854 



HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON S( II \< I AND TECHNOLOGY 



Brown, who shared many of Ottinger's views, he was a polarizer who 

 frequently stimulated knee-jerk pro or con reactions to the issues he 

 espoused. For example, at the Democratic caucus meeting of the com- 

 mittee on February 1, 1979, Ottinger was the only nominee for sub- 

 committee chairman who stimulated strong opposition. Ottinger was 

 elected bv the narrow margin of 14-11, revealing occasional negative 

 feelings which his views or tactics generated within the committee. 



Representative Richard L. Ottinger (Democrat of New York) third from right, along with 

 Subcommittee Staff Director James \V. "Skip" Spensley, second from right, and Representative 

 George E. Brown, Jr. (Democrat of California), right, on a field trip to the Department of 

 Energy's Fast Flux Test Facility in Richland, Wash. Others in photo are associated with the 

 facility and include, from left, R. Ferguson, A. Fremling, and A. Squire. 



First elected to the House in 1964, Ottinger has represented two 

 different Westchester County districts. After three terms in the House, 

 he received the Democratic nomination for the Senate in 1970, but 

 lost the general election in a three-way race. Following the retirement 

 of liberal-Republican-turned-Democrat Ogden Reid from the House, 

 Ottinger ran for Reid's former Westchester County seat and was 

 elected along with a large group of the "Watergate Class of 1974." 

 He first joined the Science Committee in 1975, just in time to get in 

 on the committee's expanded jurisdiction. A graduate of Harvard 

 Law School, cofounder and former Peace Corps official, interna- 

 tionalist, and militant liberal, Ottinger can always be found battling 

 for consumer and environmental issues. 



