Darlene Kay Olson Hooley (born April 4, 1939) is an American politician and former Democratic member of the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

who represented the state's . A high school teacher by profession, she served as a city councilwoman, state legislator, and county commissioner in Oregon before being elected to the House in 1996. In her post-congressional career, she remains engaged in civic life in Oregon and works as a strategic planning consultant.

Early life

Darlene Kay Olson was born in Williston,

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

to Clarence Alvin and Alyce Rogers Olson, who were wheat farmers. She moved with her parents to

Salem, Oregon Salem ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County, Oregon, Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, w ...

at the age of 8. She attended Salem Academy, and then Pasadena Nazarene College (now

Point Loma Nazarene University Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) is a Private college, private Christianity, Christian Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college with its main campus in Point Loma, San Diego, Point Loma in San Diego, California, Unit ...

) in southern California, where she also worked as a

lifeguard A lifeguard is a rescuer who supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, beach, spa, river and lake. Lifeguards are trained in swimming and Cardiopulmonary ...

. She returned to Oregon and earned her degree in education from

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

in 1961, where she was on the

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

, and

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...

teams. Following her graduation, she taught reading, music, and high school

physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

for eight years at schools in Woodburn, Gervais, and

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

. She also did post-graduate work at Oregon State and

Portland State University Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the next ...

Early political career

Hooley became interested in politics after her son was injured on a playground in West Linn. She was appointed to a parks advisory committee, and in 1976, became the first woman elected to serve on the West Linn City Council. In 1980, Hooley was elected to the

Oregon State Legislature The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the State legislature (United States), state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper house, upper and lower chamber: the Oregon State Senate, Sena ...

and served as a State Representative until 1987. In the legislature she served in the lower chamber (

Oregon House of Representatives The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly, the upper house being the Oregon State Senate. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of ...

) as a Democrat representing

Clackamas County Clackamas County ( ) is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 421,401, making it Oregon's third-most populous county. Its county seat is Oregon City. The county was named after the na ...

(District 27), succeeding Republican Ted Achilles. She chaired the environmental and energy committees, helping to pass energy conservation and recycling legislation and worked on rewriting land use planning laws. In her third term, she chaired the education subcommittee of the ways and means committee. As subcommittee chair, she is credited with leading reforms to Oregon's public kindergarten, pay equity laws, and welfare system. Hooley left the legislature in 1987 to accept a position on the

Board of Commissioners.

U.S. House

Elections

In 1996, Hooley ran for the

against one-term incumbent Republican Jim Bunn, who had been voted in as part of the

Republican Revolution The "Republican Revolution", "Revolution of '94", or "Gingrich Revolution" are political slogans that refer to the Republican Party's (GOP) success in the 1994 U.S. midterm elections, which resulted in a net gain of 54 seats in the House o ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

. Hooley won 51% of the vote in a field that included Bunn and two minor party candidates. Ironically, while Bunn's loss was attributed in part to his divorce and remarriage during his only term, Hooley also divorced during her first term in 1997. In the 2006 election, Hooley won a sixth term, defeating Republican Mike Erickson (who spent over $1 million of his own money),

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

Paul Aranas, and

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

candidate Douglas Patterson. She filed to run for a seventh term in 2008, but in February 2008 announced she would not seek an additional term, creating an unexpected open seat in the 2008 election.

Tenure

In her first term in the U.S. House, Hooley was elected House Democratic freshman class president. Local political observers reported that she solidified support in her closely divided district, by staking out moderate positions, avoiding controversy and scandal. In later terms, she was appointed to leadership positions in the House Democratic Caucus. Following the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

Hooley, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, advocated adapting banking laws and acting to disrupt the financial foundations of terrorist networks. She has also focused on issues surrounding

identity theft Identity theft, identity piracy or identity infringement occurs when someone uses another's personal identifying information, like their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes. ...

prevention and increasing medical and financial privacy. In 2003, she was a key sponsor of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (HR 2622), which gave Americans the ability to receive free annual credit reports. She also focused on

methamphetamine Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug use, recreational or Performance-enhancing substance, performance-enhancing drug and less commonly as a secon ...

s and

ecoterrorism Eco-terrorism is an act of violence which is committed in support of environmental causes, against people or property. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines eco-terrorism as "...the use or threatened use of violence of ...

legislation, and supported the

Oregon Death with Dignity Act Measure 16 of 1994 established the U.S. state of Oregon's Death with Dignity Act ( ORS 127.800–995), which legalizes medical aid in dying (commonly referred to as physician-assisted suicide) with certain restrictions. Passage of this initiati ...

. In 2002, Hooley voted against the authorization of the use of military force in Iraq. As a member of the

Veterans' Affairs committee The standing Committee on Veterans' Affairs in the United States House of Representatives oversees agencies, reviews current legislation, and recommends new bills or amendments concerning U.S. military veterans. Jurisdiction includes retiring an ...

, she focused on issues of veterans' health care and deployment of

National Guard National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. ...

troops to the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

. Hooley was a staunch advocate of a federal prohibition of

online poker Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet. It has been partly responsible for a huge increase in the number of poker players worldwide. Christiansen Capital Advisors stated online poker revenues grew from $82.7 million in 2001 t ...

. In 2006, she cosponsored H.R. 4411, the Goodlatte-Leach Internet Gambling Prohibition Act. She was also successful in directing federal funding to her district, including millions of dollars for transportation, timber, and agricultural interests.

Committees

She served on the

Science and Technology Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an umbrella term used to group together the distinct but related technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is typically used in the context of ...

, Energy and Commerce, and

Budget A budget is a calculation plan, usually but not always financial plan, financial, for a defined accounting period, period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including tim ...

committees. She was a House Senior

Whip A whip is a blunt weapon or implement used in a striking motion to create sound or pain. Whips can be used for flagellation against humans or animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain, or be used as an audible cue thro ...

for the Democratic Party and a member of the

New Democrat Coalition The New Democrat Coalition is a caucus in the House of Representatives of the United States Congress made up of Democrats, primarily liberals and centrists, who take a pro-business stance and a liberal-to-moderate approach to fiscal matte ...

Electoral history

Post-congressional career

After leaving Congress, Hooley joined former Multnomah County Commissioner Lisa Naito in founding Hooley & Naito, a strategic planning and legislative advocacy firm. Hooley remains active in supporting veterans and established the Darlene Hooley Scholarship for Oregon Veterans, under the auspices of the Oregon Community Foundation. In 2012, the City of Portland dedicated the Darlene Hooley Pedestrian Bridge, a bridge that connects the Lair Hill neighborhood to the South Waterfront district. Hooley is a member of the ReFormers Caucus of

Issue One Issue One is an American nonprofit organization that seeks to reduce the role of money in politics. It aims to increase public awareness of what it views as problems within the present campaign finance system, and to reduce the influence of money ...

References

External links

Darlene Hooley for Congress
official campaign site
Hooley & Naito, LLC
* *
Darlene Hooley Oral History Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hooley, Darlene County commissioners in Oregon Democratic Party members of the Oregon House of Representatives Female members of the United States House of Representatives 1939 births Living people American Lutherans Politicians from Williston, North Dakota Politicians from West Linn, Oregon Oregon State University alumni Women state legislators in Oregon Point Loma Nazarene University alumni Oregon city council members Women city councillors in Oregon 21st-century American women politicians Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Oregon 21st-century members of the United States House of Representatives 20th-century members of the Oregon Legislative Assembly 20th-century American women politicians