Oregon Dems visit Mt. Hood

Stephen Floyd

The Advocate

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden endorsed state legislative candidates Jim Buck and Laurie Monnes Anderson during a voter rally Monday afternoon in the Main Mall.

The rally started with some mildly political guitar entertainment for a sparse crowd. The mood of the crowd became more enthusiastic when Wyden took the stage and began talking about the national election.

Wyden warned voters that if President Bush is re-elected, they would go through another four years of the same policy and international relations. He then introduced Buck and Anderson.

The big issue the candidates addressed was the school funding crisis and how to correct it. Buck said the problem is the state has an over dependency on income tax. “All of our essential services, including education, are largely supported by income tax,” he said. “When we get a slump when people are out of work, then our revenue as a state falls dramatically.” Buck said that the slump in information technology in 2000 had a large effect on state income.

Anderson reverberated Buck’s views, adding that loopholes in state laws allowed for large corporations to pay small amounts of taxes. “The Enrons of the world really hurt us,” she said. “We need to start making sure that those big companies aren’t just paying $10, that they’re paying their fair share.”

Anderson added that the problem also comes from the way funds are controlled. She said the problem could be attributed to the passing of Measure five in 1991, which took funding control that was once local and gave it to the state. She argued that localized coalitions of schools, hospitals and other organizations that receive state funds will lower premiums and, in turn, cut costs.

College President Robert Silverman agrees that the corporate loopholes are a problem, but says that the problem is not a lack of funding but a mismanagement of priorities. “I think the state lacks a will to do what it takes to really fund education properly and effectively,” said Silverman. “I think that there’s a lot of people who talk about supporting education, but I just don’t see a will of the people to really do what it takes, which is more money.” Silverman concedes that all the services the state is providing are important, but that education is not given the high priority it deserves.

Buck and Anderson also warned that the funding crisis might get worse before it gets better. “Everything I’m hearing about this legislative session says things could still get worse because of the one-time revenue sources they drew upon to create this biennium’s budget that we won’t have available next time,” said Buck. “We’re looking at starting this session between $500 million and $1 billion already in deficit.” Along with the temporary tax increases, many jobs are also gone. “The economy has stayed flat and is slowly getting better, but it’s going to take us several years to make up for what we’ve lost,” said Anderson.

At the end of the rally, the candidates stressed the importance of voting, citing examples of how a few votes can make a great difference. Anderson said that in her last race for office, she lost by 200 votes out of 20,000. Buck said, “We have legislators that won their election by seven or eight votes. It’s critical. Every vote counts.”

Both candidates said they are confident they will be elected and feel fortunate to have been able to speak at MHCC.