Gordon Smith

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For other people by this name see Gordon Smith (disambiguation)

Gordon Harold Smith (born May 25, 1952) is Oregon's junior United States Senator, currently serving his second term. He is a member of the Republican Party.

[edit] Personal background

Smith was born in Pendleton, Oregon to Jessica Udall Smith and Milan Dale Smith.^[1] Smith's family moved to Bethesda, Maryland during his childhood, when his father became an Assistant United States Secretary of Agriculture. After graduating high school, Smith went on a two-year mission for his church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to New Zealand.

Smith then went to college at Brigham Young University, received his Juris Doctor from Southwestern University School of Law, and became an attorney in New Mexico and Arizona. He moved back to Oregon in the 1980s to become director of Smith Frozen Foods company in Weston, Oregon.^[2]

Smith and his wife Sharon adopted several children in the 1980s, including sons Morgan and Garrett and daughter Brittany.

On September 8, 2003, Garrett, then a 21 year old college student majoring in culinary arts, committed suicide. Smith wrote a book entitled Remembering Garrett, One Family’s Battle with a Child’s Depression.^[3] In 2004, President George W. Bush signed the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act, authorizing $82 million for suicide-prevention and awareness programs at colleges.^[4]

Smith is also a member of the Udall political family. His mother was a cousin of the late Congressmen Mo Udall (D-AZ) and Stewart Udall (D-AZ), and Smith is a second cousin of current Congressmen Mark Udall (D-CO) and Tom Udall (D-NM). They are double cousins, as their grandparents were a pair of brother and a pair of sisters who intermarried. Smith is the only Republican in the group.

Smith's brother, Milan Dale Smith, Jr., is a federal judge appointed by President George W. Bush in 2006.

Smith is an Eagle Scout.^[5]

[edit] Early political career

Smith entered politics with his election to the Oregon State Senate in 1992, and became president of that body in 1995. Later in 1995, he ran in a special election primary for a Senate seat vacated by the resignation of Bob Packwood, but was narrowly defeated in the January 1996 special election by then-Congressman Ron Wyden.

[edit] Senate career

United States Senator Mark Hatfield, a fellow Republican, announced his retirement later that year. Smith became the first person to run for the Senate twice in one year. This time he won, defeating Lon Mabon (whose organization, the Oregon Citizens Alliance, had previously endorsed Smith over Wyden) in the Republican primary^[6] and Democrat Tom Bruggere in the general election.

Smith was re-elected by a strong margin in 2002, defeating Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury.

As of November 2007, Smith's approval rating was 52%, with 38% disapproving.[1]

[edit] Political positions

Smith has not conformed to either liberal or conservative positions in his views on social policy. Independent thinking and his affiliation with the Mormon church — which is relatively tolerant on many social issues — have all been cited as possible reasons for his unusual positions.^{[citation needed]}

Smith became a strong supporter^{[citation needed]} of expanding hate crime laws to encompass crimes against gays. On June 15, 2004, he successfully passed an amendment doing just that (65-33) with every Democrat in the Senate voting for his amendment. As a result, he was one of a few Republican senators supported by gay rights groups in the United States, including the Human Rights Campaign. Since then, gay rights groups have expressed disappointment at his support for the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would define marriage as between a man and a woman.^[7]

Leading up to the 2006 midterm elections, Smith joined Senate Democrats to introduce legislation that would guarantee gay employees of the federal government domestic partnership benefits.^[8]

Smith has described himself as pro-life,^[9] and in 2003 he voted along party lines to pass the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, legislation that prohibits the controversial intact dilation and extraction procedure. In 2006, he voted to pass another controversial bill, this time crossing party lines to vote for the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. The measure, which would have expanded federal funding of stem cell research to cell lines extracted from embyros discarded during fertility treatment, became the first bill to be vetoed by President George W. Bush. Smith is one of 19 Senate Republicans who voted for the measure.

In January 2006, Smith began circulating a draft of the Digital Content Protection Act of 2006.^[10][11] The legislation would grant the Federal Communications Commission the authority to authorize a technology known as the "broadcast flag." This technology would enable the producers of television programming to ensure the programs cannot be recorded by viewers in their homes, for instance using a digital video recorder like TiVo or onto recordable DVDs.

[edit] Conservative or moderate?

Smith is the only Republican currently holding statewide office in the largely Democratic state of Oregon. Along with representative Greg Walden, he is one of two Republican members of Oregon's congressional delegation. Smith is often described as politically moderate, but has strong conservative credentials as well. In a 2007 web video, Smith refers to "the values that make us Republicans, that make us conservatives."^[12]

Smith is a member of the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership, and a February 2006 National Journal congressional rating placed Smith in the exact ideological center of the Senate.^[13]

However, Smith is described as a rank-and-file Republican by GovTrack.us^[14], and throughout 2006 Smith voted with Republican leader Bill Frist (TN) on 82% of contentious bills, in contrast to predecessor Mark Hatfield's 55% record of agreement with party leader Trent Lott (MS) in 1996.^[15] Based on five senate votes in 2006, the abortion rights advocacy group NARAL gave Smith a score of 15% on abortion rights (100% being a complete pro-choice score.)^[16] For votes cast in 2006, Smith received a 14% rating from the League of Conservation Voters (out of a possible 100%).^[17] Smith's votes have run contrary to widespread public sentiment on several issues, notably minimum wage^{[18][19][20][21]} and the Oregon Death with Dignity Act.^[22]

Sen. Smith was also a key advocate for embattled conservative Sen. Lott's return to a leadership post within the Republican Party in 2006. Lott had resigned his position as Senate Republican Leader in 2002, following controversy surrounding his perceived support of conservative Sen. Strom Thurmond's (R-SC) segregationist politics. After the party lost control of the Senate in November 2006, Republicans elected Lott to the post of Minority Whip (the second-highest Republican position in the Senate.) During the closed-door election, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) nominated Lott for the position. Sen. Smith then seconded the nomination and delivered a supportive address before casting his vote.^[23] Lott defeated Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) in a 25-24 vote.^[24]

[edit] War in Iraq

Smith is one of several Republican Senators for whom political concerns have clashed with party loyalty, on the subject of the war in Iraq.^[25]

In December 2006, Gordon Smith spoke out against the Iraq war for the first time, after having voted in support of it four years prior.^[26] Smith said that to continue the current policy in Iraq "may even be criminal".^[27]

Several weeks after stating his opposition to the occupation of Iraq, however, Smith declined to sign onto a bipartisan resolution to oppose the President's plan to escalate troop levels in Iraq by 21,500,^[28] prompting questions about the sincerity of his opposition to the continued US military presence in Iraq.^[29] Smith cited the controversial nature of the word "escalate" in defending his choice. The bill's sponsors have since changed the word to "increase." Smith expressed support for the bill, but subsequently voted to prevent it from being debated by the full Senate.

In March 2007, Smith was one of only two Republicans to vote for a resolution aimed at withdrawing most American combat troops from Iraq in 2008, the other being Chuck Hagel. The vote was 50 for to 48 against.^[30] Smith said in July 2007 that he would vote for a bill authorizing a timeline in which to leave Iraq. He was one of three Republican senators, the other two being Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Olympia Snowe of Maine, to support the Levin Amendment (S.AMDT.2085) to the 2008 Defense Authorization bill (H.R.1585) that would begin a withdrawal of US forces from Iraq.^[31]

[edit] 2008 election

Main article: Oregon United States Senate election, 2008

Smith's Senate seat is up for election in 2008, and Smith has indicated that he intends to run again. As of January 2006, Smith has been identified as one of the six most vulnerable Republican Senators in the 2008 election by CQ Politics.^[32] He could face both Republican and Democratic opponents.^[33] Republican Bill Sizemore has speculated about a run, Democrats Jeff Merkley^[34] and Steve Novick^[35], as well as Independent John Frohnmayer have announced their candidacy.

[edit] Committee assignments

Smith chaired the Special Committee on Aging until Democrats took control of the Senate in 2007; he is now the committee's Ranking Minority Member. (Oregon’s senior Senator, Ron Wyden, sits on this committee as well.)

Smith also serves on the following Senate committees: Commerce, Science and Transportation, Energy and Natural Resources, Finance, and Indian Affairs.

He is the Ranking Minority Member of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on International Trade and Global Competitiveness.

[edit] Electoral history

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• United States Senator Gordon Smith official Senate site
• Gordon Smith For U.S. Senate 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
• New York Times — Gordon Smith News collected news and commentary
• SourceWatch Congresspedia — Gordon Smith profile

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