Eugene Register-Guard Endorses Merkley for U.S. Senate

OPINION: U.S. Senate: Merkley Legislator is superbly qualified for national office
Eugene Register-Guard
10/5/08

There’s a reason why Democrat Jeff Merkley — a cerebral, low-key campaigner with a substantial name-recognition disadvantage — has come from behind and now is in a virtual dead heat with a better-known, better-financed, two-term incumbent Republican U.S. senator.

The reason is not that Oregonians don’t appreciate Sen. Gordon Smith’s dramatic 2006 break with the Bush administration over the war in Iraq. Neither is it that Oregonians, among the staunchest supporters of reproductive rights in the United States, don’t recognize the importance of abortion-opponent Smith’s vote to allow federal funds to be used for embryonic stem cell research.

It has nothing to do with Smith’s laudable departure from Bush and the religious right in cosponsoring, with liberal Sen. Ted Kennedy, legislation to include attacks on gays and lesbians under the federal hate crimes law. And all Oregonians who care about the welfare of the state’s children appreciated Smith’s support for a $35 billion expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program financed by a 61 cents-per-pack cigarette tax increase.

No, the tide isn’t turning Merkley’s way because blue-state Oregonians object to being represented by a moderate Republican who isn’t afraid to vote his conscience in defiance of his party or his president. Three things are fueling Merkley’s increasing momentum:

The Bush administration’s anything-goes economic policies, which Smith has supported with clockwork consistency, have contributed to a meltdown in the U.S. economy that worsens by the day. Smith has been a reliable Republican vote for administration tax cuts and spending that erased a $128 billion surplus at the beginning of the Bush presidency and has led to a projected $409 billion deficit for 2009.

In addition to his disastrous economic policies, Bush is burdened by an eye-popping 70 percent disapproval rating — with good reason. He has presided over an astonishing decline in the image of the U.S. government at home and abroad. Smith can’t simply wish away his association with a president he has loyally supported by pointing to some contrarian votes. When Congressional Quarterly, a nonpartisan chronicler of Capitol Hill, has tallied each House and Senate member’s yearly voting record, Smith has come out voting on Bush’s side more than 90 percent of the time in four of the past seven years. For the seven years that his Senate membership overlaps Bush’s presidency, Smith has received an 85 percent rating from CQ for his level of presidential support.

And Jeff Merkley has been erasing his name-recognition deficit the old-fashioned way, by pounding the pavement from Astoria to Ashland and from Beaverton to Baker City, introducing himself to Oregonians and explaining his platform. Clearly, many voters like what they’re seeing and hearing from the speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives.

What Merkley may lack in charisma, he more than makes up for in substance and smarts. The five-term legislator from Portland has shown that he knows how to get things done in Salem. As minority leader during the 2003 and 2005 sessions, he helped engineer the Democratic victories in 2006 that ended 16 years of Republican control of the House. His colleagues elected him speaker for the 2007 session. That session was the most productive in recent memory, with achievements in education funding, civil rights, consumer protection and budgetary stability.

Values such as standing up for consumers and creating budgetary stability played a part in Merkley’s opposition to the just-passed $700 billion bailout plan for the financial markets. We share many of Merkley’s concerns about a lack of accountability and oversight in the bailout, but disagree with his opposition in one significant respect: We believe immediate action on a bill that Congress could accept was needed right now to stabilize a panicked marketplace. Smith correctly and courageously voted for this unpopular but necessary intervention. Nonetheless, Merkley raises important questions about the way the bailout was structured, and his misgivings are shared by Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Peter DeFazio — both of whom voted against the bailout — and countless other Oregonians.

Merkley heard firsthand the economic anxiety Oregonians are feeling as he traveled throughout the state on his 100 Towns Tour for Change. He has promised that if elected he’ll sign on as a cosponsor of Wyden’s Healthy Americans Act. It’s a pragmatic approach to health care reform that would guarantee every American affordable, comprehensive, portable health coverage with benefits that are at least as good as those members of Congress receive today.

It’s impossible to do it justice here, but Merkley’s impressive résumé includes degrees from Stanford and Princeton; experience in the Congressional Budget Office; expertise in nuclear weapons issues; and a three-year stint as director of Habitat for Humanity in Portland.

That background, with its invaluable international seasoning, combined with Merkley’s extensive legislative experience, make him superbly qualified to represent Oregon in the U.S. Congress. Oregonians can help bring real change to Washington, D.C., by voting for Jeff Merkley for U.S. Senate.

Posted October 5, 2008
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