Letter to the Editor: Jamie is the real deal

The primary on May 15 provides an opportunity for voters of all parties to inject new vigor and a rural perspective into our district.

The best choice, hands down, is Jamie McLeod-Skinner.

I attended the recent candidate’s forum at the high school, knowing little to nothing about the seven candidates. A mere two minutes were allotted to each candidate for their statements and answers.

Nevertheless, after two hours I’d identified three candidates who seemed they could mount a spirited challenge to Greg Walden. Jamie McLeod-Skinner was one of them.

I wanted to learn more, so when I discovered she was holding another meeting two days later at The Dalles-Wasco County Library, I attended. I listened for an hour and a half as she fielded questions pertinent to the life of rural Oregonians.

I was highly impressed by her professional background and her wide-ranging experience with local government and environmental concerns. But, I was especially impressed by her temperament. She employs reasoned exchanges in dealing with people holding opposing views.

In a time when far too many persons holding public office resort to personal invective and exaggerated claims, Jamie listens quietly and then replies politely with a different perspective supported by data.

Her expertise in one particular area – water resources management – struck me as critically important to the future of rural Oregon.

I believe she would devote the same diligence to representing District 2 in Congress that she has displayed throughout her professional life, one marked by down-to-earth honesty and a lifelong familiarity with the life of hardworking rural Oregonians.

I left that special meeting at the library with a new conviction of my own: Jamie McLeod-Skinner is the right person to replace Greg Walden and this is the right time for that change.

In the words of an endorsement for her candidacy by the East Oregonian newspaper, Jamie McLeod-Skinner “has the best chance to give Walden the toughest race.”

She has already won every one of the straw polls taken during the campaign. She deserves to win on May 15.

Debbie Blair

The Dalles