PAGE A2, KEIZERTIMES, JANUARY 21, 2022
DIST. 21,
Continued from page A1
“I'm proudest of one fact: I am the
author of more successful legislation
than any legislator in Oregon history,”
Mannix said in an interview on Jan.
18. “And it's not because I'm a miracle
worker, but my method was different.
Identify a problem, sit down with some
folks and discuss a compromise to the
solution. And develop a solution that a
broad range of people can support and
say, this is a good thing.”
One of the most influential, and
controversial, bills that Mannix helped
pass was Measure 11. The law, passed
in 1994, established minimum sentenc-
ing for violent crimes such as murder,
assault, kidnapping and robbery.
Measure 11, which included life with-
out parole sentencing for juveniles, has
been criticized and softened by Oregon
legislation in recent years, which
Mannix admits is part of the reason he
decided to run again.
“When people commit violent
crimes, yes, we need to hold them
accountable. And some of them need to
be kept off the streets, especially for the
most violent crimes,” Mannix said. “But
while we're holding people accountable
and incarcerated, I'm the author of the
constitutional amendment that empow-
ered the state to provide good prison
work to prison inmates.”
Mannix wants
to increase fund-
ing for rehabilita-
tion programs in
prisons, such as
counseling
and
education,
and
reentry programs
for when prison-
ers are released.
He added that
he wants to work
on
addressing
underlying issues
that can lead to
increased crime.
“I will have a
plan to take to
the legislature to
empower
local
communities, to
If we're sending
people to prison to be
held accountable, then
we should give them
the opportunity to
understand why what
they did was wrong.
— RAMIRO "RJ" NAVARRO JR.
District 21 Candidate
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Navarro
clean up laws that may not have allowed
officers to hold people accountable and
to train and support teams of people
to go out to encampments and find
out what are their underlying issues
and why aren't we addressing them,”
Mannix said.
Opposite Mannix, Navarro is once
again seeking the Democratic nomi-
nation in the district. In 2020, Navarro
ran against and lost to the longtime
Republican incumbent Bill Post.
Navarro was born and raised in
Keizer and said that he believes he can
represent the newly redrawn district
even better than the old one.
“I really looked at the map and I
saw that there's seven different veteran
service organizations within the new
House District 21,” said Navarro, who
is a veteran himself. “Demographically,
we also have a larger population of the
Latino community in House District
21 this time around, which is definitely
one thing I was excited about.”
Navarro’s views on the Oregon