Len Bergstein

Oregon's Leonard "Len" Bergstein (1945-2022) was a renowned and respected political consultant, lobbyist, and commentator on KGW-TV. He was one of the organizers of the Flight for Freedom, and was called the project's "moral center" by his colleagues.Bergstein was born in New York City on Nov. 13, 1945, to Theresa and Abraham Bergstein. He attended Wesleyan University and earned his law degree from New York University School of Law. He moved to Oregon in 1972. He was a legislative aide to...See more

Oregon's Leonard "Len" Bergstein (1945-2022) was a renowned and respected political consultant, lobbyist, and commentator on KGW-TV. He was one of the organizers of the Flight for Freedom, and was called the project's "moral center" by his colleagues.Bergstein was born in New York City on Nov. 13, 1945, to Theresa and Abraham Bergstein. He attended Wesleyan University and earned his law degree from New York University School of Law. He moved to Oregon in 1972. He was a legislative aide to Oregon Gov. Bob Straub and was an aide to Neil Goldschmidt when Goldschmidt was mayor of Portland and later U.S. Secretary of Transportation. Bergstein started his own consulting firm, Northwest Strategies, a leading political firm with primarily corporate clients for more than 40 years. He was an adviser to Oregon Supreme Court Justice Betty Roberts, Multnomah County Commissioner Gladys McCoy, Portland City Commissioner Charles Jordan and Portland Mayor Vera Katz.U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) paid tribute to Bergstein on Twitter: "Len was instrumental with my start in public life by helping me earn a place with Gov. Straub on Oregon's board of nursing home administrators. I'm eternally grateful for his presence in my life and will miss him greatly."Bergstein was an enthusiastic Portland booster who advised local political campaigns and nonprofits, including, mostly recently, the Albina Vision Trust, which is seeking to revitalize Portland's historically Black Albina neighborhood that was divided by the construction of Interstate 5. He was actively working to advance the trust's work at the time of his death. He appeared regularly as a political commentator on Portland TV station KGW for more than a decade. See less