Regis Alumni: Congressman Cliff Bentz

By Ivanna Palacios

Regis has had many successful graduates in its history who have had successful careers. Congressman Cliff Bentz is one of those graduates. He is a Regis alumnus, having graduated as part of the class of 1970.

Congressman Cliff Bentz was born and raised in Oregon. Up to the age of fourteen, he lived in his family’s ranches in Harney County, where he attended Whitehorse Ranch and Pine Creek Grade Schools. According to his website, “Congressman Cliff Bentz,” when Cliff Bentz turned fourteen, plans were made for him to attend Regis High School, so he was sent to live with his aunt and uncle. He participated in multiple activities during his time at Regis, such as basketball and track. He also began to take an interest in government-related positions while in high school, and he demonstrated this by joining the student government and serving as student body president, as well as by serving as a delegate to Boy’s State. He graduated from Regis and attended Eastern Oregon State College, where he served as student body president and as a student member of various student activity committees. Cliff Bentz graduated from Eastern Oregon State College as an honors program member and earned his juris doctorate from Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, OR.

His website, “Congressman Cliff Bentz,” states that following his graduation from college, Cliff joined the Yturri, O’Kief, Rose and Burnham law firm located in Ontario, OR, in 1977, where he became a partner four years later. Once he became an attorney, he specialized in ranch reorganization and water law. While continuing his career practicing law in Ontario, Cliff Bentz served eight years as a member of the Oregon Water Resources Commission and later became the organization’s chair. He served those years as a director and chair of the Ontario 8C public school board and as a board member and vice-chair of Project Dove. And a domestic violence prevention organization as a member and chair of the Oregon Historical Society Board. Later,  he participated for over twenty years as a Blessed Sacrament Parish folk mass group member.

The website “Congressman Cliff Bentz” also mentions that in 2008, Congressman Cliff Bentz was appointed to the Oregon House of Representatives District, and later on, during that same year, he was elected to his first five two-year terms as the Oregon State Representative. During his time in the House, he served on the Revenue, Legislative Council, Energy and Environment, Transportation, and Joint Tax Credits Committees. While doing these, he was also a member of the Legislative Council on River Governance, the Oregon Hunger Task Force, and other committees and work groups. He later resigned from the Oregon House of Representatives in 2018 and was elected to represent Oregon’s Second Congressional District on November 3, 2020. 

Congressman Cliff Bentz has accomplished many things in his life, and his time at Regis was able to influence his interests in leadership very well. And if that’s the kind of future that can await Regis graduates, then one can be sure that Regis is the right place for influencing leadership in students. Congressman Cliff Bentz continues to serve to this date, and Regis will have a part of his past to remember in its history.