Pete Sorenson (born 1951) in

Washoe County Washoe County () is a county in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 486,492, making it Nevada's second-most populous county. Its county seat is Reno. Washoe County is included in the Reno, NV Metropolitan Statis ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

is a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

practicing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) law and a former elected official from Lane County,

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 ...

. He has brought Freedom of Information Act cases in the

United States District Court for the District of Columbia The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (in case citations, D.D.C.) is a United States district court, federal district court in Washington, D.C. Along with the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii and ...

against many different federal agencies including the

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is a federal agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that administers the Medicare program and works in partnership with state governments to administer ...

and

Immigration and Customs Enforcement The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE; ) is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from transnational crime and ille ...

. In his time practicing FOIA law he has secured the release of over a million records. From 1977 to 1979, Sorenson served as a special assistant to the

Secretary of Agriculture The United States secretary of agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. The position carries similar responsibilities to those of agriculture ministers in other governments The department includes several organiz ...

during the

Carter Administration Jimmy Carter's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 39th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Jimmy Carter, his inauguration on January 20, 1977, and ended on January 20, 1981. Carter, a Democratic Party ...

. While in private law practice from 1982 to 1995, Sorenson also served as a member of the board of education at

Lane Community College Lane Community College is a public community college in Eugene, Oregon, with additional facilities in downtown Eugene, Florence, Cottage Grove, and the Lane Aviation Academy at Eugene Airport. As of 2023-2024, Lane serves more than 15,000 cre ...

Eugene Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Gene Eugene, stage name of Canadian born actor, record producer, engineer, composer and musi ...

Oregon. During his tenure at Lane Community College, Sorenson advocated strongly for dislocated workers' retraining programs and for childcare for staff and students. In 1993, Sorenson was appointed to the

Oregon State Senate The Oregon State Senate is the upper house of the State legislature (United States), statewide legislature for the US state of Oregon. Along with the lower chamber Oregon House of Representatives it makes up the Oregon Legislative Assembly. Ther ...

, and was elected to a full senate term in 1994. He was elected assistant minority leader during the 1995 session. Pete is a progressive member of the Democratic Party who ran on a "pro-environment, pro-education, pro-senior, pro-regular taxpayer, pro-child, pro-

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

, pro-

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, and pro-people" platform. Because Oregon term limits at that time prevented Sorenson from running for reelection as a state senator, he ran for county commissioner in 1996 and was elected to his first term. He ran successfully for reelection as a county commissioner in 2000, 2004 and 2008; in 2008 he ran unopposed. In 2009 he was elected by the four other commissioners as chair of the board of commissioners, a position he has held before. In January 2005, Sorenson announced he would challenge

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be ...

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Ted Kulongoski Theodore Ralph Kulongoski ( ; born November 5, 1940) is an American politician, judge, and lawyer who served as the List of Governors of Oregon, 36th governor of Oregon from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrati ...

, also a Democrat. Sorenson was defeated in the May 2006 Democratic primary for governor, receiving 16.27% of the vote. In July 2007, Pete Sorenson and Kim Leval were married. Kim was the executive director for the Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides for nine years before becoming a legal assistant at the Sorenson Law Office. She is also a writer. Sorenson has two children: Jennifer, a child welfare worker for the State of Oregon, and Erik, who is a partner at Veracity Commercial Partners in San Francisco, California.

References

External links

Pete Sorenson 2006 Gubernatorial Campaign Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sorenson, Pete County commissioners in Oregon Oregon state senators Living people 1952 births People from Lane County, Oregon 20th-century members of the Oregon Legislative Assembly

See also

References

External links