WHY RUN
I was one of the first 18 year olds in Oregon to vote in the general election in 1972. I got to be a Republican representative at the voting precinct in Silverton Oregon at Eugene Field Grade School.
Governor Tom McCall arranged for a few of the young voters to attend a set of classes on how to write a bill for submission to the Governor for signature into law. We covered the process of making law in the House and Senate. But most importantly, was the part about what you “intend to do” with the law you are trying to create and how the “Intent” document was almost as important as the bill.
I was on my way to college at that point in life. Mechanical Engineering was the goal, so politics was not too high on my priority list. Those classes and what they taught have always stuck in my mind. Particularly the “Intend to do” part.
Looking at all of the messes and financial trouble that Oregon is in right now, I have to ask if this is what the Legislature and the Governor “Intended to do”? Did the Legislature “Intend” to drive Oregon into insolvency with PERS and did they “Intend” to kick the can down the road by ignoring every single warning sign that could possibly have been thrown in front of them for the last 40 years? Did the Legislature and the Governor “Intend” to take educational curriculum out of the hands of local school boards and centralize the decisions on what is taught in our schools? Did the Legislature and Governor “Intend” to stop the construction of roads, cause high density housing, and make light rail the only goal for transportation in this State? Did the Legislature and the Governor “Intend” to prevent the People in rural Oregon from being successful so that the tax revenues collected from all of the Counties would not have to be sent back to the counties because they don’t need them anyway?
Yes. That is what the Democrat Party Leadership in the Legislatures and the Governors have done for the last 40 years. And to make sure, Judges and appointees have been put in place that will twist the Constitution for their need to stay in power.
Funny thing about power. Power seldom has tomorrows. Oregon has been reduced to having a “Life Style” and not a “Life”. “Life styles” have no tomorrows to worry about (tax, spend, and keep secrets), whereas “Life” has a future that requires planning and careful considerations of what could and will happen in the future (fiscal responsibility and truth).
There is nothing coming out of the Democrat Party Leadership that indicates that the Legislature and the Governor have any consideration of Oregon’s future. Only the power and their “Life Style” matters. I would ask the People of Oregon to view what has gone on in Oregon for the last 40 years under the light of “Life Style” vs. “Life”. It becomes easy to understand how we got here today and what must be done to get “Life” back into consideration for our futures.
Oregon’s future is the real reason I am running for District 35 of House of Representatives in Oregon. Our Independence, our Future, and the Lives of the People of this State will be my first priority as your Representative.