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| Affiliation | Democratic |
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| Name | Andrew Kaza |
| Address |
, Oregon , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | [Link] |
| Donate |  |
 X (Twitter) | RealAndrewKaza |
| Born |
July 20, 1959
(65 years)
|
| Contributor | InspectorMorse |
| Last Modifed | RP
Oct 09, 2014 06:17pm |
| Tags |
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| Info | Andrew Lee Kaza is an Oregon native, born in Portland on July 20, 1959, the youngest of the five children born to Eugene Kaza and Nancy Snow. Mother Nancy Snow raised young Andrew to respect Oregon's political tradition and she served as Washington County chairperson for Wayne Morse's senate campaign in 1968. She was also one of the first women to receive a law degree from the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis & Clark College. Father Eugene Kaza was a well-known figure in Portland music circles, both as a violinist in the Oregon Symphony and the World Symphony (under Sir Arthur Fiedler) and as a public school teacher in the Portland school district, leading bands and orchestras at Grant, Adams and Wilson High Schools between 1957 and 1980. The movie "Mr. Holland's Opus" is largely inspired by Mr. Kaza's career in the early 1960s.
As a child of the '60s, Andrew Kaza was led to question the purpose of the Vietnam War and was an early and ardent supporter of Eugene McCarthy for President, selling bumperstickers along with root beer floats on the front lawn to passers-by in the run-up to the 1968 Oregon Democratic Presidential Primary. McCarthy won that race, but the country lost when Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King were assassinated and the war in Indochina raged another 7 years.
Besides the futility of war, thanks to his mother, young Andrew Kaza also learned about the insanity of prejudice in that era. He was among a handful of students from Beaverton to participate in a volunteer busing program to attend Portland's then-blackest elementary school, Martin Luther King. He was one of only two white students in his class, and thus became aware of some of the challenges faced by minority children.
By the age of 15, he was penning sports stories for his hometown newspaper, the Valley Times. Andy Kaza, as he was then known, became Sports Editor of the Times before he turned 21. Turning to television, he received his BA in Communications from the University of Portland in 1985. Thus began an illustrious ride through the media and entertainment business...
Leaving Oregon, but never in spirit...
By 1987, with a growing family to support, Andrew Kaza moved away from journalism and into the business side of media with a move to Philadelphia to join Comcast Corporation. Three years later, he was asked to be the company's no. 2 representative as cable communications expanded to the United Kingdom. Although still yearning for a return to Oregon, he relocated to London in 1990. It would remain his travelling base for the next 13 years, although trips to Oregon remained frequent, culminating in a new home on the Oregon coast by the year 2001.
Between 1990 and 2001, Kaza was a hot commodity in international business, doing business in over 20 different countries. Some of the highlights:
President, United International Pictures Pay-TV Group (a joint venture of Hollywood studios Universal, Paramount and MGM) from 1993-1995;
Founder-Managing Partner, Mediaplex consulting from 1995-1999, working with 16 different intl. clients ranging from Daewoo in South Korea to Ronald Lauder's CME in central Europe;
Managing Director, Internet & Interactive for BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the prestigious British Broadcasting Corporation, where he was the top-ranked American in the organization from 1999-2001;
During this time, Kaza became increasingly concerned about the radical conservative shift he was seeing in the US and Oregon, in particular. Like many, he was appalled when George W. Bush wrested the Presidency away from Al Gore with the support of the Supreme Court. Like others, he was grateful that Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber was on hand for eight years to keep the extremist right-wing elements in the state from wrecking the state that he loved.
After the events of Sept. 11 2001, Andrew Kaza made a personal inward decision towards involvement in Oregon politics upon his eventual return to the US. After years of spending 80% of his time abroad and 20% in the US and Oregon in particular, Kaza finally "came home" for good to the state in early 2003.
So what drives a blessed man at the top of his game to abandon a successful business career and choose to devote his life to public service ? Click "the Mission" at left to continue the tale...
Did you know?
"My father taught music in the Portland public schools and played violin professionally for almost 60 years," says Kaza. "My brother first learned to play the French Horn in the Beaverton school system and is now with the Houston Symphony. It pains me to no end that music education is now one of the first subjects cut out of our children's school curriculum today. We have to reverse this, or we'll face a serious loss of culture in our country in the 21st century."
Bringing government back to the people...
An unjust war in Iraq...tax cuts for the wealthiest individuals in America (including the end of the "rich kids" tax, wrongly labelled the "death tax" by Republicans)...an unfunded mandate dubbed the "No Child Left Behind Act". These are some of the legacies of the current Bush administration. All of them, ironically, were also supported by the Hon. Darlene Hooley (D) of Oregon, the incumbent Representative from the 5th District and Kaza's May primary opponent.
"This is all a by-product of what happens when big corporate money completely overwhelms democracy," says Andrew Kaza. "And this has to be our mission...to bring the government back to the people by turning ourselves away from the lobbyists and government-bribing culture in Washington DC - here in Salem as well.
"Naturally, Democrats want to blame Bush and the Republicans but the system seems on the verge of corrupt on both sides," says Kaza increduously. "Can Darlene Hooley please explain to Democrats why she is voting with the President on all of these fundamental issues?"
Kaza proclaims: "As for us, it's pretty simple. Like Jesus did, it is time to throw the moneychangers out of the temple."
Hooley's "war chest": sold-out to special interests?
In the last three election cycles (1998-2000-2002) and through early November, Congresswoman Hooley had taken in over $400,000 in contributions from real estate, banks and financial interests during the past six years in office. (For more, see the "Open Secrets" website)
Recently, Rep. Hooley received much publicity from her co-authored bill on Identity Theft, which was signed into law by President Bush. "A free credit report is hard to argue with," says Kaza, "but why are Oregon and other states unhappy with this law? Maybe it gives away too much to the banks and others. Is there a relationship between this bill and all the money Rep. Hooley receives from such financial special interest groups? I think it's another reasonable question worth asking."
Kaza's Progressive Priorities
In the Oregon tradition, Andrew Kaza espouses non-partisan progressive values, and will work to develop the following ideas into action in the 109th Congress, once elected:
IRAQ: End the US occupation within 18 months, restoring the country to a democracy, respecting its pre-colonial (1920s) borders.
REFORM: Support legislation to bring real democracy to the US, via election reform and media reform, including development of free airtime for candidates (thus breaking the cycle of legalized bribery via campaign contributions).*
ECONOMY: Develop a long-term jobs policy, based on lessons learned in international business over the past decade. Support repeal of Bush tax cuts for the rich, including reversing the elimination of the estate tax on "rich kids".
HEALTH CARE: Resist the powerful health care interests to develop a truly comprehensive national health care plan and reverse the Bush administration's Medicare giveaway to big HMOs and drug companies.
ENVIRONMENT: Push for better protection of Oregon's natural assets, with federal funding for restoring watersheds, wetlands and woodlands.
(really a tie for 5th!) EDUCATION: Repeal/reverse the "No Child Left Behind Act" and support greater federal funding for public schools with local control, and an end to experimentation with vouchers and contracting of public schools to private corporations.
For a comprehensive look at Kaza's positions on the issues, with a handy comparison chart representing the incumbent, please click check back in January for more in the section "Kaza vs. Hooley".
* to find out more about Oregon campaign finance reform, click here
Did you know?
Kaza has lived and worked abroad longer than any member of Congress today, having done business in over 20 countries?
Has dealt effectively with politicians and bureaucrats in the European Union, and experienced terrorism first-hand in London during the 1990s
Is a native Oregonian and so not surprisingly, his political heroes include: former Oregon leaders Wayne Morse, Tom McCall & Mark Hatfield (but also current Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold).
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