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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 21, 1974)
U.S. Senate candidates Boe: nuclear power necessary in interim Inflation is the worst problem in the country today according to State Senator Jason Boe. The 46-year-old Reedsport Democrat says inflation hurts middle in come people and people on fixed incomes the most. After almost six years in the State House of Representatives and four in the State Senate, Boe has entered the race for United States senator. He points to his legislative experience in the Oregon Legislature, especially his membership on the Ways and Means Committee, as his primary qualification. Inflation should be the main concern of Congress, he says, and one way to stop inflation is to eliminate the oil depletion allowance. And Boe says there is enough evidence to bring articles of impeachment against President Nixon. But he adds, "Any in cumbent senator or senatorial candidate is irresponsible whan he says that President Nixon should be impeached or that he is guilty.” Boe does not advocate a drastic reduction in military spending, but he does feel that Congress should exercise more control over the Pentagon. "Cost overruns cannot be tolerated any longer.” he savs. And though he prefers geothermal and solar power, Boe says nuclear power plants are necessary in the "interim” until those resources are developed. He favors the proposed nuclear plant near Boardman on the Columbia River. He does not favor logging French Pete. He wants certain areas of Oregon's forests set aside for commercial purposes and other areas set aside for recreational purposes. Boe supports the national health care plan recently announced by Senators Wilbur Mills and Edward Kennedy, and he opposes the Nixon plan. But he does not "like the looks" of the tax cuts advocated by Kennedy and Senator Walter Mondale. Jason Boe Boe's main opponent in the primary is the 73-year-old Wayne Morse. "Morse has made age an issue in the campaign," he says. Boe points to his ability to get along with others in the Oregon Legislature, and although Morse has been right on many issues, Boe says, Morse was not effective as a senator because he was not able to coordinate Ns efforts with other senators. Boe claims he has a better chance to win the general election. "The biggest factor against Packwood is that it will take a physical campaign to beat him," he adds Boe would like the Senate to end deficil spending, to lower bank interest rates and to work more closely with the House ol Representatives in appropriating money. Another way to control inflation, Boe says, is to reorganize Congress. "Nobody in Congress knows how much they are spending," he says, "because too many people have the authority to spend money." "We need a strong defense," Boe says. Vet he explains that Congress cannot continue "to spend money on planes thai do not fly." Boe also favors increased spending on education. He says that middle income people are caught in a squeeze. The children of the wealthy are able to go to school, and many scholarship programs are available for the children of the poor. Mike Dolan No shows We were not able to contact the incumbent. Robert Packwood is running unopposed in the Republican primary. -State Senate candidates Win gardeducation•, environment priorities With the right kind of legislation, Oregon could enjoy both economic growth and a clean environment, says Republican George Winaard inrumhom r-anriidate for state senator from district 20. He calls the claims that Oregonians must choose between growth and environment a "strawman issue,” pointing out that Oregon already has the strongest en vironmental protection laws of any state. Now the Legislature must work to enforse those laws and to cooperate with other states in meeting the Environmental Protection Agency's standards, he said. "One example of a good law that Oregon has but doesn't enforce is the Permit to Emit law,” Wingard said. "We don't have the money to enforce it." Lack of funding plagues many of the would be effective statutes in Oregon, he said. He said the legislature has received pressure from big industry in Oregon to lessen the severity of some anti-pollution legislation. "I say 'no' to that," said Wingard, who, during his one term as state senator and his one term as a state representative, has been a strong supporter of environmental-protection legislation. Wingard said he would like to see more money go into higher education in Oregon, but he doesn't know where it would come from. He explained the Legislature has two ways of raising money for a program—it can create a new source of revenue or it can take the money from some other program's funding. "I would tend to support giving more money to higher education if the funding came from a new source," Wingard commented. One new source of revenue the Legislature may have in the future is the Timber-Harvest tax, a tax on log ex portation. Instead of coming out of the pockets of Oregonians, that tax money would come from the out-of-state buyers of Oregon timber. "And that's the best kind of tax — the kind the other fella has to pay," Wingard said. He added that he would give higher education a high priority as a recipient of that tax revenue. "My priorities for receiving funding are higher education, environment and primary and secondary education," said Wingard. "But not necessarily in that order." Wingard opposed lowering the legal drinking age in Oregon to 19. He voted George Wingard against both the bill to lower the age limit and against the referendum. He acknowledged that most people between the ages of 18 and 21 probably do drink Gurjfatbln TheJQng even though it's illegal, but he said he does not think that reason enough to make drinking legal for them. "Alcoholism is one of the biggest health problems in the United States today," he explained. "By keeping the drinking age at 21, society is trying to emphasize that it is a health problem and young people should be careful about drinking." Wingard also opposed legislation to decriminalize the use and possession of small amounts of marijuana. He explained that the Legislature "went far enough" when it changed possession of the drug from a felony to a misdemeanor. Although he is a landlord himself, Wingard supported the tenant rights legislation that was passed in the past session. He said the landlords who are grouping together to lobby against that legislation in the next session are making amistake, adding that they should give the new legislation a chance to work before the make judgements about it. Garrett: aid for mothers for a shift in the burden dim (jarrett, a Democratic candidate for House district 20, promises to work for "a shift in the burden of taxation" and for strict limitations on financing of public campaigns. Garrett says he supports a McCall-type tax plan, which would call for an end to William Garrett property-tax financing of education. He also believes that redistribution of the tax burden would take the load off of middle income people and "plug up the loopholes." Garrett also supports strict limitations on the amount of money spent in political campaigns. His specific plan calls for fixing a certain dollar value to each signature on a petition to make candidates eligible for the primary. This would then be given to the candidate for campaign expenses, with private contributions deducted from state funds. This way, $10,000 in contributions would be $10,000 less from the govern ment. Concerning local issues, Garret says he opposes nuclear power plants because they are 'inherently dangerous.” He would push for formation of an energy commission independent of the power producers, who Garrett says should be developing present means of power or safer alternatives such as geo-thermal or solar power. Garrett is also concerned about population growth. He supports "redoubled efforts" in Planned Paren thood, and more clinics for this purpose. He says growth in this area can be slowed down by "attracting only environmentally sound industries," and by giving "high priority" to planning for overall land use. A Eugene resident. Garret graduated from the University with a degree in philosophy. He was on the first OSPIRG board of directors, helped found the Oregon chapter of Americans for Democratic Action, was a 1972 campaign administrator for Wayne Morse and co-chairer of the fourth district Coalition for Impeachment. Garrett is the only candidate in his race to be endorsed by the Women's Political Caucus.
