text: berkley bedell berkley warren bedell ( born march 5 , 1921 ) is a former u.s. representative from iowa . after starting a successful business in his youth , berkley fly co . , he ran for the united states congress in 1972 , but was defeated by incumbent wiley mayne . in 1974 , however , bedell beat wiley mayne and was elected to congress . he was known for his support of representative democracy and his populist style . for example , he would hold town halls and let constituents vote on motions to decide what he would do in congress on their behalf . these meetings helped bedell understand the problems of his constituents ; as a result , he backed issues that were important to his farming constituency , such as waterway usage fees and production constraints . he did not seek reelection in 1986 after contracting lyme disease from a tick bite . though he no longer serves in congress , bedell remains active in iowa politics , strongly supporting howard dean in 2004 over john kerry . in the 2008 presidential election , he met several times with chris dodd , but endorsed barack obama in the end . early life born in spirit lake , iowa , bedell was educated in spirit lake public schools . he graduated from spirit lake high school in 1939 , where he earned spending money with a business in the midst of the great depression . his business involved braiding dog hairs around fishhooks , the result of which could be sold as trout flies . he began tying the fly - fishing lures in his bedroom , then he moved the business into his parents ' basement . in time , he got space above a grocery store to continue the business full - time . after graduating from high school , he attended iowa state university from 1940 to 1942 , where he met fellow isu student elinor healy from grand marais , minnesota . berkley and elinor married in minneapolis on august 29 , 1943 and their son kenneth was born in 1947 , thomas in 1950 and daughter joanne in 1952 . berkley ’ s college and personal life was interrupted in 1942 when he joined the army . he served in the united states army as first lieutenant and flight trainer from 1942 to 1945 . when he got back , he began to garner success from his fish tackling business . his business became larger , with hundreds of employees and international operations ; he had become a millionaire by the 1960s . he served as member of the spirit lake board of education from 1957 to 1962 . political career running for congress by the early 1970s , bedell had decided to run for political office . in 1972 , he ran against wiley mayne , a republican incumbent in iowa 's 6th congressional district . mayne was a staunch supporter of richard nixon and secured victory along with the president in a year favorable to the republicans . mayne , however , would politically suffer after watergate ( he was one of only a few republicans to vote against impeaching the president on the judiciary committee . ) the damage had already been done , and bedell defeated mayne in a 1974 rematch . during his time at congress , bedell took efforts to uphold representative democracy . he held town halls regularly with his constituents , and he would let them vote on motions to decide what he would do in congress on their behalf . this type of communication told bedell of the types of issues affecting his farming constituency . thus , though bedell had not farmed in his life , he would take steps in congress to benefit farmers . waterway usage fees bedell sponsored several bold initiatives during his tenure in the united states house of representatives . one initiative , which came from his constituents ' problems with the barge industry , focused on waterway usage fees . he introduced legislation in 1977 that would require the barge industry to pay a fee for using the waterways which , bedell pointed out , the government paid millions of dollars to create and maintain . bedell 's original plan set the rate the barge industry paid as directly related to the amount the government spent on waterway projects . this would have the additional effect of helping curb unnecessary waterway projects , and it was the same plan proposed by pete domenici in the senate . congress eventually passed a watered - down version of the original plan put forward by bedell and senator pete domenici . the compromise version enacted a tax on the gasoline barges used and put it into a " trust " for waterway projects . while other supporters of waterway usage fees , including domenici , backed the compromise , bedell gave a plea for his colleagues to oppose it . he viewed it as lacking a crucial element of the original plan - that of capital recovery . the trust was optional , and the government could spend money on waterway projects irrespective of the trust . the compromise was eventually signed by jimmy carter . bedell 's original plan never made it through the house of representatives , but he continued to introduce it in succeeding sessions . it would not , however , get a floor vote in succeeding sessions . farming issues in 1985 , bedell put forward an agricultural plan that he thought would increase production controls for farmers , thus raising prices for crops . this plan , backed by labor unions and certain democrats , passed the agriculture committee as an amendment to farm legislation . it mandated a referendum that would then be used to determine what types of production controls to enact . the purpose of this plan was twofold : production controls would decrease the aggregate supply of crops , thus making individual crops cost more ( which would benefit farmers , who were in the middle of an acute debt crisis . ) second , by styling it as a referendum , the farmers would get to decide the severity of the controls . on the other hand , opponents of the bedell plan had a very different view of this legislation . representatives such as pat roberts claimed that the referendum was redundant because the farmers already voted the politicians into office , and this bill was an example of the politicians not doing their jobs . the reagan administration opposed the bill because of their opposition to production controls , and the president threatened to veto the farm bill if bedell 's plan was left in place . when the bill got to the floor , an amendment was proposed to strike this provision , and it was passed 251 - 174 . investigations of large businesses while in congress , berkley bedell was chairman of the small business subcommittee , and he used this position to investigate underselling on the part of large oil companies . he also claimed that certain large oil companies underpaid their " windfall taxes " in certain cases and wanted to pass legislation to increase regulations on these corporations . in these investigations , bedell quickly gained the support of small gasoline marketers and congressman bill nelson . the chief target , arco , was accused of not paying all of its taxes on alaskan crude oil . in the end , the government tried to make a case against arco , but it was eventually dropped in 1985 . bedell used this opportunity to attack the administration for " not caring " about small business owners , and he advocated that governmental agencies put aside 1 - 3 % of their research and development money for small businesses . clash with reagan in late 1982 , congress passed a law which forbade the united states from funding groups aiming to overthrow the sandinista government of nicaragua . then , in 1983 , bedell visited nicaragua and honduras along with representative robert g. torricelli . during the trip , bedell spoke with soldiers , generals , governmental officials and members of the contras . his conclusion at the end of the trip was that ronald reagan was aiding the contras in violation of federal law . he promised to hold hearings after returning to congress . bedell would later join other house democrats in demanding documents from the white house related to the contras , but the reagan administration refused to provide them . bedell became angrier with the reagan administration as the decade wore on . he called his central american policies " sheer lunacy , " saying that the mining of harbors was an acts of war . bedell would retire from congress before reagan 's acts in central america would culminate with the iran - contra affair . furthermore , bedell was a sharp critic of reagan 's agricultural policies , calling for john block to resign after calling his agricultural plan a failure that was " dead on arrival " in both the house and the senate . reagan 's agricultural plan consisted primarily of a gradual reduction in farm subsidies . he also attacked the department of agriculture for " looking backward " when it dismissed the only expert on organic farming . also , as chairman of the subcommittee on department operations , research and foreign agriculture , which was in charge of regulating usda operations , he opposed the proposals reagan had for reforming the organization . the proposals generally involved shifting costs for meat inspections and other usda duties from the federal government to the industry . controversy in 1981 , it was revealed in internal memos that bedell may have known about potential customs violations that his company engaged in . it asserted that bedell had gone to taiwan in 1973 to discuss " prior violations of customs law " in regards to the sale of fishing rods from the company 's taiwan subsidiary . bedell responded by denying any wrongdoing , saying that he has not been personally involved in the company in years . in the end , no charges were levied against him , and he was reelected after the story was published . after politics bedell decided not to seek reelection in 1986 after contracting lyme disease from a tick bite . since then , he has founded a center for alternative medicine and is a noted advocate of health freedom . due largely to his friendship with tom harkin , he remains an important political figure in iowa , with politicians such as howard dean meeting him in their trips to the state . also , the elinor bedell state park was established in 1998 on land donated by berkley bedell . the park is named after the congressman 's wife . as an opponent of the vietnam war , bedell signed a petition urging against united states military intervention in iraq . this petition was signed with the names of 70 former congressmen from the 1970s and was presented in a press conference on march 15 , 2003 . bedell said that it was unbelievable for the united states to settle disputes with war , and he said that an iraq war would be similar to the vietnam war . in the 2004 presidential election , bedell attacked john kerry for voting for newt gingrich 's freedom to farm act , which bedell claims wrecked the farm program . bedell would later officially endorse howard dean 's candidacy . for the 2008 election , bedell met with chris dodd . however , in december 2007 , he announced his endorsement of barack obama .