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City Club of Eugene: Our Representative Democracy- Can It Survive?

Dan Bryant

Recorded on: April 21, 2017

Air Date: April 24, 2017

The City Club of Eugene in partnership with the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics at the University of Oregon hosted Congressman Peter DeFazio in a special Friday Forum on April 21, 2017..

Mr. DeFazio spoke on Our Representative Democracy — Can it Survive?, a topic recently much discussed in Congress as the Nation approaches 100 days in office for the new administration. From the Watergate Era to today, Rep. DeFazio traced the origins of campaign finance reform, the rise of ‘Dark Money’, and the impact these developments have had on today’s elections.

City Club members and the public will  ask Congressman DeFazio direct questions at the conclusion of his remarks.

Congressman Peter DeFazio was first elected to the U.S. Congress in 1986 and is now the longest serving House member in Oregon’s history.

In 2014, Mr. DeFazio was elected to the position of Ranking Member on the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Coast Guard, highways and transit, water resources, railroads, aviation, and economic development.

DeFazio and his wife live in Springfield, Oregon. He has logged roughly five million miles traveling between Oregon and Washington, DC. Mr. DeFazio has voted against and refused to accept congressional pay raises while the government is deficit spending. Instead, he has used his pay raises to fund scholarships at five southwestern Oregon community colleges. By the end of 2016, Mr. DeFazio contributed $338,869 of after-tax salary toward 255 scholarships.

copyright, KLCC 2017