Sept. 24, 1997 Contact Maureen Shine (541) 346-3145 Source: Debbie Eldredge, UO Morse Chair coordinator (541) 346-3004 Source: Lisa Kloppenberg, assistant professor, UO School of Law (541) 346-1577 EUGENE--Former White House counsel, federal judge and congressman Abner Mikva will share his views on the successes and failures of government as the 17th occupant of the University of Oregon's Wayne Morse Chair of Law and Politics. Mikva will give public lectures in Eugene and Portland during his two-week visit to Oregon, Oct. 6-18. He also will participate in discussions with students and faculty in numerous UO class sessions during his visit. In examining how well government is working, Mikva's lectures will draw on his experiences in the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the federal system. He will address such issues as campaign finance reform and the importance of legislative history and will offer his perspective on Sen. Wayne Morse as a legislative craftsman. Mikva also will examine the initiative and referendum process, including a number of Oregon's recent controversial ballot measures, and explain why he believes this "mischievous process" is seriously flawed. His lecture schedule includes: * Friday, Oct. 10--Morse Chair Lecture, "The Initiative and Referendum Process; Lights that Failed," Noon, Portland City Club, Grand Ballroom, Hilton Hotel, 921 S.W. 6th Ave., Portland. For the general public, admission is $5 or $16 for the program and lunch; admission is free to Portland City Club members, $12 for lunch. Reservations are required. Contact the Portland City Club at (503) 228-7231. * Wednesday, Oct. 15--Morse Chair Lecture, "The Unique Success of Divided Government," 7:30 p.m., Ballroom, Erb Memorial Union, University of Oregon, 1222 E. 13th Ave., Eugene. Free and open to the public. Mikva, 71, served as White House counsel for President Bill Clinton from October 1994 until November 1995. He served as judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1979 to 1994, and became its chief judge in January 1991. Before coming to the bench, he was elected to Congress for five terms, representing portions of Chicago and its suburbs, and served on both the Ways and Means Committee and the Judiciary Committee. Mikva started his political career in 1956 in the Illinois House of Representatives where he served five consecutive terms. While in the legislature, he chaired the House Judiciary Committee and helped enact a new criminal code for Illinois, as well as a new mental health code. A cum laude graduate of the University of Chicago School of Law, he was editor-in-chief of the Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif, the national legal honor society. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and was a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sherman Minton. After his clerkship, he returned to Illinois where he became a law partner of the late Justice Arthur Goldberg. His practice included extensive litigation and appellate work, and he presented several constitutional cases to the U.S. Supreme Court. Mikva taught courses in the legislative process at Northwestern, Georgetown and American universities, and at the universities of Chicago and Pennsylvania. He also taught courses in legal ethics at Duke University. Mikva is the co-author of a political science textbook on Congress entitled "The American Congress: The First Branch" and co-authored the law school textbook, "Legislative Process." He is a recipient of numerous honorary degrees and became a visiting professor and the Walter V. Schaefer Fellow in Pubic Policy at the University of Chicago Law School in October 1996. Mikva's wife, Zoe, recently retired as director of development for a Washington think-tank dealing with educational reform in public schools. The Mikvas have three daughters--two lawyers and a rabbi--and seven grandchildren. The Wayne Morse Chair was created in 1978 as a living memorial to the late Oregon senator and former dean of the UO School of Law. The chair is an endowed professorship financed by private donations and a matching federal grant. Each occupant is selected by the UO president "on the basis of qualities and achievements exemplified in the life of Wayne L. Morse: courage, integrity, independence, teaching ability, statesmanship, scholarship, and contributions to the enhancement of law, representative government and world peace." -30- #P-4009/Local,OrDailies,PDX,OrLaw,Special