Senator Ron Wyden

Biography:

Ron Lee Wyden was born on May 3rd in 1949. He has been serving as the senior United States Senator for Oregon since 1996.  Wyden served in the United States House of Representatives from 1981-1996.

Before his involvement in politics, Wyden attended the University of California, Santa Barbara where he played basketball. He later transferred to Stanford University and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1971. The University of Oregon School of Law was the last school he attended. There he received a Juris Doctor degree. Wyden was very involved in his community and founded the Gray Panthers, an organization supporting a single prayer healthcare system, an increase in welfare payments, pacifism, lifelong public education, the rights of workers, reproductive rights, abolition of the death penalty, legalization of same-sex marriage, the legalization of medical marijuana and environmentalism. Wyden led this group from 1974 to 1980. Another example of Wyden's involvement is the Oregon Legal Services Center for Elderly, a nonprofit law service. 

Committees: 

Committee on the Budget 

Committee on Finance 

   -Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure 

   -Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight 

   -Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness (Chairman)

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (Chairman)

Select Committee on Intelligence 

Special Committee on Aging 

Joint Committee on Taxation 

Issues: 

Environment: Wyden's involvement in environmental issues has an overall focus of seeking a greater mutual respect for Oregon's wilderness and wildlife. Another main focus is saving endangered species and Oregon's special places. Some of these protection areas include Mount Hood, the Columbia River Gorge, the Oregon Badlands, Spring Basin, and the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument. 

Wyden is also well known for his protection of old growth forests. Part of his reform policy includes the idea that coal and oil industries should pay for the costs they impose on public lands. In 2008, Wyden won passage of the Combat Illegal Logging Law. This made a huge impact on marketing for illegal timber and will save many forests. 

Education: Wyden has also taken a large role in helping students prepare for college and further education. By co-founding the Student Right to Know Before You Go Act which provides potential college students with information that will help choose the correct job for them based on the amount they can make in the workplace while pursuing that career. 

Wyden also authored the College Tuition Savings Act in 2001 which eliminated taxes on College Tuition Savings funds. This became a law as part of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act. 

Questions: 

1. What are some of the areas in which you believe we are spending wastefully?

2. What strategies have you found most effective when adressing human trafficking? 

3. On a scale of importance for your agenda, where would you place environmental protection? 

 

John Ehrlichman and the Watergate Scandal

On June 17, 1972, there was a break-in at the Democratic National Headquarters. Located at the Watergate office complex in Washington D.C., the headquarters is on the sixth floor of the Watergate Hotel and office building. This break-in, known as the Watergate Scandal, was a political scandal involving the Committee for the Re-Election of the President. This group is the official organization of Nixon's campaign. When the Federal Bureau of Investigation became involved in the scandal, they discovered that cash found on the burglars was directly connected to a slush fund controlled by Nixon's administration. This scandal led to the resignation of Richard Nixon on August 9th, 1974.

Along with the resignation of Richard Nixon, was the incarceration of 43 people, 7 of whom were directly caught in the act of the burglary. These advisors are John N. Mitchell, H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, Charles Colson, Gordon C. Strachan, Robert Mardian and Kenneth Parkinson. John Ehrlichman, more specifically, was a counsel and assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Nixon. He was convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury. For his crimes, Ehrlichman served a year and a half in prison.

Prior to the Watergate Scandal, Ehrlichman was the leader of a secret White House unit known as "the plumbers". This group was created to find and plug the "leaks" of top secret government information. A former National Security Council aide,  Dr. Daniel J. Ellsberg, was identified for giving secrets to the press about America's involvement in the Vietnam War. To further investigate Ellsberg's behavior, The Plumbers illegally broke into his psychiatrist's office with the intent to discover information on Ellsberg's mental state that would aid the administration to discredit his story.

Watergate Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_scandal 

Sources

Stout, David. "John D. Ehrlichman, Nixon Aide Jailed for Watergate, Dies at 73

New York Times 16 Feb. 1999: n. pag. Print. 

McLaughlin, Martin. "John Ehrlichman, Key Conspirator in the Nixon White House, 

     Dead at 73." World Socialist Web Site 17 Feb. 1999: n. pag. Print. 

Homework

1. Public opinion polls are beneficial in an election because they allow candidates to have a good feel on how they compare to their opponent. They can also be a burden though. Public opinion polls create stress in a politicians life because they are constantly concerned with whether they are leading or following in the election. The politician then focuses on less important things than the election itself. The politician will also change their views and beliefs in order to gain more popularity in an election.

2. The effect of political ideology on public opinion in America is to group people by their beliefs, morals and values. By creating two drastically different sides, people are forced to choose a side and defend it. Political ideology also helps young adults, who are new to politics, choose a side and make a difference in society by voting, Not many people (about 12%) can think in ideological terms. This representation of ideologues is directly dependent on how the questions are worded and presented. Overall, liberal and conservative views are less important than the candidate themselves.

Political Knowledge

Introduction/Test Post

I'm Alex Reininger. I have done dance team all four years of high school and track for three years. My hobbies are dancing, running, hiking, ice skating and diving. This summer I traveled to Fiji for a month where I received three college credits for shark studies. This was one of the highlights of my life. During the trip we were able to dive with bull sharks, white tip reef sharks, black tip reef sharks, grey reef sharks and tawny nurse sharks. This trip opened my eyes up to a hobby that I would have never seen myself doing before. I love diving, especially with sharks. An interesting fact about me is that I was almost a victim of a shark attack while diving off the coast of San Diego with a 6-foot short finned Mako. Luckily, I avoided becoming shark bait. Ask me about my trip! I love telling stories. :)