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Trucking Deregulation Champion Bob Packwood Dies
Republican Senator From Oregon Was 93
Key Takeaways:
- Former Sen. Bob Packwood, an Oregon Republican known for trucking deregulation, died at 93, his family announced June 6 without additional details.
- Packwood gained prominence as a moderate dealmaker and abortion rights advocate, but his legacy was damaged by sexual misconduct allegations that led to his 1995 resignation.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Former Sen. Bob Packwood, a moderate Oregon Republican who championed trucking deregulation, has died. He was 93.
Packwood's death on June 6 was announced in an obituary sent to media outlets by his family. The release didn't include additional details.
Packwood's reputation as a champion of abortion and women's rights was spoiled at the end of his career by allegations of sexual harassment. He was a political scrapper who first refused to quit the chamber in which he had served for 27 years, saying he didn't want to be remembered only for that controversy.
Before the #MeToo era, Packwood stood out as an example of private behavior undermining a man’s public image. He had been praised by Planned Parenthood and others.
The great-grandson of a member of the 1857 Oregon Constitutional Convention, Packwood established himself as a social moderate and fiscal conservative who often voted across party lines. He considered running for president in 1980.
Elected to the Senate in 1968, Packwood was best known as the leading Republican advocate of abortion rights and was widely admired by women's groups throughout the country until the Senate Ethics Committee launched an investigation into the allegations of sexual and official misconduct in 1993.
More than two dozen women, former employees and acquaintances, accused him of making unwanted or uninvited sexual advances.
The allegations remained the target of an ethics probe that widened to include other alleged acts of official misconduct. He resigned in September 1995, then went to start a lucrative lobbying business in Washington.
As chairman and then-ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, Packwood was a master of cutting deals and forging compromises needed to pass tax legislation through Congress. He was most proud of the lead role he played in a sweeping tax reform of 1986 that lowered the top income tax bracket and eliminated many itemized deductions.
He also was the lead Republican cosponsor of the Motor Carrier Act of 1980, which effectively deregulated the trucking industry by reducing government control.
Over his career, he was described as a blunt, independent, outspoken politician who was a maverick, boat-rocker, loose cannon, skilled partisan, and, above all, political survivor.
"I think they probably all ring true," Packwood told The Associated Press in December 1992.
