign pulled off an upset victory as they circulated copies of a Washington D.C. media report that said Risenhoover slept on a "heart-shaped waterbed," which did not play well with the voters back home in Oklahoma.

Unlike most Oklahoma Democrats, Synar heldliberal views politically. In the Congress, he may be best known for his successful constitutional challenge to theGramm–Rudman Act. In the 1986Supreme Court decisionBowsher v. Synar, the Court struck down the law stating, in part, that the provision granting executive power toComptroller GeneralCharles Arthur Bowsher, a legislative branch officer, did "violate the Constitution's command that Congress play no direct role in the execution of the laws." Synar was also an ardent and persistent foe of thetobacco industry.

A major issue for Synar involved low fees charged ranchers who grazed cattle on public lands. The "animal unit month" (AUM) fee was only $1.35 and was far below the 1983 market value. The argument was that the federal government in effect was subsidizing ranchers, with a few major corporations controlling millions of acres of grazing land. Working with Interior SecretaryBruce Babbitt, Synar tried to rally environmentalists and raise fees, but senators from Western states successfully blocked their proposals.^[4][5]

Despite having no criminal prosecution experience, in 1989 Synar served as the leadHouse manager as Congress conducted animpeachment trial of then-U.S. federal judgeAlcee Hastings, who had been acquitted by a jury in a criminal trial but later impeached onbribery charges but was removed from the bench in his impeachment trial. Ironically, Hastings was later elected to the U.S. Congress fromFlorida, and re-elected 14 times becoming the dean of the Florida congressional delegation in 30 years in office. Hastings later was in line to chair theHouse Select Committee on Intelligence, but was passed over bySpeakerNancy Pelosi.

In 1992, the House Committee on Government Operations issued its 17th report, known colloquially as "the Synar Report", but formally as "Misplaced Trust: TheBureau of Indian Affairs Mismanagement of the Indian Trust Fund."^[6] Synar was Chairman of the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Subcommittee, which produced the report for the Committee on Government Operations (Chairman,John Conyers Jr.) at the direction of the 102nd Congress. The Synar Report led to the passage of the Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act of 1994, and helped to pave the way for the class action lawsuit,Cobell v. Babbitt, initiated in 1996.

In 1994, Synar was narrowly defeated in a Democratic primaryrunoff election by Virgil Cooper, a retired high school principal. Though Cooper's campaign spent less than $20,000 itself, some money was spent by outside interests that were opposed to Synar, including theNational Rifle Association of America, tobacco companies, and cattlemen.^{[citation needed]} Cooper seized on Synar's connections with Japanese businesses with a bumper sticker slogan of "Sayonara Synar."^{[citation needed]}

Cooper won by just 2,609 votes out of 92,987 cast, a 51–49 margin. Cooper was subsequently defeated in the general election by RepublicanTom Coburn by a 52–48 margin.^{[citation needed]}

After Congress, Synar served as the Chairman of the Campaign for America Project and of the National Bankruptcy Review Commission.^{[citation needed]}

He was also awarded the 1995 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.^[7]

Synar died of abrain tumor on January 9, 1996, at the age of 45. TheAmerican College of Physicians offers a national public service award in honor of Rep. Synar's public efforts against tobacco smoking. His name is also attached to the 40,000-square-foot (3,700 m²) Mike Synar Center atNortheastern State University inMuskogee, Oklahoma. TheInstitute of Governmental Studies atUC Berkeley annually awards up to fivegraduate research fellowships in honor of Rep. Synar to distinguished graduate students who are writing their dissertations on an aspect of American politics.

• List of notable brain tumor patients
• Oklahoma Democratic Party
• Oklahoma's congressional delegations
• Oklahoma's congressional districts
• Politics of Oklahoma

• Mike Synar at Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
• Mike Synar Center at Northeastern State University, Muskogee, OK
• 2000 Award to Mike Synar by Taxpayers For Common Sense
• Article on 1994 Synar primary loss
• Bowsher vs Synar (1986)
• American College of Physicians
• 1995 JFK Profile in Courage Award Recipient
• Sayonara Synar Confirmation Via New York Times
• A Civic Thrill: An open letter to Congressman Synar from writerSarah Vowell
• Appearances onC-SPAN
• Michael Lynn "Mike" Synar Collection at theCarl Albert Center

• 1950 births
• 1996 deaths
• 20th-century American businesspeople
• 20th-century American Episcopalians
• 20th-century American lawyers
• 20th-century United States representatives
• Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
• American politicians of Polish descent
• American real estate brokers
• Deaths from brain cancer in Washington, D.C.
• Democratic Party United States representatives from Oklahoma
• Northwestern University alumni
• Oklahoma lawyers
• People from Vinita, Oklahoma
• Ranchers from Oklahoma
• University of Oklahoma alumni

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