Vote for Greg
Jamie McLeod-Skinner brags about driving 35-thousand miles in the district to learn about the people more and receive feedback from the voting citizens. She exclaims her concern about the environment and yet chooses a vehicle that only gets 15 to 16 miles per gallon. Why isn’t she driving a Prius? Would her image with the people from our Second District change if she showed up to gatherings of constituents while driving the Prius?
Her campaign has frequently used the picture of her standing under the Skinner Ranch sign to demonstrate the deep connection she has to the region. How close is her connection to the Skinner Ranch, as she mentions it in her initial message to voters? It turns out that the Skinner family who owns the ranch would prefer she avoids any connection with them. In fact, they took a picture under their Skinner Ranch sign with three generations of family members holding Greg Walden signs.
And finally, Jamie recently changed her political website referencing gun control measures she supports. On April 9, 2018, The Dalles Chronicle reported her desire to “ban future sales of military-grade weapons. If the ban fails, McLeod-Skinner supports limiting civilian use of military weapons to firing ranges and securing them on site. She also advocates for a government buy-back program for military grade weapons, with no resale to civilians.”
But as of recently, she has changed her position to a much softer stance. Jamie believed in April that the only reason to own a gun is for hunting.
Several Democrats have repeated the false mantra that Greg Walden has changed over the years since he was elected. Jamie has already changed in five months. Vote for Greg.
Kenneth Ebi
Hood River
No help on tariffs
Americans pride themselves on being independent and self-reliant. For farmers and ranchers in our district, that’s part of a way of life. That way of life, though, is being threatened by Trump’s reckless trade war with China.
Trump has unleashed several rounds of tariffs against Chinese imports, both heavy equipment and consumer items, totaling over $200 billion.
He’s expected to add $267 billion in new tariffs soon, affecting basically everything Americans buy from China. Prices have already risen on some products. We’ll be seeing more.
For farmers and ranchers, and for the rural areas where we live, the picture is not good. Trump says he’s planning a $12 million package to aid American farmers, but farmers are angry and pushing back with protests. They know the handout is a short-term band-aid.
Ranchers and farmers understandably fear being shut out of overseas markets — and it’s already happening around the country. When Trump’s tariffs shut Illinois’ soybean producers out of the China market, Brazil promptly stepped in as China’s dominant supplier.
It’s not only farmers and ranchers who’ll suffer. Ripple effects can be anticipated and will reach deep into our communities. Smaller farms may be forced to sell, most likely to larger operations, since smaller ones don’t have the capital to weather a trade war. Local banks will suffer and may go under when local farms are bought by mega-operators that don’t use local banks for credit. When the local bank folds, the community’s main economic engine disappears.
Trump’s trade war with China is an ego-driven folly for which we are paying the price. His $12 billion plan for farmers is not what farmers want or need. What they want is their markets restored. There is no handout that can compensate for the destruction of a way of life.
Rural Oregon voters expected Greg Walden to stand up for them in this trade war, but he has been absent and silent. Jamie McLeod-Skinner is rural and present AND listening. I’m voting for Jamie.
Vicki Nunenkamp
Hood River
Not voting for a billboard
I keep seeing colorful billboards with Greg Walden saying he is working for us. These billboards must have cost lots of money. I looked up the people and PACs that give him money: According to the OpenSecrets website, the Pharmaceutical and Health Products industry gave him $414,700, with another $314,500 coming from the Health Professional industry.
I remember last year, Walden voted to decimate the Affordable Care Act.
When that didn’t happen, he and other members of Congress voted to take away provisions that make healthcare more affordable. So if you think your healthcare premiums and copays have gone up this year, know they have because Walden and other Republicans worked for this outcome.
Next time I see a big colorful billboard paid for by Walden’s pharmaceutical and healthcare industry buddies, I am going to say to myself, “Working for us? No! Working for them.”
This year, I am voting for Jamie McLeod-Skinner, who doesn’t have fancy billboards but who promises to fix our healthcare system, not break it.
Shannon Nelson-Deighan
Hood River
Country in danger
Your country is in danger and you can save it: Vote.
We are about to have a second sexual predator, and outright liar on the Supreme Court, appointed by a man who is not only one of those himself (by his own confession), but is also certainly an asset of an enemy power.
Moreover, Trumpski is a member (through knowing service for profits) of domestic criminal enterprises and certainly has engaged in money-laundering, tax evasion and thievery. He might never have ordered a hit, but his admiration for foreign leaders who regularly do is blatant. He just said he and the murderous dictator of North Korea are “in love.”
What does it take, neighbors? How much will some of you eat before getting sick and ridding yourself of this gastro-detestable blockage?
Virtually all the Republicans in Congress covered his insanities as he took over their party, once the home of such men as Hatfield, McCall, Robert Mueller and, sigh, Abraham Lincoln. Not only do the R’s running in our county NOT list their party on mailings, they are silent about the petrifying elephant all over their room.
We cannot vote for an “R” for any office until it becomes a different party again, even if the candidate seems like a “really nice guy.” Resist the urge and either don’t vote or vote for the opposition to this vile state of affairs.
Your country is in danger and you can save it: VOTE, here of course, but also through urging friends other places to vote and help others to register and then vote.
Bob Williams
Hood River
Never enough
Republicans in Congress are desperate to hold onto their majority this November. Huddling behind closed doors last week, they got some advice from one of their campaign leaders, our own Rep. Greg Walden:
“This will be a cycle where you can’t work too hard in your district and you can’t have too much money,” the Washington Examiner reported.
Walden’s actions prove he can’t have too much money. From January of last year through this June, he’s raked in over $4 million — with the biggest contributions from the pharmaceutical, healthcare, oil and gas, and electrical utilities industries — and lobbyists.
By contrast, his challenger, Jamie McLeod-Skinner, is working hard in our district. She’s traveled over 40,000 miles to talk with regular Oregonians about our needs and our hopes for the future. It’s time to put families and communities first, she says.
Mr. Walden’s focus is on his corporate PAC agenda, which serves corporate “donors” (or rather, “payers”) well, but not our district.
It’s time to retire a career politician who’s more at home meeting with lobbyists and captains of industry in the comfort of his Washington, D.C. office than he is in his own district. Let’s elect Jamie McLeod-Skinner on Nov. 6.
Janette D. Skarda
Hood River
Vote Reitz
Chrissy Reitz has my vote for Oregon State Senate!
Our state is an exemplary model for the nation in many ways, but not in K-12 education. It’s high time changes are made.
Chrissy is devoted to the Hood River County schools and has become chair of the school board. She meets regularly with superintendent of schools, Dan Goldman, and promotes innovative programs to improve our education system without simply throwing more money at it.
The Oregon State senate would be stronger to move forward on education (and many other related programs) with Chrissy Reitz elected to add her energy and creativity to the next session.
Please join me in voting for Chrissy Reitz for State Senate in November!
Richard Best
Parkdale
Deception
RE: Brett Kavanaugh and ... A saying from William Butler Yeats: “Sentimentality is deceiving yourself. Rhetoric is deceiving others.”
And bullying is one of the many ways of not being responsible for one’s feelings. The bullies who are hurting, desperately trying to pass off their hurt onto others, as shown in movie “Shawshank Redemption.”
Also on display at the hearing, the immense pride, the meticulous image, the hard work which seems to prevent him from seeing the strengths and weaknesses in himself and all us other humans.
Tom Hons
Hood River
Williams, Reitz for Legislature
On Nov. 6, residents of Oregon Senate District 26 and House District 52 have the opportunity to elect two dynamic women committed to protecting our communities through commonsense firearms legislation.
Chrissy Reitz is running to replace Chuck Thomsen in SD26, and Anna Williams, for HD52, currently held by Jeff Helfrich.
Both Reitz and Williams have earned the designation “Gun Sense Candidate” from Moms Demand Action, part of Everytown for Gun Safety. This is because they have pledged to help prevent gun violence through common-sense legislation. There are many reasons to like these two candidates; this is an important one.
Thomsen has voted NO on all three of Oregon’s reasonable gun laws passed in the last few years: SB941, the expansion of background checks to include private gun sales; SB719, the “Extreme Risk Protection Act,” which denies firearms to someone deemed suicidal or to a married partner convicted of domestic violence; and HB4145, the “Boyfriend Loophole”, which expands SB719 to include unmarried domestic partners and stalkers. Helfrich opposed HB4145 even though his fellow police officers will be safer when called to a domestic violence call if perpetrators don’t have guns.
Most Americans agree that reasonable measures to keep guns out of the hands of those who would harm themselves or others with firearms make good sense. Let’s elect Chrissy Reitz and Anna Williams, leaders who will work to implement that effort.
Mary Blankevoort
Troutdale
Elect Johnson
Do you want important decisions to be heard and considered concerning Hood River’s housing, land use planning, the creation of new jobs and public safety to be made with ALL of the pros and cons, and not just one side? If so, vote Susan Johnson for mayor. I am going to do so.
Mary Rose
Hood River
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