artrobinsonoffice.jpg

Art Robinson sits in his office at the research institute he's set up on his 500-acre ranch near Cave Junction.

(Jeff Mapes/The Oregonian)

Art Robinson, chairman of the Oregon Republican Party and serial congressional candidate, is back in the national news after

to use in his scientific research.

Robinson was once again

, as she laughed her way through a report about Robinson sending out mailings to some 500,000 Oregon households seeking participants willing to send him twice-annual urine specimens.

"If you live in his district," Maddow said, "he would like your vote, but if you live anywhere else on Planet Earth and you got to go, Art Robinson would like your pee."

Robinson, who is running for a third time against Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., after losing twice before, first raised eyebrows last September when he sent out a similar mailing to fellow Josephine County residents asking for urine samples.

Robinson said the samples will be useful in his research

, which he's conducting at a scientific institute he's set up on his Cave Junction ranch.

Robinson, a chemist who once worked closely with Linus Pauling, is known for his iconoclastic views, including the belief that small doses of radiation are beneficial to health. Both he and DeFazio are unopposed in this month's primary.

Other Oregon congressional news of the week:

WYDEN ON TRADE

: Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., on Thursday rejected Republican efforts to move quickly on legislation smoothing the way for new free-trade agreements.

:

Wyden's comments fueled the conventional wisdom that the Democratic-led Senate won't act on the Trade Promotion Authority legislation until after the mid-term elections in November.

KLAMATH BASIN MONEY: Wyden and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., announced Friday that the federal government will invest $11 million in the Klamath Basin over the next five years to support an agreement reached among the tribes and other water users.

-- Jeff Mapes