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Ron Wyden

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Ron Wyden
Ron Wyden.jpg
U.S. Senate, Oregon
Incumbent
In office
1997-Present
Term ends
January 3, 2017
Years in position 16
PartyDemocratic
PredecessorRobert Packwood (R)
Compensation
Base salary$174,000/year
Elections and appointments
Last electionNovember 2, 2010
First electedJanuary 30, 1996
Next electionNovember 8, 2016
Campaign $$11,989,158
Term limitsN/A
Prior offices
Representative, United States House of Representatives
1981-1996
Education
Bachelor'sPolitical Science, Stanford University, 1971
J.D.University of Oregon, 1974
Personal
BirthdayMay 3, 1949
Place of birthWichita, KS
Net worth$38,370,525
ReligionJewish
Websites
Office website
Campaign website

Contents

Ron Wyden (b. May 3, 1949) is a Democratic member of the U.S. Senate from the state of Oregon. Wyden was first elected to the Senate in 1996.

Based on an analysis of bill sponsorship by GovTrack, Wyden is a "rank-and-file Democrat".[1]

Career

Below is an abbreviated outline of Wyden's academic, professional and political career:[2]

  • 1971: Graduated from Stanford University
  • 1974: Graduated from University of Oregon Law School in Eugene
  • 1977-1979: Worked as director, Oregon Legal Services for the Elderly
  • 1977-1979: Served as a public member, Oregon State Board of Examiners of Nursing Home Administrators
  • 1981-1996: Served as a U.S. Representative for Oregon
  • 1997-Present: U.S Senator from Oregon

Committee assignments

U.S. Senate

2013-2014

Wyden serves on the following Senate committees[3]:

2011-2012

[4]

Issues

Fiscal Cliff

Voted "Yes" Wyden voted for the fiscal cliff compromise bill, which made permanent most of the Bush tax cuts originally passed in 2001 and 2003 while also raising tax rates on the highest income levels. The bill was passed in the Senate by a 89/8 vote on January 1, 2013.[5]

Drones filibuster

See also: Rand Paul filibuster of John Brennan's CIA Nomination in March 2013

On March 6, 2013, Senator Rand Paul (R) led a 13-hour filibuster of President Obama's CIA Director nominee, John Brennan. Paul started the filibuster in order to highlight his concerns about the administration's drone policies. In particular, Paul said he was concerned about whether a drone could be used to kill an American citizen within the United States border, without any due process involved. Paul and other civil liberties activists have been critical that President Obama did not offer a clear response to the question. A total of 14 senators joined Paul in the filibuster -- 13 Republicans and one Democrat.[6][7][8]

Wyden was the sole Democratic senator to join Paul in his filibuster. Democrat Dick Durbin also spoke, but only to ask questions and wasn't officially a part of the filibuster. Wyden said the following during the filibuster, "I want it understood that I have great respect for this effort to really ask these kinds of questions. And Senator Paul has certainly been digging into these issues in great detail." He went on to say, "The executive branch should not be allowed to conduct such a serious and far-reaching program by themselves without any scrutiny because that’s not how American democracy works. That’s not what our system is about."[9][10][11]

According to the website Breitbart, there were 30 Republican senators who did not support the filibuster.[12][13]

The day after the filibuster, Attorney General Eric Holder sent a letter to Paul, responding to the filibuster. Holder wrote, "Does the president have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on U.S. soil? The answer to that is no."[14]

Elections

2010

On November 2, 2010, Ron Wyden won re-election to the United States Senate. He defeated Jim Huffman (R), Bruce Cronk (Working Families), Marc Delphine (Libertarian), and Rick Staggenborg (Progressive) in the general election.[15]

U.S. Senate, Oregon General Election, 2010
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democrat Green check mark.jpgRon Wyden incumbent 57.3% 825,507
     Republican Jim Huffman 39.3% 566,199
     Working Families Bruce Cronk 1.3% 18,940
     Libertarian Marc Delphine 1.1% 16,028
     Progressive Rick Staggenborg 1% 14,466
Total Votes 1,441,140

Full history


Campaign donors

Comprehensive donor information for Ron Wyden is available dating back to 2004. Based on available campaign finance records, Ron Wyden raised a total of $11,989,158 during that time period. This information was last updated on April 19, 2013.[27]

Ron Wyden's Campaign Contribution History
Year Office Result Contributions
2010 U.S. Senate Won $6,930,089
2004 U.S. Senate (Oregon) Won $5,059,069
Grand Total Raised $11,989,158

2010

Breakdown of the source of Wyden's campaign funds before the 2010 election.

Wyden won re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2010. During that re-election cycle, Wyden's campaign committee raised a total of $6,930,089 and spent $8,520,594.[28]

Analysis

Lifetime voting record

See also: Lifetime voting records of United States Senators and Representatives

According to the website GovTrack, Wyden missed 84 of 5,470 roll call votes from Feb 1996 to Apr 2013, which is 1.5% of votes during that period. This is better than the median of 1.7% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving.[29]

Congressional staff salaries

See also: Staff salaries of United States Senators and Representatives

The website Legistorm compiles staff salary information for members of Congress. Wyden paid his congressional staff a total of $2,668,805 in 2011. He ranked 25th on the list of the lowest paid Democratic Senatorial Staff Salaries and he ranked 63rd overall of the lowest paid Senatorial Staff Salaries in 2011. Overall, Oregon ranked 21st in average salary for senatorial staff. The average U.S. Senate congressional staff was paid $2,529,141.70 in fiscal year 2011.[30]

Net worth

See also: Net Worth of United States Senators and Representatives

2011

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org - The Center for Responsive Politics, Wyden's net worth as of 2011 was estimated between $14,965,048 and $61,776,002. That averages to $38,370,525, which is higher than the average net worth of Democratic Senators in 2011 of $20,795,450. His average net worth increased by 460% from 2010.[31]

2010

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org - The Center for Responsive Politics, Wyden's net worth as of 2010 was estimated between $5,734,033 and $7,960,004. That averages to $6,847,018.50, which is lower than the average net worth of Democratic Senators in 2010 of $19,383,524.[32]

In the 2012 list of the 50 richest members of the 112th Congress, Wyden was ranked in the top 25. The list is published annually by Roll Call: The Official Newspaper of Capitol Hill Since 1955, and is based on a methodology that uses financial disclosure forms to approximate the minimum net worth of Senate and House legislators.[33]

National Journal vote ratings

See also: National Journal vote ratings

Each year, National Journal publishes an analysis of how liberally or conservatively each member of Congress voted, as compared to other members, in the previous year. More information about the analysis process can be found on the vote ratings page.

2012

According to the data released in 2013, Wyden was ranked the 17th most liberal senator during 2012.[34]

2011

According to the data released in 2012, Ron Wyden was ranked the 17th most liberal senator during 2011.[35]

Percentage voting with party

The website Open Congress tracks how often members of Congress vote with the majority of the chamber caucus. According to the website, Wyden votes with the Democratic Party 94.8% of the time. This ranked 16th among the 51 Senate Democrats in 2011.[36]

Recent news

This section displays the most recent stories in a Google news search for the term Ron + Wyden + Oregon + Senate

All stories may not be relevant to this page due to the nature of the search engine.

Ron Wyden News Feed


Cite error: <ref> tags exist, but no <references/> tag was found


Personal

Wyden currently resides in Portland, Oregon. He and his wife, Nancy Bass-Wyden, have three children together. He also has two children from his first marriage.[37]

External links


References

  1. ↑ Gov Track "Ron Wyden," Accessed March 3, 2012
  2. ↑ Biographical Director of the United States Congress "Ron Wyden," Accessed October 24, 2011
  3. ↑ Congressional Quarterly "Senate Committee List" Accessed January 22, 2013
  4. ↑ Ron Wyden Vote Smart profile
  5. ↑ U.S. Senate "Roll Call Vote on the Fiscal Cliff" Accessed January 4, 2013.
  6. ↑ CNN "Rand Paul says he's heard from White House after filibuster," March 7, 2013
  7. ↑ USA Today "Rand Paul filibuster ranks among Senate's longest," March 7, 2013
  8. ↑ ABC News "Rand Paul Wins Applause From GOP and Liberals," March 7, 2013
  9. ↑ The Blaze, "Here Are All the GOP Senators That Participated in Rand Paul’s 12+ Hour Filibuster… and the Ones Who Didn’t," March 7, 2013
  10. ↑ Los Angeles Times, "Sen. Rand Paul ends marathon filibuster of John Brennan," March 7, 2013
  11. ↑ The Huffington Post, "Democrats Absent During Rand Paul Filibuster Of John Brennan Nomination," March 7, 2013
  12. ↑ Breitbart "AWOL: Meet The GOP Senators Who Refused to Stand With Rand," March 7, 2013
  13. ↑ Politico "Rand Paul filibuster blasted by Sens. John McCain, Lindsey Graham," March 7, 2013
  14. ↑ Washington Post "Eric Holder responds to Rand Paul with ‘no’," March 7, 2013
  15. ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010"
  16. ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2004"
  17. ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 3, 1998"
  18. ↑ Oregonvotes.org, "January 30, 1996, Special Election Abstracts of Votes," Accessed May 15, 2013
  19. ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 8, 1994"
  20. ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 3, 1992"
  21. ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 6, 1990"
  22. ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 8, 1988"
  23. ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 4, 1986"
  24. ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 6, 1984"
  25. ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 1982"
  26. ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 4, 1980"
  27. ↑ Open Secrets "Career Fundraising for Ron Wyden" April 2013
  28. ↑ Open Secrets "Ron Wyden 2010 Election Cycle," Accessed October 24 2011
  29. ↑ GovTrack, "Ron Wyden" Accessed April 2013
  30. ↑ LegiStorm "Ron Wyden"
  31. ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Ron Wyden (D-Ore), 2011"
  32. ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Wyden, (D-Oregon), 2010"
  33. ↑ Roll Call-The Newspaper of Capitol Hill since 1955, "The 50 Richest Members of the 112th Congress (2012)," Accessed September 14, 2012
  34. ↑ National Journal, "TABLE: House Liberal Scores by Issue Area," February 26, 2013
  35. ↑ National Journal, "Searchable Vote Ratings Tables: House," February 23, 2012
  36. ↑ Open Congress "Voting With Party," Accessed October 29, 2011
  37. ↑ Love, etc.: A baby for Sen. Ron Wyden and Nancy Bass Wyden, Washington Post, December 3, 2012
Political offices
Preceded by
Bob Packwood 		U.S. Senate - Oregon
1996-Present 		Succeeded by
-
v • d • e
Oregon's current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators
Jeff Merkley (D) • Ron Wyden (D)
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