SIUSLAW NEWS | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2018 | 7A
CANDIDATES from page 6A
16,000 new jobs and make our roads
safer. We passed a first in the nation
pay equity and fair scheduling bills.
We worked together to ensure
that 430,000 Oregonians have ac-
cess to affordable health care be-
cause everyone should be able to see
the doctor when they’re sick.
Buehler: Brown has been in
elected office for 30 years and the
past four as governor. She has more
money than any other governor
in Oregon’s history, yet our most
pressing problems continue to get
worse — teachers are still getting
laid off, class sizes are getting bigger
and our graduation rates are still
third-worst in the nation.
We have a growing homelessness
crisis and vulnerable foster kids
are not getting the care they need.
Brown had her chance to show that
she is capable of solving the big
problems facing Oregonians.
We need new leadership. I will
lead where Kate Brown has failed.
U.S. Congressional Race
DeFazio and Robinson face off
for the fifth time.
Oregon has five Congressional
Districts and Florence is included
in District 4. District 4 represents
the southern half of Oregon’s coast-
al counties including Coos, Curry,
Douglas, Lane and Linn counties
and most of Benton and Josephine
counties.
Democrat Rep. Peter DeFazio
has represented District 4 since
1987 and is running for re-election
this year. He has a Bachelor of Arts
degree from Tufts University and a
Master of Arts degree from the Uni-
versity of Oregon. He is the ranking
member on the House Committee
on Transportation and Infrastruc-
ture and is running against oppo-
nent Art Robinson.
Robinson has a Bachelor of Sci-
ence degree from the California
Institute of Technology and a Ph.D.
in biochemistry from the University
of California in San Diego. He is a
well-known scientific and medical
researcher, having worked with Li-
nus Pauling co-founding the pres-
tigious Institute of Orthomolecular
Medicine.
He served as president, director
and tenured research professor at
the research facility after it was re-
named the Linus Pauling Institute
in 1971.
Why are you interested in rep-
resenting Oregon District 4?
DeFazio: Most Oregonians are
tired of partisan bickering and grid-
lock in Washington. And so am I.
But I have a fire in my belly and a
lot of good ideas about how we can
make progress for the American
people.
I would like the Congress to work
together to improve health care,
make investments in job-creating
infrastructure programs and make
college more affordable. I will work
with the Trump White House or
anybody else to meet those goals.
But when I disagree with the presi-
dent or my party I will use my voice
and my vote to stand up for our Or-
egon values.
I have built seniority that puts
me in position to be the Chairman
of the House Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee if Demo-
crats win the majority. I will be part
of crafting an agenda that makes
investments in our roads, bridges,
ports and airports and creates jobs
and strengthens the economy.
Robinson: I am running because
I think I can do a good job. I have
been successful in medical research
and I have been a successful educa-
tor and scientist. Most importantly,
I have been successful in the real
world. Mr. DeFazio has served in
congress for 40 years and he has no
real-world experience.
As a scientist I am a problem
solver. DeFazio does not want to
solve the problems we face, he just
wants to figure out how he can
benefit from them. All he really
cares about is making sure he gets
re-elected.
What issues are you most
concerned with at this time?
DeFazio: Many Oregonians are
one serious health issue away from
personal financial crisis. Quality
affordable healthcare is the top con-
cern of most Americans and a top
priority for Democrats in Congress.
It’s time to reduce healthcare costs
by expanding coverage, protecting
consumers, creating a public option
outside of the for-profit insurance
industry, and allowing the federal
government to negotiate lower drug
prices for Medicare recipients.
Robinson: I am really concerned
with improving access to medical
care. There are estimates that as
much as 20 percent of the earn-
ings of real people go to paying for
their medical costs and medical
care. I have spent a lifetime work-
ing in the medical field and know
we can make a lot of progress there.
The economy has improved under
President Trump and we need to
take this opportunity to support
the president’s initiatives to reform
healthcare.
Again, Mr. DeFazio has no inter-
est in providing good health care to
people; all he wants to do is figure
out a way to secure votes, while
continuing to postpone meaningful
changes to the healthcare system.
What are the most significant
challenges facing the House
this term?
DeFazio: If Democrats win the
majority in the House, it will be a
message from the electorate that
they want Congress to uphold its
constitutional duty to serve as a
check on the Trump administra-
tion. As Chairman of the House
Transportation Committee with
oversight of the General Services
Administration, I plan to investi-
gate the president’s conflict of inter-
est as both the lessee and lessor of
the Trump Hotel and White House
involvement in the siting of a new
FBI Headquarters.
It will be a challenge to find com-
mon ground legislatively, but I’m
hopeful that we can come together
in Congress to make a significant
investment in our nation’s infra-
structure to create good-paying jobs
in construction, technology and
engineering, and get the country’s
economy moving.
I have three bipartisan infra-
structure proposals — that are ful-
ly paid for and would not increase
the deficit — that would invest over
$500 billion in the nation’s crum-
bling roads, bridges, transit systems,
ports, harbors, and airports. Ac-
cording to the Council of Economic
Advisers, every $1 billion invested
in transportation infrastructure
creates or sustains 13,000 jobs.
I am also hopeful we can find
common ground to reduce health-
care costs by expanding cover-
age, protecting consumers, creat-
ing a public option outside of the
for-profit insurance industry, and
allowing the federal government
to negotiate lower drug prices for
Medicare recipients.
Robinson: Electing represen-
tatives that support the president.
President Trump has done a great
job fixing the economy and cutting
taxes. But Mr. DeFazio opposes the
president, not for his ideas or poli-
cies but as a partisan attack on the
president.
I think it is very important that
we elect representatives that sup-
port the president and his pol-
icies. Mr. DeFazio has opposed
any changes that the president has
wanted to make, not because of the
policies, but as a way to make a par-
tisan point.
He does this for votes, not be-
cause of what he believes.
Provide our readers with the
major differences between
your opponents and yourself
DeFazio: I supported the Af-
fordable Care Act and expansion
of Medicare to 150,000 people in
my district. My opponent opposes
expanding Medicare and making
health care more affordable.
I support strengthening Social
Security by lifting the cap and mak-
ing all income subject to the federal
payroll tax — a waiter shouldn’t pay
a higher percentage of his or her sal-
ary to Social Security than a CEO of
a corporation. My opponent wants
to privatize Social Security and let
Wall Street gamble with it.
I’ve always supported a wom-
an’s right to choose and access the
health care that she needs.
I stand with Planned Parenthood
and have opposed efforts to defund
this critical service. My opponent
has said that he’s “rabidly pro-life”
and has said that banning abor-
tion is the most important issue in
America.
I believe that the federal govern-
ment can and should do more to
invest in our students and schools
by increasing K-12 funding, as well
as affordable higher education op-
portunities. My opponent has con-
sistently said that “the whole pub-
lic-school system is child abuse”
and that he thinks “public schools
should be abolished.”
I am actively working in Con-
gress to advance plans and pro-
grams to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions, reduce our dependence
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on fossil fuels, and address the
dangers of a changing climate. My
opponent believes that climate
change is a myth and we should
“Burn the coal fields” because we
would benefit from the increase in
carbon dioxide.
My opponent believes chronic
radiation is good for your health.
I don’t.
Robinson: The main difference
between Mr. DeFazio and myself,
as I have said, is his lack of re-
al-world experience and the fact
that he doesn’t really want to solve
problems, he wants to benefit from
them.
He believes that big government
can solve every problem by creat-
ing another tax. He has been more
concerned with getting re-elected
than in addressing the issues that
Oregonians care about. He did
nothing to save our timber indus-
try when he had the chance.
He got money for the counties
and did nothing to keep the indus-
try alive. He did not solve the prob-
lem, he figured out how to benefit
from the problem.
Every election he has given
speeches to fix the VA (Veterans
Affairs). He has someone at his
office take calls from vets needing
help and he helps those individuals
that call his office.
The problems our VA Depart-
ment has could be fixed simply by
issuing a medical card for all vet-
erans. That card could be used at
any medical facility, anywhere in
the country. But he hasn’t done that
because he doesn’t want to fix the
problem, he just wants to get votes.
COASTAL from page 1A
President Trump in April, which en-
courages offshore oil and gas explora-
tion and production in federal waters
on the Outer Continental Shelf, which
includes waters off of the Oregon
coast.
“Our country is blessed with in-
credible natural resources, including
abundant offshore oil and natural
gas resources, but the federal govern-
ment has kept 94% of these offshore
areas closed for exploration and pro-
duction,” Trump said. “This deprives
our country of potentially thousands
and thousands of jobs and billions in
wealth.”
The need to maintain the states’
special mix of forests, mountains, sea-
shores and wildlife is clear, according
to Brown, who cites the significant
economic and cultural assets that
could be jeopardized if the president’s
plan to increase offshore oil drilling is
implemented.
The protection afforded by Brown’s
order is important, not only for the
fiscal benefits gained from visitors,
but also for the historical and cultural
aspects of the region that may be com-
promised.
Brown also pointed out that many
locations along the coast hold spe-
cial significance for Native American
tribes. These groups are sovereign
entities, recognized by the state and
federal government, and any develop-
ment that impacts that sovereignty is a
violation of law.
Other reasons given by Brown in-
clude the 22,000 jobs and $2 billion
created by the coastal tourism and
recreation industry annually and the
historic accessibility of all 363 miles of
Oregon’s coast to the public.
According to Brown, the Oregon
Coastal Management Program has a
unique oversight responsibility to de-
termine the best ways to protect and
enrich Oregon’s coastal assets. Her
inclusion of this program in her or-
der implies the organization would be
integral to the process of determining
the viability of any federal attempt to
extract oil or gas from Oregon’s coast-
al waters.
The timing of Brown’s order was
significant in a smaller, but meaning-
ful way. The order took effect two days
prior to the 2018 State of the Coast
Conference and one week before the
mid-term elections on Nov. 6.
The State of the Coast was held Sat-
urday, Oct. 24, at the Hales Center for
the Performing Arts at Southwestern
Oregon Community College in Coos
Bay. It was sponsored and coordinat-
ed by the Oregon Sea Grant branch of
Oregon State University (OSU).
Jaime Doyle is a member of the
Sea Grant Extension faculty and was
part of the team that coordinated this
year’s conference.
“There is such a positive ener-
gy from participants at State of the
Coast,” Doyle said. “We see this en-
thusiasm for our coast, for the marine
environment and for our coastal com-
munities, as a key piece of the future of
our coast, and we are thrilled to pro-
vide a space that can help to cultivate
this passion.”
According to Doyle, there was a
panel specifically on Oil and Gas off
the Oregon Coast.
Please share anything else
you feel is important for our
readers to know about this
election
DeFazio: This is the most im-
portant election of our lifetime. I
hope I have earned your vote for
U.S. Representative to return to
Congress and continue fighting for
our shared priorities and values.
Robinson: We need to elect
someone that has a fresh perspec-
tive on the problems that we face.
It is also important to build on the
positive steps made by President
Trump and send individuals to the
House of Representatives that will
work with the president to imple-
ment his reform agenda.
I just want to say two words that
are very popular across the coun-
try: “Term limits.”
There is a point where a con-
gressman becomes unproductive,
ineffective and complacent and
I believe that Mr. DeFazio has
reached that point.
Both Robinson and DeFazio are
firm supporters of a strong educa-
tional component in the communi-
ties they serve. Robinson believes
in school choice and home school-
ing as alternatives to the tradition-
al government centered education
program.
DeFazio has taken a different
course, embracing the university
system by channeling approved
congressional pay raises into a
scholarship fund for his constitu-
ents.
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“We try to cover timely issues at
State of the Coast, and while we could
not have anticipated that Gov. Kate
Brown would have issued an exec-
utive order banning offshore drill-
ing two days before the conference,
it speaks to how relevant that panel
was,” she said.
Sea Grant Oregon states that its
mission is to serve as a catalyst that
promotes discovery, understanding,
and resilience for Oregon coastal
communities and ecosystems.
Sea Grant also manages the Visitor
Center at OSU’s Hatfield Marine Sci-
ence Center in Newport as an ocean
and coastal learning center for all ages.
The State of the Coast Conference
brought together a wide array of indi-
viduals involved in one way or anoth-
er with life on the Oregon coast.
The schedule of speakers and
workshops was extensive, with pre-
senters speaking about topics ranging
from family fishing traditions to the
disappearance of eelgrass from estu-
aries along the Oregon coast.
The keynote speaker for the con-
ference was science author and lec-
turer Sam Kean. Kean is an engaging
and humorous speaker, highlighting
during his discussion the many un-
usual situations he has encountered
researching and interviewing subjects
for his four books, all dealing with dif-
ferent aspects of science.
An afternoon workshop highlight-
ed the issue of energy exploration and
production off of Oregon’s coast. One
of the points made was the research
that indicates the amount of oil avail-
able for collection here is minimal, in
comparison to other areas, and the
cost of obtaining that oil would be
prohibitive.
One of the more intriguing pre-
sentations of the day discussed the
ongoing work being done at the Pac
Wav energy center in Newport. The
location is operated by staff and re-
searchers from OSU and has been ap-
proved by the state to host a series of
tests for evaluating the different ways
of collecting and storing the energy
generated by waves.
OSU has received $40 million from
the Department of Energy for this
program and the first tests should be-
gin in early 2020.
The State of the Coast Conference
is a tangible example of the growing
importance OSU is playing in the
development and understanding of
the many interconnected scientific as-
pects of coastal life in Oregon.
OSU is working closely with the
Hatfield Marine Research Center, The
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) and other
state and federal entities, to determine
the best way to maintain and support
the coastal ecosystems that gener-
ate high levels of interest and large
amounts of revenue for the state each
year.
Doyle believes the growth of the
State of the Coast conference will con-
tinue as more families and individu-
als discover the natural beauty of the
state’s coastline.
“The diversity of break-out ses-
sions hopefully had something for ev-
eryone. It’s a jam-packed day ... Every
year we have grown our student sci-
ence and art exhibits, and this year has
been our best yet,” she said.
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