U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Merkley visits Creswell

Creswell Chronicle
By Helen Hollyer
June 18, 2008

Two-year-old Kylee Chisholm discusses the merits of bubble-gum-flavored ice cream with Jeff Merkley, Oregon House Speaker and Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate at Creswell's Old Time Scoops. Kylee's mother Jennifer Chisholm and grandmother Jerri Chisholm indicated that they intended to vote for Merkely.

Photo Courtesy of Helen Hollyer, Creswell Chronicle

Just two days after Jeff Merkley, Democratic candidate for the Senate seat currently held by Gordon Smith, announced his 100 Towns for Change tour of Oregon, he arrived in Creswell to discuss economic development with local citizens.

Merkley began his tour Saturday, June 14 with a trip to Myrtle Creek, where he was born, continued to Roseburg, where he spent his early childhood, stopped in Sutherlin and Cottage Grove and finished the day in Creswell.

In Myrtle Creek, he discussed the rising cost of health care, met with small business owners in Roseburg to talk about high gas prices and federal timber payments and spoke about global warming and energy independence in Sutherlin.

By late afternoon when he arrived in Creswell, he was brimming with enthusiasm after touring Cottage Grove's Family Relief Nursery, where he discussed health care and education issues.

Accompanied by State Senator Bill Morrisette and his wife Janice, State Representative Phil Barnhart and several campaign staffers, Merkley met with half a dozen Creswell area residents at Los Cabos Mexican Restaurant.

He immediately asked for an update on the efforts of local and state government officials to assist Pacific States Industries in deciding whether to rebuild its Creswell Bald Knob veneer plant, heavily damaged in a fire a month ago.

After confirming that Bald Knob had been the largest private employer in Creswell, Markley deftly segued into a political message.

"Good paying jobs tie into one of the themes of this campaign," he said. "Over the last generation, 80 percent of United States citizens have seen flat incomes. Although productivity has increased greatly, most of the wealth has gravitated to the top five percent."

Merkley charged that the Bush administration's trade and tax policies have caused good paying jobs to be shipped out of the country by providing tax credits for corporations that move jobs overseas.

"Over the last eight years, the administration has practiced an insane national financial strategy," he stated. "There has been a phenomenal increase in national debt that shifts debt to our children.

"I plan to use democracy to reach out and change that by addressing consumer issues at the national level," Merkley said. "I've already worked for consumers at the state level."

After stating that the war in Iraq must be ended, Merkley responded to Jerry Norcia's question about airport security by commenting that the nation had reacted inappropriately to the threat of domestic terrorism, with the greatest overreaction being the invasion of Iraq.

Merkley said that the country needed to invest in alternative energy to reduce the enormous amount spent to purchase foreign oil.

"At $100 a barrel, we're spending more than $1.2 billon a day on oil," he pointed out.

"It seems like the cost of oil is offering opportunity for public transportation," said Larry Weaver, "yet here in Lane County, LTD [Lane Transit District] is decreasing service because of the cost of fuel despite increased ridership."

"It makes sense to explore the concept of high speed rail on the West Coast," Merkley said, "but that would require dedicated tracks and different technology. There are lots of pieces to the puzzle. It doesn't make sense for the government to choose the winners in alternate technologies.

"Hybrid and electric cars have a role to play, but a huge factor in removing carbon dioxide from the environment is reforesting the planet. We do have a carbon dioxide sequestration technology—it's called a tree."

Sheila Hale told Merkley that the Ford Family Foundation's Leadership Program was developing local leaders to work collaboratively to solve local problems, and asked him how he would work in the Senate to change the current situation of political decisions made through conflicting interests battling to a deadlock.

"I'm a policy guy," responded Merkley, indicating that his background included 10 years working in Washington, D.D. in international affairs. "I believe problems get solved by sitting down and brainstorming with people.

"When I became Speaker of the [Oregon] House [of Representatives], we [the Democrats] had a one person majority. I asked both Republican and Democratic committee chairs and vice-chairs to consult with each other on a weekly basis.

"We had the most productive session in Oregon in decades. Very few bills were passed by a one-vote majority. I believe in governing by bringing people back to the middle. Families, whether rural or urban, face the same issues."

"Is our country in decline?" asked Bill Morrisette. "What are you going to do to save the nation?"

"We have depleted the national treasury," replied Merkley. "The euro economy has supplanted the dollar economy, we are continuously undermining our economy with payments for foreign oil. We have to end our addiction to oil and develop a coherent energy plan.

"Until recently, Gordon Smith didn't acknowledge global warming. We don't need someone representing Oregon who changes his position only in election years," said Merkley.

Asked how he proposed to defeat Smith, who represents himself as a moderate Republican, Merkley replied, "By getting more votes than he does. If you look at the vulnerability of U.S. Senators nationwide, Gordon Smith is considered to be one of the two most vulnerable.

"Smith has a 90 percent record of voting in accordance with Bush-Cheney positions and he represents a state that gives the current administration the lowest rating of all states. Smith is out of sync with this state."

Born in rural Oregon to a family of modest means, his father worked in a lumber mill, and the first in his family to attend college, the Stanford- and Princeton-educated speaker of the Oregon House seeks to convince Oregon voters that he is more in touch with their concerns than is the incumbent senator. To that end, he will take his message to 95 more Oregon cities and town in coming weeks.

Posted June 18, 2008
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