Oregon Watchdog: Riley Selected for 2008 Western Legislative Academy

State Representative
Chuck Riley

PRESS RELEASE: May 27, 2008
CONTACT: Linda Ray-Keeney, (503) 992-7125

Rep. Chuck Riley Selected for 2008 Western Legislative Academy

HILLSBORO—The Council of State Governments-West (CSG-WEST), a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization serving Western state legislators in 13 Western states, has selected Oregon Representative Chuck Riley as a participant in its prestigious training institute for lawmakers in their first four years of service. The purpose of the Western Legislative Academy is to build excellence and effectiveness in state legislators in the Western region.

Admission to the Western Legislative Academy is highly competitive and is based on commitment to public service, desire to improve personal legislative effectiveness and interest in improving the legislative process. Thirty-nine state legislators from Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado. Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming have been selected as members of the Class of 2008.

The Western Legislative Academy will convene November 17-20 in Colorado Springs, Colorado for three and a half days of intensive training in the following subjects: the legislative institution, ethics, team building, communications, negotiations and time management. Faculty will include the Eagleton Institute’s Alan Rosenthal, a nationally recognized authority on state legislatures; Washington, D.C., communications expert Arch Lustberg, and a leading retired U.S. Air Force team building trainer. Experienced Western legislative leaders will discuss the legislature as an institution.

Representative Chuck Riley is serving his second term in the Oregon House of Representatives. He represents House District 29, which includes Forest Grove, Cornelius and parts of Hillsboro. Representative Riley is the chair of the House Committee on Government Accountability and Information Technology and the vice-chair of the House Committee on Workforce and Economic Development.

The Council of State Government-WEST is a region of the national Council of State Governments based in Lexington, Kentucky. Regional offices of CSG are located in Sacramento, Chicago, Atlanta and New York.

Funding for the Academy comes from the Colorado Springs-based El Pomar
Foundation, which is dedicated to excellence in nonprofit organizations, and from Western state legislatures and corporate sponsors. The El Pomar Foundation also donates the campus for the Western Legislative Academy.
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