Mark O. Hatfield, the former governor and senator who transformed Oregon’s economy and landscape while becoming one of the nation’s most prominent skeptics of military might, died about 6 p.m. in Portland at the age of 89. Hatfield, who had been in ill health for several years, died at a care home in Portland. His family did not have an immediate cause of death. He had lived in Oregon since his retirement from the Senate at the end of 1996 but had recently spent several months in a hospital at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. Through nearly five decades in public office, Hatfield was both Oregon's most durable politician and — after his rise to the chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee in 1981 — its most important. The Republican lawmaker brought the state more than $3 billion in federal money that affected how Oregonians work, play and commute. He helped transform Oregon Health & Science University into a nationally recognized research institution that is now Portland's largest employer. And he fueled creation of the region's lauded and widely imitated light rail system. He is survived by his wife, Antoinette, and by four children: Elizabeth, Theresa, Mark and Visko and by several grandchildren. Read more details here later. http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/08/mark_o_hatfield_former_oregon.html
A good Republican. He was religious when that meant to love thy neighbor, not to torture him and throw away the key. In 1995, Hatfield was the only Senate Republican to vote against the balanced budget amendment, and was the deciding vote that prevented its passage.
Didn't he get in trouble for sexual harassment? Edit: That was Packwood, my bad... Hatfield took bribes, but did not sexually harass.
Nice to jump on someone when they die. Must be a great feeling. And, oh yeah, you have proof, haven't you. You're human waste, Klinker.
So when someone dies anything bad they did doesn't matter anymore? Hatfield was a mixed bag, he had some good & some bad. But yes he did have issues with taking "gifts" & getting special treatment from entities that he helped out. He also built a pork dam project which wasted a bunch of money. He was also anti-war but put that on hold while trying to jump in bed with Nixon.
Hatfield did a lot of good things for Oregon. I don't know much about bad things, but you can't deny all the great.
My only dealings with him were that he didn't think I was a good enough candidate for a congressional nomination to the Naval Academy.
I thin he was one of the more honest and genuine "public servants" this state has ever produced. Granted, it's always necessary for those on his opposing party to piss all over him because they feel it's their God ordained command to do so, but he was the real deal so far as good politicians go. One would be hard pressed to find anyone who has more than a second grade education to really slam him and know what they're talking about.
So, it's the ones with only a 2nd grade education that know what they are talking about? It's not to late for you to go back and finish school, you know. In just 10 years you could be a high skool grad-u-ate. barfo
My Dad had some associations with Senator Hatfield. Couldn't say enough kind things about the man. May he R.I.P.
I worked with some people who also knew him and couldn't say enough nice things about him also- and they were democrats. He was just a genuinely good person.
