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NORTHWEST Saturday, December 23, 2017 East Oregonian Page 3A Hatfield’s Senate papers tucked out of view until 2022 By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Capital Bureau SALEM — The records of former Sen. Mark Odom Hatfield, one of Oregon’s most prominent politicians, won’t be made public until July 12, 2022, on what would have been the Republican’s 100th birthday. Hatfield, who died in 2011, climbed to national prominence over the course of three decades in the Senate and built a reputation that close supporters still protect. The Dallas, Oregon-born politician served in the state Legislature before being elected secretary of state in 1956. He served as governor from 1959 to 1967, when he ventured to Capitol Hill to represent Oregon in the U.S. Senate, a post he held until 1997. Records that observers say could be of national significance — he chaired the influ- ential Senate Appropriations Committee and opposed the Vietnam War and the nuclear program — are kept at Willamette University Claire Withycombe/Capital Bureau in Salem, a hearty stone’s throw from the state The Mark O. Hatfield Library at Willamette University in Salem. The university is the capitol. depository for Hatfield’s Senate papers, which will not be opened to the public until Representatives of the university, a private July 12, 2022, on what would have been his 100th birthday. institution, can’t say much through the collection about the specific contents in 1985, 12 years before “And the longer those papers of the collection. The trove Hatfield left the Senate. includes speeches, corre- stay locked up ... it could be Staff of the university’s spondence, memos, legisla- harder to find a context for Hatfield Library took over tive records, photos, videos, processing in 1992. campaign records, artifacts, him or his story. I hope not. Generally, the archiving and other items spanning process tries to preserve the 2,200 linear feet of storage I think it would be a terrific original order of the papers, space, including 2,000 boxes story, but I don’t know.” said Willamette University of paper records. Archivist Mary McRob- Hatfield’s widow, Antoi- — Brent Walth, an Oregon journalist inson. The archival process nette, said the release date also includes describing was chosen after he died. what the records contain, the New York Times. He was rebuked by the “Well, I would rather making them easier to Senate Ethics Committee in 1992. have them (made public) Jim Moore, director of the Tom McCall navigate for researchers. after I was in the grave, to be It’s not apparent what Center for Policy Innovation at Pacific Univer- truthful, because I couldn’t sity, says the collection could shed more light the collection may reveal. Courtesy Kirk Hirota/George Fox University answer any of the questions Hatfield’s legacy perme- on those incidents. they would ask about his The late Mark Hatfield, R-Ore- “He had some major scandals in the 1980s gon, after his retirement from ates the Beaver State. He is papers,” she said. credited with creating the and people would really, really, really like to Mrs. Hatfield, who now the U.S. Senate. research powerhouse that know what documents he has on that and what lives in Portland, maintained that she was not involved in her husband’s is now Oregon Health and Science University, he was thinking,” Moore said. The papers of two former Oregon senators and the 1986 designation of the Columbia political affairs. also held at Willamette are not yet publicly “I didn’t do anything in his office over the River Gorge National Scenic Area. But he also made well-publicized missteps. available either. years,” she said. “It was not my business.” Some papers of Republican Sen. Bob In 1984, Antoinette Hatfield was paid She said that Sen. Hatfield’s 100th birthday Packwood — his Senate papers and records “seemed like a nice round number to have $55,000 in real estate fees by Basil Tsakos, a Greek businessman who wanted to build an of the annual Dorchester Conference, which them come out.” The papers generated by federal legislators oil pipeline in Africa and sought help on the he founded in 1965 — are stored offsite and are considered their personal property, not project from Sen. Hatfield, according to Willa- available to researchers by appointment. However, the university could not say when public documents, said Karen Paul, the archi- mette Week’s 2011 obituary of Hatfield. The vist for the U.S. Senate. It’s their responsibility Hatfields donated the money to charity and in the Packwood collection will be public, or to have them boxed and ready for shipment to 1987, the Justice Department said it wouldn’t when the whole collection will be available to the location of their choice the day before their investigate Hatfield, according to the New York researchers. Packwood, who was elected to the Senate in 1968, resigned his Senate seat in the Times. final term ends. In the early 1990s, Mark Hatfield was wake of a sexual harassment scandal in 1995. Hatfield got a jump on the process. Willa- The papers of Republican Sen. Gordon mette began preparing the collection even investigated by a federal grand jury for gifts Smith, who served in the Senate from 1997 to he’d received but hadn’t disclosed from a before he left the Senate. A spokesman for Willamette said Richard university president in the 1980s. At the time 2009, won’t be public until 2029 at the earliest. Jones, a historian at Reed College, was of the gifts, Hatfield was weighing a $16.3 initially hired by the university to start sorting million grant to the university, according to There’s often a delay in making political papers public. Supporters tend to guard the reputations of revered figures such as Mark Hatfield, Moore said. “When you open up that archive, that kind of becomes secondary, and it’s new stuff,” Moore said. “And people get nervous about that.” Brent Walth, an Oregon journalist whose authoritative biography of former Gov. Tom McCall was published in 1994, said he was approached on two separate occasions by people close to Hatfield asking whether he’d be interested in writing a book about him. Walth told the interested parties that he’d need complete access to Hatfield’s papers and need interviewees to be open with him about all aspects of Hatfield’s life. He heard nothing more about the idea. Walth doesn’t know why they didn’t follow up, but noted there could have been a number of reasons why he wasn’t contacted again after those discussions. The Hatfield papers also raise questions about when records created in the course of official business should be public. Not all of the records are under seal: Some correspondence of Hatfield’s is scattered among other U.S. institutions and available for public scrutiny there, according to the Biographic Directory of the United States Congress. And oral history interviews with Hatfield and his staff are kept at the Oregon Historical Society and OHSU, according to the directory. Unlike Senate papers, records created by the state’s top executives are considered public. Since 1991 — decades after Hatfield was governor — state law has required that records created by the governor, secretary of state, attorney general and treasurer be turned over to the state archivist, says State Archivist Mary Beth Herkert. Before then, turning over the records to the state archives was the implied rule under the state’s public records law, but it wasn’t followed, Herkert said. “It was just getting to the point where you’re losing out on these records,” Herkert says, “And that’s not right because you’re alienating a public record, which is not allowed to be done.” Nearly five more years will pass before Oregonians can see the collection for them- selves. Walth, the journalist, noted that memory fades the longer that someone is out of office, and once someone is no longer living. Public interest in Hatfield may also fade as time goes by. “And the longer those papers stay locked up ... it could be harder to find a context for him or his story,” Walth said. “I hope not. 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