Peter DeFazio

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Peter DeFazio
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon's 4th district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 1987
Preceded by	Jim Weaver
Born	May 27, 1947 (1947-05-27) (age 62)[1] Needham, Massachusetts[1]
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Myrnie L. DeFazio
Residence	Springfield, Oregon
Alma mater	Tufts University (B.S., 1969) University of Oregon (M.S., 1977)
Occupation	gerontologist
Religion	Roman Catholic
Military service
Service/branch	United States Air Force
Years of service	1967-1971

Peter Anthony DeFazio (born May 27, 1947) is an American politician. He serves as a Democratic U.S. Representative from Oregon, representing the 4th Congressional District and is currently serving his 11th term. DeFazio is Oregon's most senior member of Congress, which makes him the dean of Oregon's House of Representatives delegation. A native of Massachusetts and a veteran of the United States Air Force, he previously served as a county commissioner for Lane County, Oregon.

[edit] Political career

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From 1977 to 1982, DeFazio worked as an aide for U.S. Representative Jim Weaver.^[1] DeFazio was elected as a Lane County commissioner in 1983 and served as chairman from 1985 to 1986.^[1] In 1986, DeFazio was elected to Weaver's House seat when Weaver did not seek reelection to the House. ^[1] DeFazio narrowly won in a competitive three-way primary against State Senators Bill Bradbury and Margie Hendrikson, and then won the General Election with 54 percent of the vote. He has since been re-elected eleven times, most recently in 2008, winning 82% of the vote over two minor party candidates.

DeFazio has a liberal voting record ^[2][3] and is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which comprises of liberal members of the Democratic caucus. DeFazio supports federal government intervention in health care, the environment, labor, and education. He opposes the Iraq War, free trade agreements, and tax cuts.^{[citation needed]} One issue where DeFazio breaks from other liberal/progressive Democrats in Congress is gun control. Rep. DeFazio has a "B" lifetime rating from the National Rifle Association ^[4] and supports concealed carry rights for gun owners. ^[5] He also has a "B" lifetime rating from Americans for Better Immigration-a group that advocates lower immigration levels.^[6]

After Senator Bob Packwood resigned in early September 1995, DeFazio ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate in a special primary, losing to Ron Wyden. Wyden started out with clear advantages over DeFazio; more seniority, from the large Portland media market, with more cash on hand in his campaign committee and, as a free trader, with more obvious appeal to big donors. However, DeFazio's scrappy campaign style, underscored by his TV ads featuring his populist musings while driving in his Dodge Dart, made him a favorite among many Democratic activists. Wyden was hurt by his failure to answer all but one question in a KOIN-TV pop quiz, including the price of milk and bread and the location of Bosnia on a globe. The result was a narrow 5% Wyden win in the early Dec. 1995 primary, despite his early lead of 20%. Wyden, bruised by the primary and trailing State Senator Gordon Smith, managed to pull of a 2% upset against Smith in the Jan. 1996 special general election. Many Democrats wanted DeFazio to then run for the seat of Senator Mark Hatfield, who announced right after the special primary election that he would not seek re-eelction in 1996. However, Democrats with influence over campaign cash, chiefly Senator and Democratic Senate Campaign Committee chair Bob Kerrey of Nebraska and former Oregon Governor Neil Goldschmidt strongly recruited and promoted self made millionaire and Mentor Graphics founder, Tom Bruggere. Faced with the prospect of having to raise huge sums of money to take on Bruggere in the primary and then millionaire Smith in the General Election, DeFazio announced in Feb. 1996 that he would not run. Bruggere easily won the primary but lost to Smith narrowly in November, 1996. DeFazio considering running against Smith in 2002, but decided not to in late 2001 when it seemed that the DSCC again had a different favorite, Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, who ran and lost to Smith by nearly 20%.^{[citation needed]}

DeFazio reportedly considered and re-considered running against Smith for the 2008 Senate election.^[7][8][9] On April 20, 2007, DeFazio announced he would not run for Smith's seat.^[10]

On September 25, 2008, DeFazio and California representative Pete Stark signed a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi proposing a one quarter of one percent transaction tax on all trades in financial instruments including stocks, options, and futures. The proposal was made following the failure of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.^{[citation needed]} Subsequently DeFazio introduced the No BAILOUT Act.

After Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, it was reported that DeFazio was one of individuals being discussed for nomination as Obama's Secretary of Transportation.^[11] However, fellow U.S. Representative Ray LaHood was named to the post in December 2008.

Somewhat controversially, DeFazio declined to support the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, voting against the final stimulus package on February 13, 2009. He was one of only nine House Democrats to not vote "yea" on the bill, and one of only seven to vote "nay".^[12] DeFazio said that his vote against the bill was due to his frustration over compromises made to win support from moderate Republicans in the Senate, saying, "I couldn't justify borrowing money for tax cuts," in reference to a bipartisan group's decision to cut funding for education and infrastructure initiatives the Oregon congressman had supported in favor of more tax reductions.^[13] He also advocated that the U.S. Senate change its cloture rules, doing away with the filibuster that, in the current 59–40 Democratic majority, gives Republicans the ability to block legislation from coming to a vote.^[14]

At a closed-door meeting of the House Democratic Caucus in late March 2009, President Obama reportedly upbraided DeFazio for his vote against the stimulus. "Don't think we're not keeping score, brother," Obama quipped, according to the Associated Press, while urging DeFazio to support his budget proposal.^[15] DeFazio noted later when speaking to press that he was honored that Obama recognized him and the issues of his constituents.^[16]

[edit] Committee assignments

• Committee on Homeland Security
  • Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection
  • Subcommittee on Management, Investigations, and Oversight
• Committee on Natural Resources
  • Subcommittee on Water and Power
• Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
  • Subcommittee on Aviation
  • Subcommittee on Highways and Transit (Chairman)
  • Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials

[edit] Personal life

DeFazio was born in Needham, Massachusetts.^[1] He served in the United States Air Force from 1967 to 1971.^[17] He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University in 1969^[1] and a Master of Science degree from the University of Oregon in 1977,^[1] and worked as a gerontologist.

DeFazio is a member of the Roman Catholic Church. He and his wife, Myrnie Daut,^[17] reside in Springfield.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Congressman DeFazio official U.S. House site
• DeFazio for Congress official campaign site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Congressional profile at GovTrack.us
• Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia