About Phil

I’m Phil Brady, a lifelong Wasco County resident, educator, and your current County Commissioner. 

I was raised in The Dalles, with my family, school, church and friends all within walking and biking distance. My father owned Brady’s Market on 3rd Street. I learned from him what it means to treat people fairly, work until the job is done, and give back. I’m grateful to call this place home, and I feel compelled to give back to the community that raised me.

I studied physics at Gonzaga University, which taught me to engage with complex problems. That has turned out to be surprisingly practical as a commissioner — I can follow a technical argument about wildfire or energy infrastructure, and I ask better questions because of it. 

After college, I entered the Jesuits to pursue a life of service as a Catholic priest — only to later find my path as a teacher. My time there taught me to think carefully, act deliberately, and care about people who are struggling.

After our daughters were born, my wife Mary Jo and I served as Catholic missioners in Venezuela for nine years. My biggest adventure was starting a local ecology group where we successfully protected springs of irrigation water for a farming community from a harmful mine. Our time in Venezuela deepened my belief that the strength of a community is measured by how it treats its most vulnerable members.

After returning home I taught science in the North Wasco School District for 18 years, including teaching incarcerated youth at NORCOR. At NORCOR I taught every subject to young people who had mostly been failed by the systems around them. I later served on the board of Mid-Columbia Medical Center, eventually as chair, helping guide major changes in the healthcare system for the greater The Dalles area.

In my first term as Commissioner, I have worked to increase housing supply, keep healthcare accessible, and attend to our smallest communities. In Wasco County we have real problems — water, infrastructure, economic development, public safety, land use, fire protection. I have spent my career learning how things work and finding ways to make them work better. I’m running for re-election because there’s so much more to do, and I am asking for the opportunity to keep working for Wasco County.