McCall fighting hard for third round
By MARY BETH ALLEN
Of the Emerald
Former Gov. Tom McCall stres
sed his enduring popularity
among Oregon voters of both par
ties while defending his Repub
licanism at a meeting of the Lane
County Rubicon Society held
Thursday.
Government is “too precious a
pursuit to leave up to on the job
trainees,” McCall said. "The pace
has slowed,” in Oregon since he
has been out of office, he said,
and “the leadership Oregon gave
the nation has faded."
The former governor, a news
man by profession, has been
working as a television commen
tator since leaving office. The job
demands he remain non-partisan,
a requirement he finds frustrating.
“It’s like being in a fishbowl,” he
said.
McCall considers his status as a
national figure to be a definite ad
vantage in both the primary and
general elections. He said publi
cations such as the New York
Times, the Los Angeles Times,
Newsweek and the Baltimore Sun
have either printed stories or are
planning stories on the Oregon
gubernatorial campaign.
“A national figure making a
comeback” is the emphasis of
these stories, according to
McCall. The stories are “part of a
national image you have given
me,” McCall said, referring to
Oregon voters.
McCall is concerned about a
lack of vitality in the Republican
party, and is particularly distres
sed by the small number of young
r?
Photo by Dermis Htekofc
Tom McCall: Government a precious pursuit
Republicans in Oregon.
“As we get smaller numerically,
we get narrower philosophically,”
McCall said.
“One counterforce is that Re
publicans often field superior can
didates,” McCall said. Another op
timistic observation he made
about the GOP is that "Republi
cans are always running on a plat
form not geared to partisan guff
but tackling the tough problems
head on.”
The national image of the GOP
as a party of “inherited wealth and
insensibility to social problems”
bothers McCall. “We have faith in
the individual and belief in the fam
ily,” said McCall. “Were deter
mined to maintain a dimate of op
portunity.”
McCall refuses to support
spending programs with no
economic base, which he says
lead to “broken dreams and shat
tered lives." He says, “We must
help those who falter along the
way, with plans to get them on
their feet, not to keep them on their
knees.”
Government is not a business
but it must be run on sound fiscal
and management principles,”
stressed McCall, “more govern
ment is not necessarily the best
answer,” he said, and he called for
a “count to 10” philosophy of
cautious legislation, to “solve the
problem, not create new prob
lems.”
McCall supports strict growth
planning and strong environmen
tal controls. “Environmental
health and economic well-being
depend on each other — it’s not
an either-or thing.”
Fielding questions from the au
dience, McCall said if he is de
feated in the primary he will return
to his job as a newscaster, and in
that capacity would be unable to
endorse any Republican candi
date.
The former governor waffled on
nuclear energy. “In the energy
forest, don’t let go of one secure
branch until you have another one
to swing to," he said. The analogy
illustrates his belief that solar,
wind and geothermal energy in
their present stages of develop
ment, can’t take up the slack that
would exist if nuclear plants were
closed down.
He did call for building nuclear
plants as sparingly as possible,
and said the problem of disposing
of nuclear waste is a concern of
“doggone, reasonable Ameri
cans," not just a cause for “way
out” citizens.
McCall has frequently been
openly cirtical about Republicans
at the state and national levels,
and in view of this, a fellow party
member displayed skepticism
about McCall’s legitimacy as a
party spokesman. The former
governor replied, “if you want to
have a victory (the the gubernator
ial race) and a house with Dave
Frohnmayer, R-Eugene, as
speaker — let’s not take chances
with people who can't lead and
can’t win.”
It may be a matter of opinion as
to how well Tom McCall can lead,
but it’s established record how
well he can win.
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