Ensuring Real Government Accountability

Ron was the first Oregon elected official to hold open-to-all town meetings in every Oregon county. 970 of these meetings have been held over Ron’s time in the Senate, with his first town meeting held in Fossil in Oregon’s smallest county. He has repeatedly won the “MVP” award from the non-profit Town Hall Project for his commitment to open, accountable government. Ron held the Town Hall Project’s first statewide Senate virtual town hall during the coronavirus pandemic.

After then-presidential nominee Donald Trump broke his promise to the American people and refused to disclose his tax returns, Wyden was the first to introduce legislation in the Senate requiring presidents and presidential nominees to release their tax returns to the public.

Ron was the first to pass a law declassifying evidence that the Saudi government helps Saudi nationals accused of serious crimes in the United States flee the country before facing justice. These are not victimless crimes: 15-year-old Fallon Smart was killed in Portland, and the suspect in her killing fled the country before trial. Ron also won passage of law requiring Trump’s DNI to issue a public report on who in the Saudi government ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and who in Saudi Arabia was complicit in his brutal murder.

And, Don’t Forget…

Maybe not a first, but Ron set the Congressional free-throw shooting record, with 47 out of 50.