CAMPAIGN - Liberators Forum

     I spent three hours at the Liberators Forum tonight in Roseburg. It was time well spent, as I listened to four candidates for Oregon governor and three candidates for the U.S. Senate seat held by Jeff Merkeley. If we believe the mainstream media, or some of our friends' postings on Facebook, we're led to believe there are only two candidates....Republican Dennis Richardson and Democrat John Kitzhaber...running for governor. But tonight, I got to hear in person from four OTHER candidates for the job.
     Of course, the reason that I was there was for the county commissioner candidate portion. Tim Freeman, Mick Fummerton, Dale Rogers, Monte Smith, and myself were present. Mark Vincent and Glen Neilsen did not attend. Because so many candidates were there to speak, twelve in all, the question and answer sessions were short, and they eliminated the closing remarks for the county commissioner candidates, who spoke last.
     Here are some observations, in no particular order of importance.

*  I had boned up, somewhat, on the United Nations' Agenda 21 program, knowing that the Liberators strongly believe in the U.S. Constitution as the supreme law of the land (as do I) and they believe in U.S. sovereignty from the United Nations (as do it). As luck would have it, the commissioner candidate questions focused primarily on local issues.

*  One question centered around government's role in business, and giving an example of getting the government out of private business. I gave the same of the Salmon Harbor R.V. Park at Winchester Bay. When I previously ran for county commissioner, I talked with private R.V. Park owners who were upset that the county government was running a competing business next door to their own business. While I am not opposed to the Salmon Harbor project, because there was some economic benefit that came to Winchester Bay, I said the county needs to think carefully before taking on a private enterprise.

*  Another question asked what county programs/departments should be consolidated or expanded? There were very few examples that any of the commissioner candidates offered, perhaps because there has already been cutbacks and consolidation over the years. I mentioned that in the past, there was talk about consolidating the library system and the county museum under one department head. After research was done, it was decided that each department needed someone with technical expertise in that area, and the county would still have to pay two people to run those two departments, even if there were only one "department head." (I think) I said keeping the salaries in line was better than trying to consolidate too many departments.

*  Yes or No question: Would you restore the televised county commissioner meetings to the cable TV public access channel? I answered YES. I was quoted in Sunday's News-Review as saying that was one of my priorities if elected commissioner. I'm glad I had the "first word" for that question.

*  David Jacques from the Roseburg Beacon came near the end of the candidates forum to take pictures of the candidates. So even though there may not have been more than a couple dozen audience members, the forum will still receive some publicity.

     I don't know how many votes I may have picked up at tonight's candidates forum. But considering that this could be a very close race for the second-highest vote recipient, I can't afford to lose any opportunities to pick up even one vote.