38 Facts About Byron Dorgan

Byron Dorgan was a member of the Senate Democratic leadership for 16 years, first as Assistant Democratic Floor Leader and then as Chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee and Chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs.

Byron Dorgan is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University; he serves on several boards of directors, including the Board of Governors of Argonne National Laboratory and on the National Advisory Board of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

Byron Dorgan was born in Dickinson, North Dakota, the son of Dorothy and Emmett Patrick Byron Dorgan, and was raised in Regent, North Dakota.

Byron Dorgan graduated from Regent High School and earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of North Dakota and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Denver.

Byron Dorgan worked for Boeing and the Martin-Marietta Corporation in the aerospace industry.

Byron Dorgan was the youngest constitutional officer in North Dakota's history.

Byron Dorgan was re-elected to that office by large margins in 1972 and 1976, and was chosen one of "Ten Outstanding State Officials" in the United States by the Washington Monthly magazine.

Byron Dorgan ran unsuccessfully for a seat in Congress in 1974.

Byron Dorgan was elected to the United States House of Representatives in his second bid in 1980.

Byron Dorgan was a member from 1981 until 1992, being re-elected five times.

Conrad took the new seat in 1992 and Byron Dorgan assumed Conrad's old seat a few weeks early.

When Byron Dorgan was chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee, he was one of the most powerful Democrats in the Senate.

Byron Dorgan was a strong opponent of continuing the US embargo toward Cuba.

Byron Dorgan was instrumental in passing legislation to remove the embargo as it applied to the sale of food and medicine to Cuba.

Byron Dorgan introduced, with varying levels of success, several amendments to end the US prohibition on travel to Cuba, and to terminate funds for anti-Castro broadcasting.

Byron Dorgan has opposed most bills "liberalizing" trade policies between the United States and other countries, maintaining that most trade agreements resulted in higher trade deficits and shipping US jobs overseas.

Byron Dorgan has a mixed record on tort reform issues, voting against the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act and the Class Action Fairness Act, but voting in favor of the vetoed Common Sense Product Liability and Legal Reform Act and the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.

Byron Dorgan was Chairman of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee and was senior member of the Senate Energy Committee.

Byron Dorgan was an early supporter of renewable energy, sponsoring measures on the production tax credit for wind energy and creating a Renewable Fuels Standard mandate to help build a renewable fuels industry.

Byron Dorgan persuaded the US Geological Survey to conduct and release the first official estimate of recoverable oil in the Bakken Formation in North Dakota.

Byron Dorgan was Chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee and worked extensively on aviation issues.

Byron Dorgan has served as co-chairman of the Eno Center for Transportation project exploring ways to reorganize the Air Traffic Control function at the Federal Aviation Administration in order to accelerate the movement to the next generation air traffic control system using GPS as a replacement for ground-based radar.

Byron Dorgan wrote the cover story for the Washington Monthly magazine titled "Very Risky Business" warning of the danger to the economy of the wagers that large financial institutions were making by trading in unlimited derivatives.

In 1999, Byron Dorgan voiced continuing concern over lack of regulation of derivatives.

Senator Byron Dorgan was one of only eight members of the Senate to vote against the repeal of key provisions of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999.

On January 23,2008, Byron Dorgan was one of the first politicians to speak of the oncoming economic downturn in a speech to the Senate given in response to then-President Bush's economic stimulus package.

In 2007, Byron Dorgan was a major supporter of net neutrality legislation in the Senate, seeing it as essential to keeping the Internet open and democratic.

Three times, Byron Dorgan introduced a bill to form a new committee modeled after the 1940s Truman Committee to oversee Government waste, fraud, and corruption in the awarding of government contracts.

In 2009, Byron Dorgan voted to approve the $838 billion stimulus package.

In 2009, Byron Dorgan sided with fellow Democrats to make funds available to modify or build facilities to allow Guantanamo detainees to be brought to the United States.

Byron Dorgan donated $1 million of unused campaign funds to create the Center for Native American Youth, which is housed as a separate program at the Aspen Institute.

Byron Dorgan serves as the unpaid chairman of the Board of CNAY.

Byron Dorgan is married to the former Kimberly Olson, who was formerly an Executive Vice President and lobbyist for The American Council of Life Insurers.

From his first marriage, Byron Dorgan has a son Scott who has two children, Mason and Madison, and he had a daughter Shelly, who is deceased.

In November 2005, Byron Dorgan was accused of receiving campaign contributions from people who worked for companies connected to lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Byron Dorgan did acknowledge receiving money from Abramoff's clients, but the donations began prior to their involvement with Abramoff.

Byron Dorgan's statement went on to say that he has supported the programs that benefited Abramoff's clients years prior to the contribution.

On December 13,2005, Byron Dorgan announced that he was returning all donations from Abramoff's clients as a precaution to avoid any impropriety as the contributions may have been directed or requested by Abramoff.