With President-elect George W. Bush coming into office under a wave of calls for bipartisanship, one Dartmouth alumnus will likely play a key role in how Congress handles the next year's agenda, according to a major Capitol Hill newspaper.
U.S. Rep. Rob Portman '78, a popular Republican from Ohio, was selected as one of Congressional Quarterly's "Power Players 2001" in its Dec. 30 issue.
The annual list of 42 members of the Senate and House of Representatives attempts to predict who will make the most impact in the congressional year.
In the article, CQ cited Portman's history of working with Democrats to pass bipartisan legislation, while remaining in the favor of more conservative Republicans.
Portman's camaraderie with Democrats was a facet that Bush sought to help his campaign.
"He knows the Democratic line so well, in fact, that he was chosen to play the role of the Democratic candidate for vice president in 2000, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, during debate preparations for GOP nominee Dick Cheney," CQ wrote.
A stalwart supporter of Bush, Portman will most likely play his biggest role in the next year in discussions of the president-elect's proposed $1.3 trillion tax cut package, which has received criticism from both Republicans and Democrats.
"Portman has a talent for reaching across the aisle and compromising, when necessary, with those who do not share his conservative philosophy," CQ cited in its article.
Also, during the 2000 campaign, Portman provided major support for Bush's privatization of Social Security accounts for younger Americans.
Portman has garnered much popularity within the House since being elected seven years ago, leading to his appointments on high-profile committees. Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. appointed him, to a task force on youth violence in the 106th Congress.
Portman asked lawmakers to examine violence in the media and to make it more difficult for teens to obtain illegal firearms. "There are no easy answers, and there is no one solution," he said then.
Portman has an interesting, mostly conservative, voting record. Of note: in 2000, he voted for the controversial permanent normal trade relations with China legislation.
A Bush supporter, he voted against a law that would have overhauled campaign finance law, banning soft money and restrictions on advocacy advertising, which was supported by Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain -- who beat Bush in the New Hampshire primary.
Portman visited Dartmouth last January to campaign for Bush for the New Hampshire primary, which Bush eventually lost to McCain.
Portman has known the Bush family for years. In 1988, he spent considerable time campaigning in his hometown Cincinnati area for former President George Bush.
Of the younger Bush, Portman reminisced, "I remember him as being funny, engaged, a little bit of a 'rabble-rouser' and just a fun person to be with."
He said the younger Bush was his father's biggest cheerleader. He was also great at getting the volunteers motivated, he said.
During the 1988 campaign, Portman became acquainted with Boyden Gray, then-White House counsel. When the elder Bush was elected president, Gray chose Portman to be a liaison to Congress as associate counsel.
Portman served as an associate counsel to Bush and then served as the Director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs until 1991, when he returned to Cincinnati to settle down with his family.
"I had only wanted to stay in Washington for two years," he told The Dartmouth in an interview in January.
However, things changed in 1993, when then-Rep. Willis Gradison, the congressman from Portman's home district, suddenly and unexpectedly resigned, opening the door for Portman's first ever run for office.
As the least known of seven Republican candidates, Portman emerged as victor in the primary. In May 1993, he won the special general election with 70 percent of the popular vote and headed for Washington.
In less than two years, Portman was among three first-term appointees to the powerful Ways and Means Committee which has jurisdiction over important national policies such as Social Security, international trade, and health care and welfare reform.
Portman and the two other freshman congressmen in 1995 were the most junior members of the House to serve on the committee since the elder Bush served on it during his first term in the House, in 1967.
Portman led the effort to get unfunded mandate reform signed into law. The unfunded mandate law seeks to restrain, but not prohibit, Congress from imposing expensive requirements on state and local governments without providing funding.
According to Portman the legislation "changes the way we deal with state and local government."
The bill eventually passed both houses of Congress, and Portman was on hand at the White House when President Clinton signed it into law.
Then-Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole made the unfunded mandate bill the top priority in the Senate, and Portman ended up becoming one of the three co-chairmen of the "Dole for President" effort in the House.
In November 2000, Portman was reelected with 74 percent of the vote to his fourth full term in Congress.
Portman was not always so politically involved. As an undergraduate at Dartmouth, he was a member of the Dartmouth Outing Club, and says he spent most of his time at the Ledyard Canoe Club. In 1977, Portman spent two terms kayaking down the Rio Grande River on a Ledyard trip.
In fact, kayaking is a passion of the congressman. According to CQ, Portman and a companion are believed to be the first Westerners to kayak China's Yangtze River.
Portman changed majors three times and graduated in five years. Originally a government major, he switched to history before finally deciding on anthropology.
He was also a member of the Ski Patrol at Dartmouth and noted that his winter grades were "particularly low" because of his enthusiastic involvement with the Patrol.
During his junior fall, Portman interned for Gradison in Washington, whom he would eventually succeed as the representative from Ohio's 2nd Congressional District.
After Dartmouth, Portman attended the University of Michigan Law School, graduating in 1984. He and his wife, Jane, have three children.
