The wall that has existed in the past between politicians and their constituents seemed to slowly crumble on Thursday evening in North Eugene High School’s library. More than 100 concerned Eugene residents gathered to discuss their aspirations for the 2009 legislative session with Democratic state legislators Rep. Nancy Nathanson, Rep. Chris Edwards and Sen. Vicki Walker.
After the presentations of the legislators’ goals, some residents showed photos of their special needs children and told diatribes about lost jobs and missed opportunities, likening the gathering to an old fashioned town hall meeting.
Walker wasted no time painting a bleak picture of Oregon’s economic future.
“Oregon is in a whole lot of trouble, and unlike the federal government, we don’t have a credit card to swipe,” she said.
The federal government mandates that all state governments keep a balanced budget. General obligation debt, which occurs when a state uses a service that it is unable to pay for, can occur but must be approved by Congress and, in many cases, state voter consent.
Walker said balancing the budget is a difficult task when those demanding social services are expanding because of the rapid loss of jobs in the state. Walker said 28,000 more households than last year are on Food Stamps, and 50,000 more people are on Medicaid.
The state’s education programs are also more demanded than ever before with 11,000 more college students using Oregon’s College Savings Plan, and 7,400 more children in public schools than last year.
The legislators also agreed on a few things Oregon’s legislature could do to ensure that the state can pull itself up by its bootstraps in a time of economic despair.
Edwards said the government needs to set aside more money in a rainy-day fund to avoid future recessions, help Oregon families by creating more well-paying jobs, invest in worker skill programs, and expand jobs in renewable energy, nano-technology and other innovative fields
“There is no better social program ever developed than a job,” Edwards said. “And with Oregon leading the green movement already, what better thing to invest in for our state?”
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Oregon’s unemployment rate in November was 8.1 percent – the third highest rate in the nation.
Health care was another hot-button issue at Thursday’s meeting, as residents at the meeting boisterously urged their legislators to take bolder action this session than before.
“You have got to be strong,” retired health care worker Betty Jane Shirley said. “You have got to be bold or else you shouldn’t do anything at all.”
In an attempt to address an 18 percent increase in the amount of kids in Oregon’s criminal youth facilities and an 81 percent increase in the number of inmates in Oregon’s jails in 2008, Edwards spoke about ways to make Oregon safer.
His personal goals included cracking down on the theft and re-selling of metal by requiring recyclers to actively participate in stopping metal theft when there is evidence that someone is trying to sell stolen materials. Edwards said this is an important issue because metal theft is commonly committed by methamphetamine abusers to support their addiction.
Nathanson strives to strengthen privacy protection laws so that credit, banking and medical information is more secure. She also said she aspires to use the legislative session to protect future homeowners from fraudulent lending practices.
Other resident concerns included whether or not the state could keep up on their environmental protection policies in a rocky economic time.
“I plan on using our state’s natural resources to stimulate the economy,” Walker said. “I don’t think there is anything wrong with cutting down a tree and then planting one, even though I know that will cause my environmental friends to shiver their timbers,” she said.
No matter how bleak the economic picture looks for Lane County and the state of Oregon, the proposed $775 billion federal stimulus package will provide a chance for states to receive money for infrastructure projects that will create jobs. The money must go toward “shovel-ready projects, ” which Congress will define after it finishes the stimulus package. Then, Oregon’s legislators will prepare projects throughout the state to ensure Oregon a bigger slice of the stimulus pie.
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Politicians, residents discuss Eugene’s future inmeeting
Daily Emerald
January 11, 2009
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