A6
LOCAL
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, September 29, 2021
GOP gubernatorial candidate meets with commissioners
Jessica Gomez tells
her plans if elected
and answers questions
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — One of the
candidates for Oregon governor
in the 2022 election visited the
Wallowa County commissioners
at their meeting Wednesday, Sept.
15, when Jessica Gomez fi elded
questions by the commissioners.
Gomez, of Medford, is one
of about 10 competing for the
Republican nomination in the
May 17 Primary Election. The
winner will compete in the Nov.
8, 2022, General Election.
Business
Gomez, who with her husband
Patrick Kayatta runs a micro-
chip-manufacturing company,
has two daughters, ages 10 and
7.
The business she and her
husband run makes her natu-
rally pro-business. She noted
that although she spent her early
years in New York, she’s lived in
Oregon since 1989, other than a
return to the East for college.
“That was the height of the
spotted owl controversy,” she
said. “My dad was a cabinet
maker and had his own business.
It was a struggle for our family.”
She recalled Oregon as a state
that backed business at one time.
“At that time, Oregon was
pro-business,” she said. “My
goal is to get Oregon back to
being pro-business and to build
a strong regional economy, not
just in the Portland metro area.”
She seemed to understand
rural Oregon’s disaff ection with
the urban west side of the state’s
dominance of state government.
“For people here, we have
to pay a lot more attention as a
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Jessica Gomez, right, who is running for the Republican nomination for governor during the May 2022 primary,
answers questions from the Wallowa County Board of Commissioners at its meeting Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021.
Commissioner Susan Roberts listens at left.
state to places outside the Port-
land metro area,” she said. “I
will make sure we do that.”
Gomez said among her top
issues are public safety, educa-
tion and helping the homeless
population.
Education
“We put a lot of money into
education and we’re not getting
back what we should,” she said.
Commissioner Susan Roberts
agreed.
“We do put a lot of money into
education and we’re still one of
the lowest states,” she said.
“We used to be in the top 10,”
Gomez said.
Roberts wanted to know spe-
cifi cally how Gomez would rec-
tify the problem, if elected.
“A couple of things I have in
mind; I want to start a statewide
apprenticeship model, starting
in high school and getting kids
aligned with careers; we need
to keep our kids engaged,” she
said. “Starting in the 11th grade,
connecting kids with their local
communities, connecting them
with jobs in the area and getting
them started on that career path,
even if they change later.”
She also wants improvement
at the college level.
“As far as public education, I
want to start a universal college
credit program so if you earn
college at a community college
or even in high school, a lot of
times when you have to change
schools, you’re leaving that
credit behind,” she said, advo-
cating a system in which credits
are fully transferable to any pub-
lic college in the state.
Gomez also advocated for
smaller class sizes and lamented
the Legislature’s elimination of
standardized testing.
“I always thought standard-
ized testing was to test the sys-
tem, not the kids, and the sys-
tem’s failing if the kid can’t
read,” Roberts said.
Climate
Commissioner John Hillock
wanted to know if Gomez would
strike down current Gov. Kate
Brown’s climate change pro-
grams and redesign them.
“There is a lot to be desired out
of some of these environmental
programs,” Gomez said. “We’re
looking at, well, you think about
what happens for a landfi ll in
Oregon. It’s very challenging
for them and it’s not designed
in a way that I think works, so
I would go back to the draw-
ing board and really listen to the
people and the businesses that
are impacted by this and come
up with a solution here. We’ve
got to have something that works
well across the state.”
Commissioner Todd Nash,
who does much to manage the
county’s natural resources, asked
Gomez about that issue.
“You mentioned the spotted
owl and for us, we’re far enough
east we don’t have an owl, but
we have salmon and steelhead
and other fi sh like bull trout and
others,” Nash said. “In order to
work with a federal entity like
the Forest Service or BLM to
better manage our forests and
rangelands, how would you do
that as a governor?”
“A lot of Oregon is federal
lands, and that is part of the chal-
lenge that we’re facing,” Gomez
said. “As governor, it’s really
important that you have advo-
cacy for the federal lands. I
would get together with the other
governors that this is impacting,
such as in Montana and Idaho,
where they’re worrying about it
and go to bat for our states and
applying pressure to the federal
partners. … We have got to get
back into the forests and start
managing them properly.”
Gomez said that although
she’s never held elective offi ce,
she does have leadership expe-
rience in a wide variety of pro-
fessional business organizations.
She said she believes that expe-
rience qualifi es her to run as
governor.
“We have to have somebody
who can make it through the pri-
mary and then, make it through
the general election,” she said.
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1. It bubbles beneath the
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9. One may lead a military
drill: Abbr.
12. Direction indicator
13. Click the wrong button, e.g.
14. One-in-a-million
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18. Sailors’ affirmatives
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20. Tiny
21. Nickname for President
Arthur
22. Mind reader’s “power,”
for short
23. Fall behind
25. Sea beast of lore
27. Nada
28. O’er there
29. “Are we there ___?”
31. Body of water near a
cabin, maybe
34. Unaccompanied
36. Japanese for “eastern
capital”
38. What’s impossible to boil,
in a saying
40. One may be asked to
speak
41. Blue ___ (clear forecast)
42. Hairdo
43. Make hazy
45. Stirs in
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47. Operative
49. Like some cheeks
51. “That makes sense now”
53. Highest point
54. “Wonder Woman”
actress Gadot
57. Degs. for writers
58. Scrape (by)
60. Vestige of the past
62. Has
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65. Melody for a sitarist
66. “___ Persisted” (Chelsea
Clinton book)
67. Copy genetically
68. Before, in poetry
Joseph United
Methodist Church
Grace Lutheran
Church
3rd & Lake St. • Joseph
409 West Main - Enterprise
10 AM Worship
Online AND In Person
SUNDAY
WORSHIP
For More Info
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at 9am
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web: gracelutheranenterprise.com
Enterprise
Christian Church
St.
St. Patrick’s
Patrick’s
Episcopal
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Church
85035 Joseph Hwy • (541) 426-3449
We have ‘In-person worship” @ 9:00 am
(Guidelines observed)
Sunday School at 10:30
Parking Lot Radio/Facebook @ 9:00
100 NE 3rd St, Enterprise
NE 3rd & Main St
541-426-3439
Worship Service
Sunday 9:30am
David Bruce
Pastor, Enterprise Christian Church
Lostine
Presbyterian Church
Summit Church
Discussion Group 9:30 AM
Worship Service 11:00 AM
at the Cloverleaf Hall in Enterprise
Childrens program during service
Blog: dancingforth.blogspot.com
30. Coin flip
31. Come up short
32. Causes for conflict
33. A to B, for one ... or a hint to the
CLUES DOWN
word scrambled within each
1. Scott Joplin’s “___ Leaf Rag”
starred clue’s answer
2. Precincts
35. Twitch chat chuckle
3. Understand
37. “Sure”
4. Shoes with Native roots, briefly
39. Loch with a famous monster
5. For some time
44. Like a mansion
6. Cry after seeing a mouse
7. Became too big for one’s britches? 48. Palindromic bird sound
50. Public address
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11. Word before “anxiety” or after
55. Isn’t for us?
“stress”
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14. Shelving system part
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16. Periods with four seasons
59. Sound effect in a canyon
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61. Guinea neighbor
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26. Picnic pests
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69. Mars, to Jupiter
70. Helpful tips
107 E. Main • Enterprise • 541-426-3351
www.bookloftoregon.com
Sundays at 10 am
Pastor: David Pendleton
541.398.0597
Hwy 82, Lostine
www.summitchurchoregon.org
Stephen Kliewer, Minister
Cloverleaf Hall • 668 NW 1st St. • Enterprise, OR 97828
Wallowa
Assembly
of God
702 West Hwy 82
Wallowa, Oregon
541-886-8445
Sunday School • 9:am
Worship Service • 10:am
Pastor Tim Barton
Visit Us on
Christ Covenant
Church
Pastor Terry Tollefson
Church Office: 541-263-0505
Family Prayer - 9 AM
Sunday School - 9:30 AM
Worship - 10:30 AM
723 College Street, Lostine
Seventh-Day Adventist
Church & School
Enterprise Community
Congregational Church
305 Wagner (near the Cemetery)
P.O. Box N. Enterprise, OR 97828
Church 541-426-3751
School 541-426-8339
Pastor David Ballard 503-810-9886
Join us at the
BIG BROWN CHURCH
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10:30 a.m. - Noon
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301 NE First St. • Enterprise, OR
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