Packwood on Partisanship
At their best, partisanship and the two-party system allow people with competing goals to work more easily together: when sufficiently constrained, conflict between political parties can be informative and productive. Excessive partisanship, however, can undermine effective lawmak¬ing and interfere with the Legislature's ability to func¬tion. In today's political climate, excessive partisanship too often seems the rule rather than the exception - but this was not always the case.
During his political career, Bob Packwood successfully and repeatedly built bipartisan consensus around controversial issues. From a bill prohibiting dam building on Eastern Oregon's Snake River, to deregulation of the trucking industry, to the 1986 Tax Reform Act, Senator Packwood helped forge consensus on issue that ultimately benefited many Oregonians. At the September 10 Friday Forum, participants will learn how Packwood achieved consensus across the aisle, and how politicians might do so again today.
Bob Packwood graduated from Willamette University, and received his law degree from New York University. He served in the state legislature between 1963 and 1969, and then in the U.S. senate from 1969 to 1995.
