Political Career
Smith was first elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1980 to represent Oregon's 2nd congressional district as a Republican. He defeated 12-term Democrat Al Ullman by only 3,700 votes. Smith was undoubtedly helped by Ronald Reagan winning every county in the sprawling district. When the 1980 census gave Oregon another congressional district, Smith's home in Salem was placed in the newly created 5th district. He was elected from this district in 1982 and was reelected three more times. Smith Budget Committee, the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, and the Veterans' Affairs Committee.
In 1990, Smith was upset by Democrat Mike Kopetski. Kopetski, who lost to Smith by 707 votes in the 1988 election, attacked Smith for his ties to several collapsed savings and loans. While still serving in Congress, Smith established and headed Oregonians Against Crime, which placed Oregon's 1988 Anti-crime Bill on the ballot by initiative petition and successfully campaigned for its passage. In 1994, Smith was the Republican nominee for Oregon governor, losing to Democrat John Kitzhaber.
Read more about this topic: Denny Smith
Famous quotes containing the words political and/or career:
“Fascism, the more it considers and observes the future and the development of humanity, quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace.”
—Benito Mussolini (1883–1945)
“Whether lawyer, politician or executive, the American who knows what’s good for his career seeks an institutional rather than an individual identity. He becomes the man from NBC or IBM. The institutional imprint furnishes him with pension, meaning, proofs of existence. A man without a company name is a man without a country.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)