Lawritz Bernhard Sandblast (1888-1978)

From the 1944 Oregon Voters Pamphlet.

  Possessing a name that is guaranteed to give you a case of the chuckles, Lawritz Bernhard Sandblast was for over fifty years a practicing attorney in Oregon, and in addition to his profession was a candidate for several political offices at the state and national level, being an unsuccessful aspirant for U.S. Senator and U.S. Representative from Oregon; a candidate for Associate Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court; and a candidate for delegate to the Republican National Conventions of 1928, 1944 and 1960. Only once would Sandblast win elective office, that of delegate to the Republican National Convention of 1932. Born and raised in Howard, South Dakota, Lawritz Bernhard "Sandy" Sandblast was born on April 19, 1888, the son of Halvor and Bertha Sandblast.

  Referred to by most sources by the initials "L.B.", Sandblast removed to Oregon in 1900 and was later a student at the McMinnville College. Early in his life Sandblast followed the printing trade, work that would take him to Washington, D.C., where for several years he worked in the service of the government. In 1910 Sandblast is recorded as a "laborer" in the office of the Postmaster-General, and married in Baltimore, Maryland in 1913 to Norfolk, Virginia native Clara Mae Patterson. 

  After deciding upon a career in law, Sandblast enrolled at the National University School of Law in Washington, D.C., where he earned his degree. Following his return to Oregon he was admitted to the state bar in 1916 and during the First World War saw action in France as a member of a heavy artillery unit. At the conclusion of his military service, Sandblast opened his law practice in Portland and subsequently held memberships in the local Masonic order, the Elks Club, and the American Legion.

   In May 1926 Sandblast entered politics for the first time, announcing his candidacy for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senator from Oregon. In that year's primary race he was one of several candidates vying for the nod, and ran on a campaign slogan of "Wine and Beer under Government Control No Saloons". Sandblast advocated modification of the 1918 Volstead Act, and, amongst other tenets of his platform, noted that:

"The results of prohibition have been: 1. The increase of the use of spiritous liquors. 2. The increase of use of intoxicants by the young. 3. The creation of hundreds of thousands of illicit distilleries, that produce poisonous products the blinded and killed thousands. 4. The spread of the knowledge of making intoxicants that is increasing each day, and which, if not arrested by moderate laws on the question, will soon become impossible to control."

From the Portland Advocate, April 24, 1926.

  Despite polling nearly 15,000 votes, Sandblast would lose the Republican primary to Frederick Steiwer (1883-1939), who would go on to win the general election that November and served in the Senate until his retirement in 1938. Not one to let a loss get the best of him, Sandblast entered into the race for delegate-at-large to the Republican National Convention of 1928, and during his candidacy again pressed for changes in then existing liquor laws. While he lost that contest in May 1928, Sandblast still polled a respectable 42, 870 votes.

  With two unsuccessful candidacies behind him, Sandblast announced his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon's 3rd district in 1930. Again running on a modify the 18th amendment platform, Sandblast further detailed that government control of liquor traffic would be an excellent source of revenue, which in turn could be used to "provide a federal old-age pension." Sandblast would go down to defeat in that election, losing to incumbent representative Franklin Korell, who, in turn, would lose the general election to Democrat Charles Martin.

From the 1930 Republican Oregon Voters Pamphlet.

  The political tide turned in favor of L.B. Sandblast in 1932 when he was elected as part of the Oregon delegation to that year's Republican National Convention held in Chicago. At the convention in June Sandblast was selected to place in nomination for president the name of Dr. Joseph France, a former U.S. Senator from Maryland who had won the Oregon Republican primary. After delivering his speech, Sandblast was witness to a convention brouhaha when ex-senator France attempted to force his way onto the speaker's rostrum to deliver remarks. After a minor confrontation with convention chairman Bertrand Snell, France was nabbed by convention security and hustled away from the stage.

  Following his service as a delegate Sandblast would mount two further candidacies for Republican National Convention delegate, running unsuccessfully in 1944 and 1960. In 1956 Sandblast reemerged on the political scene when he entered into the race for Associate Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, running on the slogan "Human Rights Before Property Rights Puts A Heart In Justice." Sandblast's candidacy failed to extend past that year's Republican primary and after his defeat resumed his law practice in Portland.

  Little else is known of Sandblast's life following his last political candidacy in 1960. In 1968 the then 80-year-old lawyer made Oregon papers in a humorous incident, as he failed a "newly ordered driver's test" for the fourth time, and subsequently lost his drivers license. He continued residence in Portland and died a few months shy of his 90th birthday on February 27, 1978. He was later interred at the Willamette National Cemetery in Portland.

From the Oregon Voters Pamphlet, 1956.