Straub
visits
Straub
By JANE LEHMAN
and DAN POSTREL
Straub admitted Tuesday his biggest
concern in the gubernatorial elections
would be the “Oregon myth,” Tom
McCall, if the Republican decides to
enter the upcoming race.
“I don’t kid myself,” said Straub, “I’m
just going to have to work nights if he’s in
the race.”
Straub visited a political science class
in Straub Hall and a law class at the law
school, answering questions on a vari
ety of issues. Frequent questions con
cerned the Democrats’ re-election bid.
Straub is confident he can win the race,
however. He believes the mystique sur
rounding McCall will vanish once McCall
returns to the political arena.
“When McCall gets into the mucky
muck of the campaign he’ll just be
another candidate. The luster will disap
pear — I hope.”
To date the Straub campaign has
raised $80,000. However, Straub pre
dicts it will take a total of $250,000 to
finance both the primary and general
election bids. The governor said he
wouldn’t mind sharing half that financial
burden with the public treasury for state
races during the general election. But,
he said, primary campaigns should not
be publicly financed.
■
Looking back on his term as governor,
Straub called the formation of the state
Department of Energy his most signifi
cant accomplishment.
‘‘We’re the only state in the nation that
does have a unified, independent
energy department,” he said. He told the
political science class that James
Schlesinger, head of the U.S. energy
department, personally congratulated
him on Oregon’s conservation mea
sures.
Looking ahead to the 1980’s, the gov
ernor said economic diversification is
one of Oregon’s most important chal
lenges. The state is in a “precarious
fiscal position” he said because of its
dependence on the forest products in
dustry.
In order to decrease the state’s de
pendence on the wood industries,
Straub said he is trying to bring clean,
high technology industry to Oregon.
He said he has already conferred with
Hewlett-Packard and other high tech
nology firms which are considering locat
ing plants in the state.
Responding to questions on population
growth, Straub said, “People are pour
ing into Oregon.” Last year, he told the
group at the law school, Oregon grew at
a rate 25 percent faster than California.
The Land Conservation and Develop
ment Commission is the “surest, most
effective way to manage that growth,”
he said.
Actual zoning and planning should be
done on the local level, Straub asserted,
but the state should “be the ultimate au
thority and the enforcing authority” in
laying out general land-use guidelines.
On field burning, the governor said the
federal Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) has rejected the Oregon
Legislature’s most recent field burning
law, which would allow 180,000 acres to
be burned next summer. The EPA, how
ever, let stand an earlier state law per
mitting burning of 50,000 acres.
Straub said he thinks seed growers
should be allowed to burn “something in
the neighborhood of 140,000 acres” per
year.
In response to a question about
proposals to divert Columbia River
water to southern California, Straub said
an Army Corps of Engineers study con
cluded that the Columbia basin has no
water surplus. “We don’t have any
(water) to ship down to California," he
said.
“I am unalterably and flatly opposed to
Photo by Dennis Hickok
evert the thought of any diversion of
water out of the (Columbia River)
watershed,” Straub declared. His re
mark drew a round of applause from the
audience at the law school.
Answering a question about the recent
disposal of some highly toxic Canadian
wastes at an Oregon disposal site,
Straub said he didn't see anything wrong
with privately owned firms disposing
out-of-state wastes of “low-level” toxi
city.
Oregon, he added, sends radioactive
wastes from hospitals and other sources
to disposal sites in Washington and
Idaho.
Straub began his political career here
in Lane County when he successfully
ran for county commissioner in 1954. He
then spent four years in the Oregon
Senate beginning in 1960, followed by
eight years as state treasurer.
Straub fell to defeat at the hands of
McCall in both the 1966 and 1970
gubernatorial elections. But in 1974,
Straub captured the governorship by a
wide margin against Republican oppo
nent Victor Atiyeh.
Assembly takes
action today
The University Assembly will
take action on a Senate recom
mendation concerning faculty
elections at 3:30 p.m. in Room
150 Science today.
The recommendation, submit
ted by an ad hoc committee on
elections, would take effect as of
this spring's election. It would in
crease the membership on the
Faculty Advisory Council and the
Faculty Personnel Committee to
eight faculty members each.
Both bodies work closely with
the administration in an advisory
capacity. The Faculty Personnel
Committee makes final recom
mendations in promotion and te
nure cases.
The motion also provides that
four faculty members serve two
year terms instead of the one-year
terms presently stipulated. This
change was suggested so there
would be more continuity among
the committee and council mem
bers.
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