Hendriksen views campaign, victory, future
By Michele Matassa
Of the Emerald
After what she calls "a major accomplishment” in
campaigning, Margie Hendriksen is returning to Salem
for another term in the state Legislature
But this time Hendriksen will be wearing a different
hat
As election season drew near last summer, Hen
driksen was "fixated on running for re-election to my
house seat because I was concerned about cleaning up
the house,” But after a speedy decision-making
process, Hendriksen moved into the fast lane and
aimed for Senate District 20
She admits "putting my political career on the line
by giving up an absolutely safe house seat," but it was
this aggressive politicking that accelerated her into the
Senate after only one term as District 40 representative
Party politics contributed to the 'moderate/liber
al" Democrat's risky move After the primaries, she was
assured that the House would be "cleaner" than she
had thought — the Democrats had a clear majority —
while "a disaster was forming” in the Senate
She decided to attack a possible Senate coalition
of Republicans and conservative Democrats that was
trying to "push the clock back in terms of things that I
think are really fine about this state "
Hendriksen also says her opponent, incumbent
George Wingard was "vulnerable.
"He had not been at all visible or any kind of
advocate for the many important district interests
Although he had been in there a long time, I didn't see
that he was real close to the constituency," Hendriksen
says
This feeling prompted her to have a poii taken
The results: "In late July, as an unannounced
candidate, I had a marginal lead over Wingard," Hen
driksen says The pollster told her she had built up more
support in 18 months than Wingard had in 12 years
Although Hendriksen "anticipated that he would
outspend me by about 2-to-1she jumped into the race
against Wingard with what she calls a strong volunteer
staff of 300 and the "best campaign manager in the
state," Mona Sturgess
"We figured he would rely a lot on media, the large
billboards and that kind of thing, and that he would be
short on people-power," Hendriksen says
Hendriksen talks about the race as if she held her
breath the whole time. "I don't know if any other group
could have put it together in three months,” she says,
pointing out that Wingard was a three-term incumbent,
well-financed, backed by the AFL-CIO, the Association
of Oregon Industries and the Oregon Education As
sociation
But despite her moments of uncertainty, Hendrik
sen says she ' didn't have time to feel nervous.
"Had I lost, I don't think I would have regretted
making the race. I would have regretted it more had I not
made the race and just had an easy re-election,” she
says
So she "cast the dye" in a test of political strength
and passed with flying colors in the November election
The election behind her, Hendriksen looks forward
to "having some more clout” as a senator because she
will be one of 30 senators rather than one of 60
representatives
"I want and expect I'll have a leadership position. I
feel like I will be able to play an important role in
determining state policy " Hendriksen says.
She says serving in the Legislature and thus
knowing the players" makes her a likely candidate for
such a role.
Hendriksen plans to work hard to pass her tax plan,
a proposal which would make the state tax structure
more progressive By regrouping income brackets, the
plan would shift some of the tax burden onto upper-in
come taxpayers.
"The fundamental issue is making sure that the
tax burden is shared in a fair and equitable manner.”
Hendriksen says.
"We're going to have to look at the whole tax
package — property tax, income tax, corporate tax —
because we've gotten the message from that close one
with Ballot Measure 3 "
That proposal, which failed by a narrow margin,
would have limited property taxes to 1 V? percent of I979
property value and would have required a two-thirds
majority vote in the state Legislature to enact new
revenue measures.
Of all the legislative issues, Hendriksen calls
revenue issues "the most pressing."
"You can't even talk about budgets and allocating
money until you get the money," she says
Despite these pressures, Hendriksen says the
outlook for the Legislature and the Democratic Party
excites her
“I'm very proud of the Democratic Party's commit
ment to the needs of working people, seniors, women
and minorities,” Hendriksen says But the party still
"may need to rethink our programs or how to approach
them," she adds.
Will Hendriksen’s success in the fast lane carry her
Senator Margie Hendriksen looks forward to "having
more clout" in the upcoming legislative session and
maybe some day responding to the challenge of higher
office
to a higher position down the road?
She does "hope to be able in future years to
respond to challenges for higher office." but Hendrik
sen seems content to concentrate on the present
"I’m very interested in serving in the state Senate,
and I’m very eager to get to work on that position of
responsibility that the people of District 20 have given
me."
West University: protecting thy neighbors
By David Brown
O) the Emerald
The West University Neighborhood
recently completed five years of work
on its Refinement Plan. This is the final
part of a look at the neighborhood
group and its future plans
The constant turnover ot 4,000 to
7,000 West University residents per
year makes crime a difficult subject to
tackle in the West University neighbor
hood
But the West University Neighbors
group claims progress in that struggle,
part of a greater attempt to improve the
neighborhood
The WUN refinement plan, which
sets guidelines and proposals for the
neighborhood s future, proposes a
strong crime prevention program
Crime prevention began for WUN
with a deadbolt lock installation pro
gram in 1979, a year in which neigh
borhood residents reported 49 forced
burglaries, 80 non-forced burglaries
and six attempted burglaries to the
police In the nine months from January
through September of this year, police
received residential reports of 15
forced, 24 non-forced and two at
tempted burglaries in the neighbor
hood
Non-forced burglaries are "what
we re trying to target with the lock
program," says Charleen Maclean,
crime prevention coordinator In non
forced burglaries, people are either
not locking or their locks are poor,"
Maclean says
WUN offers installation of deadbolt
locks at wholesale cost to area res
idents who agree to a home security
check by the Community Officer Patrol
Page 16
of the Eugene Police Neighbors also
can receive free installation of window
pins and reinforcement of easily forced
sliding windows when they join the
deadbolt program
Promoting the idea of awareness and
readiness, neighborhood volunteers
soon will be trained by the COP team to
perform the security checks, Maclean
says
And the group also offers
self-defense training At WUN classes,
women learn to be assertive and not fall
into the victim role when attacked, says
instructor Jackie Turle, a second-de
gree black-belt in karate
Turle is training three women in her
class to become instructors to teach in
other neighborhoods She also will
instruct the class at Lane Community
College this winter, she says
The number of neighborhood rapes
reported to police has fallen from a
1978 high of 11 to one report in 1981
and one reported in July
But Maclean says she does not trust
those statistics And her feeling is
backed by both the Eugene Police and
the FBI
In an office memo at the beginning of
this year EPD Chief James Packard
wrote, "we do not know if these totals
reflect fewer incidents or of fewer
reports of incidents We suspect it is the
latter .
The FBI estimates actual rape in
cidents nationally may be ten times the
number reported to police
Maclean says that neighborhood
awareness and readiness still is a gen
eral crime deterrent
And this month, the neighborhood
became even more prepared to protect
individuals. The WUN has started a
branch of the Safehouse program
Safehouse participants, trained by
the Rape Crisis Network, display a yel
low sign of a burning candle in the
window of their homes The neighbor
hood has 16 such emergency shelter
houses
The neighborhood has had success
preventing bicycle thefts Police statis
tics reflect a decrease of reported bike
thefts from 282 incidents In 1981 to only
62 bicycle thefts through September
WUN offers a free bicycle marking
service to anyone who brings their bike
to the center at 1458 Ferry St And the
group periodically sets up a bike-mark
ing booth at the University Bookstore
The next day scheduled for the booth Is
Dec 17, Maclean says
But funding for the neighborhood
group is running out
In June 1983, the funds to pay WUN
program administrator Marshall l and
man's salary drys up, and by
September 1983. Maclean s salary also
runs out, leaving WUN with no paid
staff, Landman says
In some ways, the neighborhood im
provement program is a real detriment.
Landman says Just when programs
are built up to strength, the money
Photo by Dav# Rodewnid
A yellow sign of a burning candle
represents a "safehouse" or refuge for
neighbors being attacked or scared
Participants in the Safehouse have
been trained by the Rape Crisis
Network
stops, "cold turkey." he says
WUN hasn t discussed furthei fund
ing or revenue raising for its programs.
Landman says But he adds that a rela
tively new WUN executive board may
have some fundraising plans
The board also shows a strong
representation of students, something
Landman says he is glad to see
"It's real frustrating to know that
we re making decisions effecting
students and yet not having enough
student involvement," he says
"This is a student neighborhood "
Friday, November 19,1982