State Senate — Tony Corcoran

Students can find a friend in the state Senate race by electing Tony Corcoran to represent District 4.
District 4 represents rural areas around Eugene and the University area. Corcoran is an incumbent, he has experience representing diverse populations, and he served in the state House for two years before moving to the Senate. Corcoran has maintained a self-described good relationship with the Oregon Students Association and with the current ASUO Executive, giving students a voice in the state Legislature.
We urge students in the University community to vote for Tony Corcoran — he will best represent District 4.

State House — Floyd Prozanski

Floyd Prozanski is the best choice for District 8. Prozanski can boast seven years in the Oregon Legislature as a member of the House of Representatives. His opponent, Greg McNeill, while a student, can claim only a failed run for ASUO Executive.
While we feel that a student’s viewpoint would be welcome in the House, Greg McNeill has no experience in office, and his ideas sound unformed. Prozanski is a committed environmentalist and has solid ideas to keep education affordable.
Elected representatives must be answerable to the people they serve, and we heartily endorse a candidate that has concrete ideas that represent students — not just a candidate who is a student.

U.S. Senate — Bill Bradbury

Voters can send back the garbage U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith has been shoveling and elect a senator who genuinely supports what students want and need — Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury.
Smith’s campaign portrays him as a moderate, but voting records tell a different story. Smith has been moderate for as long as his campaign has been running.
Bradbury has voted in support of a woman’s right to choose, actively supported equal rights for minorities and homosexuals, and voted repeatedly for environmental protection in the state Senate.
Bradbury is the best choice for students — his understanding and support of issues extends beyond a TV commercial.

U.S. House — Peter DeFazio

The Emerald heartily supports Peter DeFazio for the U.S. House of Representatives. He has represented this area for 20 years, 16 of those in the Congress, as a committed environmentalist and a principled lawmaker.
DeFazio has tried to increase Pell Grants and has said that he favors federal loans and scholarships over bank loans. He has even helped students out of his own pocket. Years ago, he refused to accept a pay raise while the budget wasn’t balanced. Ever since, he has used that extra pay to fund nine scholarships annually. To date, he has paid out nearly $182,000 in scholarships.
It’s simple: Re-elect Peter DeFazio.

Governor

We wanted to endorse write-in candidate Gary Alan Spanovich. A majority of the editorial board believes Spanovich would be the best candidate — he offers enlightened leadership and a change in the way Oregon does politics. But there’s a lot at stake in this race.
In an interview with the Emerald, Spanovich said Oregon politics is mired the status quo, which means money and influence in leadership, instead of vision and values. We wholeheartedly agree.
We want a different, better vision for Oregon than is represented by our current two-party choices. Nevertheless, there are stark differences between the two leading candidates — Ted Kulongoski and Kevin Mannix — that are important to us and that we believe are important to students.
So then we could have endorsed Kulongoski. But we cannot overlook the fact that we believe a better candidate exists.
For some people, democracy means everyone votes for what they believe is best. Others pick from a pre-determined set of choices. We don’t know which is right.
But our conscience tells us the only endorsement we can make is for University community members to vote their conscience.