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THE ASTORIAN • TuESdAy, dEcEmbER 7, 2021
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
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Publisher
DERRICK DePLEDGE
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GUEST COLUMN
DeFazio proud of his legacy
T
o understand Peter DeFazio, polit-
ical scientist Jim Moore suggests
looking back to the congressman’s
ads when running for the U.S. Senate in
1995.
The ads were pointed, acerbic, funny
— and didn’t mind hitting his opponent.
DeFazio lost that Democratic primary
anyway to Ron Wyden,
who went on to fill Bob
Packwood’s vacant seat
in the Senate.
That’s DeFazio, of
Springfield, an outspo-
ken progressive Demo-
crat as proud of his hard-
DICK
fought losses as he is of
HUGHES
his political victories.
The representative
from Oregon’s 4th Congressional District
rocked the political landscape last week
by announcing he would retire when his
18th term in the U.S. House of Represen-
tatives ends in early January 2023.
DeFazio will be 75 1/2 years old when
he departs as Oregon’s longest-serving
member of Congress and the 65th-longest
in all of U.S. history.
This year, he finally saw Congress
pass a monumental infrastructure pack-
age — although not the one he sought.
He also recently underwent back surgery,
a condition exacerbated by thousands of
hours on airplanes between Oregon and
Washington, D.C.
“The last year and a half has been a
whirlwind and I’ve gotten a lot of long-
awaited goals done,” DeFazio said during
a Zoom press conference on Wednesday
to discuss his retirement. “I just decided
that this is the right time for me. I’m
going out at the top.”
DeFazio becomes the 19th House
Democrat, and the third committee chair,
to forgo reelection next year. A Politico
story announcing his departure began:
“Rep. Peter DeFazio, the Oregon fire-
brand who leads the House’s transpor-
tation committee, will step down after
36 years in Congress, spelling more bad
news for Democrats in 2022 and tak-
ing with him an encyclopedic amount of
institutional and technical knowledge on
infrastructure.”
History and the current political cli-
mate strongly suggest that Republicans
will regain their House majority in next
year’s election. DeFazio doesn’t buy it. “I
Bloomberg
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, a Springfield Democrat, has announced he will not seek reelection
next year.
‘THERE WILL bE NEW cHALLENGES FOR
THE NEXT REPRESENTATIVE ... buT I FEEL
GOOd AbOuT THE LEGAcy I’VE LEFT.’
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio
think the Republicans are measuring the
curtains a little too early,” he said, add-
ing, “Having overconfidence on the other
side of the aisle is always good.”
His successor likely will be another
Democrat, although Republican Alek
Skarlatos is running again and others
are likely to enter the race. The sprawl-
ing 4th District, which covers the south-
ern Willamette Valley and southwest Ore-
gon, will tilt more toward Democrats
under the congressional redistricting plan
that Democrats in the Oregon Legislature
passed this year.
Regardless, Oregon’s congressional
influence will plummet.
As professor Moore, of Pacific Uni-
versity, points out, seniority is everything
in Congress. Wyden joined the Senate
in 1996, yet nearly two decades passed
before he first chaired the Senate Finance
Committee. DeFazio entered the House
in 1987 and in 2019 finally moved up to
chair the House Transportation and Infra-
structure Committee.
At least two newcomers will repre-
sent Oregon in Congress next year —
DeFazio’s successor and whoever is
elected in the state’s new 6th Congres-
sional District. Incumbent Democrat
Kurt Schrader also could face a compet-
itive race in the 5th District. Meanwhile,
Republican Cliff Bentz is in his first year
representing the 2nd District, the state’s
largest in geography.
DeFazio’s Oregon reach will last long
after his departure, from upcoming trans-
portation, water, sewer and other infra-
structure projects to the wilderness areas
that he championed.
Meanwhile, woe to those communities
that sat on their hands. Oregon’s capital is
among them.
Salem has only a pair of traffic bridges
across the Willamette River, meaning log
trucks and agriculture vehicles join busi-
ness vehicles, commuters and visitors in
traversing downtown congestion en route
to their final destinations. A third bridge,
at a different location to lessen travel
times and move heavy trucks out of the
city center, was a priority of city and
county leaders for decades.
In 2019, a divided Salem City Coun-
cil killed the project. Among opponents’
concerns was where the financing would
come from. Shortsighted, they ignored
DeFazio’s ascendency on transportation
and his potential influence.
In contrast, Oregon and Washing-
ton state officials have resumed talks
on the Columbia River Crossing, which
would be eligible for funding through
the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package
that Congress passed. Oregon transpor-
tation projects already have gained $1.3
billion from a change in federal law that
DeFazio achieved in 2006.
DeFazio noted that he often worked
across party lines, with Oregon’s Repub-
lican Sen. Mark Hatfield to protect riv-
ers and Packwood to ban exports of raw
logs from federal forests. But times have
changed.
“Half my career has been in the
minority. But in the old days in the
minority, particularly in infrastructure,
we could work across the aisle,” DeFazio
said. “Now the 13 Republicans who
had the guts to vote for my infrastruc-
ture bill are being threatened with being
removed from their committees. They’re
getting death threats because infrastruc-
ture has become a dirty word because of
the Republican leadership, who doesn’t
want anything that has President Biden’s
name on it to succeed. That’s very, very
unfortunate.”
Yes, DeFazio certainly speaks his
mind, some of which he eventually will
put into a book. But mostly, he’s look-
ing forward to spending time with fam-
ily, focusing on his health and well-being,
being back in Oregon, hiking the wilder-
ness areas he helped create and having
time to ride Cycle Oregon again.
“It’s time to pass the torch,” he said.
“There will be new challenges for the
next representative and things that they’re
going to have to fight for, for our state.
But I feel good about the legacy I’ve
left.”
dick Hughes has been covering the
Oregon political scene since 1976.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
So nice
ustomer service: So nice when I run
into it.
One of the tail light lenses on my Ford
pickup truck was ruined, so I bought
a replacement from Astoria Ford. It is
a simple job, just requiring taking out
two screws and switching the two light
sockets.
Unfortunately, I could not get the sock-
ets to go into the new fixture. I called
the parts department, and they did some
checking and could not find out why I was
having this problem, and suggested that I
bring the truck to them.
So, I drove out and met Dennis Wolfe
in the service department. He came out
and, fortunately for me, had some trou-
ble also. However, he soon figured it out
and got both in place for me, so problem
solved.
Icing on the cake: No one came rushing
out with a minimum service form, looking
for payment! Many thanks to Astoria Ford,
and to their kind employee, Dennis!
CHUCK MEYER
Astoria
C
Independent from whom?
hen was the last time you know of
that a politician accepted large cam-
paign contributions from big business and
didn’t provide them with payback when
elected?
That’s what we can expect from state
Sen. Betsy Johnson, who has accepted
contributions for her run for governor from
the timber industry and other local busi-
nesses, and who is now calling herself an
independent.
Her self-applied label will turn out to
be a ruse, just like her having called her-
self a Democrat in the past, while voting in
opposition to her party’s signature issues:
Mitigating the climate crisis, reining in the
overexploitation of our forests, or reducing
the danger of mass shootings through sen-
sible gun control.
Johnson has been good at showing up at
local ceremonies to smile for the camera,
and for finding funds for local projects. If
that’s all you care about, maybe she’s your
candidate.
W
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wish the state could find ways to begin
mitigating climate change, look for some-
one else to vote for in 2022.
ROGER DORBAND
Astoria
Awash in alcohol
his letter is not going to be well
received, but I must, nonetheless,
share my deep-felt thoughts today.
My family has been deeply impacted
by alcoholism. I have a close relative who
is living in a care facility, suffering from
early onset dementia caused by excessive
consumption of alcohol.
My father died at 64, and his death
certificate states that he met his demise
because of his addiction to alcohol. And
the story continues.
Astoria seems to be awash in alcohol. It’s
a big business. It attracts tourists. It’s fun!
For me, alcohol in any form makes me sad.
For so many, it cannot be managed. For
the individuals who can use this drug in
a responsible manner, I commend you. It
just isn’t so for my family.
CARMEN JONASSON
Seaside
T