Pubdate: Fri, 06 Jan 2006
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Page: B08
Copyright: 2006 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

CONTRARIAN CONGRESSMAN CHARLES O. PORTER, 86

Charles O. Porter, 86, an Oregon Democrat who served two terms in the
U.S. House of Representatives and then spent decades working as a
lawyer to fight for his beliefs, died Jan. 1 in Eugene, Ore. He had
Alzheimer's disease.

A member of Congress from 1957 to 1961, Rep. Porter endorsed several
unpopular ideas, including admitting China to the United Nations and
trading with China in nonstrategic materials. He also backed
disarmament and called for a halt to nuclear testing.

In 1958, after Rep. Porter was warmly welcomed in Venezuela, the
Roseburg (Ore.) News-Review wrote that "Porter's speeches sound as if
they were made by Khrushchev."

Rep. Porter, who opposed the Vietnam War, unsuccessfully sought
reelection several times.

On a local level, Rep. Porter is perhaps best remembered for his fight
to remove a hilltop Christian cross from Skinner Butte. He had sought
to have the cross removed ever since it was erected by two Eugene
business people in 1964.

The first lawsuit to remove the cross was filed in 1965, and the issue
wasn't decided until 1997, when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
ruled the cross unconstitutional.

"My father, who was a Christian, would say his greatest accomplishment
would have been taking the cross down from Skinner Butte," Rep.
Porter's son, Sam Porter, told the Eugene Register-Guard newspaper.

As a lawyer, Rep. Porter fought against a nuclear plant in the Eugene
area and the use of ratepayers' money to promote it; for tubal
ligations by choice for social and economic reasons; for
decriminalization of marijuana; and for statutory status reviews of
institutionalized mentally retarded people.

In 1975, Rep. Porter demanded under the Freedom of Information Act
that the CIA turn over the file it was keeping on him. The 222-page
document dealt largely with his peace activities and his efforts to
abolish the House Un-American Activities Committee.

In 2001, he wrote a resolution seeking to impeach the five Supreme
Court justices who voted to stop the presidential ballot recount in
Florida. He said their decision was transparently political and
"tarnished the integrity" of the court.

Charles Orlando Porter was born in Klamath Falls, Ore., on April 4,
1919. He was a 1941 graduate of Harvard University and a 1947 graduate
of its law school. He was an Army Air Forces veteran of World War II.

He practiced law in Eugene until winning election to the House. He
resumed his practice after returning to Oregon.

His wife, Pricilla Porter, died in 2002.

Survivors include four children and five grandchildren.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake