Wes Cooley - Political Career

Political Career

Cooley was elected to the Oregon State Senate in 1992. In 1994, midway through his State Senate term, Cooley was elected to the House of Representatives as a Republican from the 2nd District.

In the 104th Congress, Cooley was an advocate of private property rights, American military superiority, tort reform to limit recovery by plaintiffs, and other planks of the Republican Party's proclaimed Contract with America.

In April 1996, the Medford, Oregon Mail Tribune questioned Cooley's statement in the 1994 Voter's Guide that he had served in the Army Special Forces in Korea. Charges also arose that Cooley and his wife kept their marriage secret for several years in order for her to continue to receive veteran's benefits from her prior marriage. Cooley was unopposed for renomination in the May primary and vigorously denied the charges; however, he came under increasing pressure from fellow Republicans, including his campaign manager Greg Walden and House speaker Newt Gingrich, to step down. In August 1996, Cooley withdrew from the race. A special nominating convention chose Bob Smith, who had retired from the seat two years earlier, to replace Cooley on the ballot. Smith went on to defeat Democrat Mike Dugan in the November election.

In December, Cooley was indicted for lying about his military service in the 1994 voter's pamphlet. While claiming that the documents proving his claim were destroyed in a fire, Cooley later accepted a plea agreement in which he was convicted of lying in an official document and sentenced to probation, community service, and ordered to pay a fine.