Local attorney to run for state seat
By Larry Meyer - Argus Observer
Monday, August 20, 2007 10:49 AM PDT
Ontario - Ontario attorney Cliff Bentz announced last week he plans to file for the Oregon House of Representatives District 60 seat now held by Rep. Tom Butler, R-Ontario.
Butler recently announced he would not seek another term in the next election. The earliest filing date is Sept. 13, Bentz said.
“I am a third-generation Oregonian, “ Bentz said in his announcement. “Most of the first 22 years of my life were spent on cattle ranches in Harney County. I have lived in the Malheur County for the past 30 years working with, and representing, the interests of farmers, ranchers and businessmen and women across Eastern Oregon.”
Bentz, a Republican, has been a partner in the law firm of Yturri Rose LLP, since 1981, he said, and is also a member of the Ontario School District Board, the Eastern Oregon University Foundation Board and the Oregon Historical Society Board.
He is a past member of the St. Peter School Board, the Oregon Water Resources Commission, which he chaired, and a past member of the Project Dove Board.
He is a member of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, the Oregon Bar Association and the Idaho Bar Association.
“My specialty is water,” Bentz said. “With more urban lawmakers I see a need to defend water rights,” he said referring to the makeup of the current Legislature.
Bentz said in his experience on the Water Resources Commission, he saw urban lawmakers were more focused on keeping water in streams away from irrigators and other users.
Land use, economic development and immigration are other issues that are important, he said.
Bentz is the second person to put his hat in the ring for Butler’s seat. Tim Smith, a geology and environmental consultant and Harney County rancher, announced his candidacy last week as Butler was announcing his plans not to run.
A native Oregonian, Smith has had a long career in mineral exploration. He is currently chairman of the Harney County Republican Central Committee and holds other Republican party positions and is a member of a number of natural resource committees and organizations.
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