Lane County residents were given a rare opportunity to air their concerns about issues they feel should be tackled during this year’s legislative season when state senators Ron Wyden (D) and Gordon Smith (R) held a town hall meeting on Monday at the Lane County Regional Sports Complex in Springfield.
The senators are the only ones in the country who hold yearly town hall meetings in every county.
More than 15 citizens and public officials asked questions on topics such as the surge of methamphetamine users in the state, the United State’s treatment of war prisoners and prescription drug coverage for senior citizens.
Wyden said it is crucial for Oregon to deal with the growing problem of meth addicts and promised “a comprehensive effort on the part of your two senators” to enact laws that will combine aggressive law enforcement with effective addiction treatment.
Both senators said they would like the state to lead the country in taking on the growing methamphetamine problem.
“Meth is moving from west to east,” Wyden said. “Some of those states think they have a serious problem, but they don’t know how serious that problem is going to get.”
The Oregon State Legislature will address the need for new laws to fight the spread of meth addiction during this year’s legislative session.
“You will see us draft a bill together that will nationalize the fight against meth,” Smith said, calling the drug “a plague that will destroy a generation of American minds if something is not done.”
Wyden also talked about the need to prevent any further torturing of Guantanamo Bay prisoners, saying it is necessary to have an attorney general who can clearly define what terrorism is.
Wyden said he had reviewed Attorney General Nominee Alberto Gonzalez’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee and “found his answers to be totally unsatisfactory.”
Sen. Ron Wyden addressed issues such as methamphetamine abuse and campaign finance reform Monday night.
Gonzalez did not give a straightforward answer to the question of whether circumstances exist that justify the torture of prisoners, Wyden said, and it is crucial that terrorism be fought without “leaving the world puzzled as to how the United States defines torture.”
Smith said it is crucial to uphold international laws on terror because it helps prevent the torture of the nation’s own soldiers, but he said the world must come together to draft a definition of torture because not everyone adheres to the unwritten rules of civilization.
“We need to gather the world community together to talk about how we can better define this standard and get all nations willing to be civilized to abide by them,” Smith said.
Eugene citizen Jacob Landin asked the senators about the need for fair elections in the United States and expressed his disdain that neither had contested the election results during the Senate’s approval of the electoral vote.
Smith said he did not feel the election results were in need of contesting.
“You always get your say but you don’t always get to win,” Smith said.
Wyden said he shares some of the concerns that have been expressed over the election and said fair elections should be tied in with campaign finance reform.
“There is no reason, none whatsoever, why there isn’t a paper trail for every vote in America,” Wyden said.
Also addressed during the meeting were affordable health care for the small-business community and the need to deal with mental health issues on the same level as physical health.
The senators fielded questions for more than an hour and spent a few moments after the meeting to talk with those who weren’t able to ask their questions.
“This is what Oregon’s all about, making government work at a grassroots level,” Wyden said.
