Polk County News
2A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • September 21, 2016
Thompson challenges Nearman for HD 23
By Jolene Guzman
House District 23
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — The race for
Oregon House District 23 is
a rematch between incum-
bent Republican Rep. Mike
Nearman and the man he
unseated in a primary elec-
tion two years ago, Inde-
pendent Jim Thompson.
In May 2014, Nearman
defeated Thompson in the
Republican primary and
won the seat in November in
a race against Democrat
Wanda Davis.
He is seeking his second
term in the Oregon House of
Representatives.
Thompson would like to
regain the seat he held from
2008 to 2014.
Nearman did not respond
to a request for an interview
for this story, nor did he re-
turn the questionnaire sent to
both candidates in this race.
A lifelong Republican,
Thompson said running as
an Independent does not
change his views or stands
on any issue. He said he
considers himself a “moder-
ate Republican.”
He said he was encour-
aged to run by constituents
in the district.
“Initially I wasn’t planning
on it, but we were contacted
by a number of local busi-
nessmen and ag people that
didn’t feel that Mr. Nearman
was doing what he said he
was going to be doing,” he
said. “I said OK, we will try it
one more time.”
Thompson said he thinks
the top issues in the upcom-
ing legislative session will be
economic development, ed-
ucation and health care.
He said there were some
successes in the state’s at-
Who: Jim Thompson, Independence, of
Dallas
Age: 69
Current employment: Prescription Drug
low Cost Task Force/ Retired
Education: Taft High School, Bachelor of
Science from Western Ore-
gon University
Previous government
experience: monmouth
City Council (1980-85),
Polk County Fire District
No. 1 (1985-1994), State
Representative (2004,
2008-2014)
Campaign phone: 971-
259-3049
Thompson
Campaign website:
www.jimforhouse.com
Why are you running for office? This is
one way I can serve my community and utilize
skills I developed over the years in corporate
management. I especially enjoy serving con-
stituents and helping them solve problems.
I have many years’ experience in health
care policy and management that are useful
in pursuing solutions to current issues.
What is the biggest single issue facing
the U.S., the state of Oregon, and, more
specifically, Polk County? How would you
address it if elected?
There is no single issue.
We need to address our sagging high
school graduation rates; upgrade our trans-
portation infrastructure to support economic
development; and provide better health care
at lower cost for more people.
We need economic development to cre-
ate jobs and a plan to encourage increased
tourism to support our growing wine indus-
try and communities.
We need to pull the legislature back to-
ward the center and focus on moving the
state forward instead of political in-fighting
and division.
most of our local and regional problems
are symptoms of a lack of planning and uni-
fied vision at the state level.
tempt at health care reform,
noting the achievements of
“coordinated care organiza-
tions.”
“The CCOs we set up are
doing, in most cases, a won-
Anything else you wish to note about
the position you are seeking?
I have been a Republican for most of my
life. However, I have always been able to
work with others who I disagree with to work
toward a common goal. The partisan bicker-
ing and name calling needs to stop. Oregon
needs representation in Salem, that is willing
to come together to solve the issues Oregon
is facing. Within the legislature, I am well re-
spected among both Republicans and De-
mocrats for my ability to work together on
issue we need to address.
Who: mike Nearman
Current employment: State Representa-
tive; software engineer
Previous government experience: State
Representative; Central School District Budg-
et committee
Campaign website: http://www.near-
man4oregon.org/
Of note: Last week we emailed Nearman
our election questionnaire and a request for
an interview to his campaign email ad-
dress. We didn’t receive a
response.
We also made a call Fri-
day to Polk County Repub-
lican Party Chairman
Alan Minton who said he
would ask, but doubted
Nearman would respond
to our requests.
A subsequent call invit-
Nearman
ing Nearman to return the
questionnaire and answer questions about
the race was not returned by press time. To
find out more about Nearman’s campaign
and his stances on issues facing our state
and District 23, see his campaign website:
http://www.nearman4oregon.org/.
His legislative website is https://www.ore-
gonlegislature.gov/nearman.
Nearman and Thompson also will appear
at a debate on Oct. 2 at 6 p.m. at the Polk
County Fairgrounds & Event Center in Rick-
reall.
derful job of getting the peo-
ple covered that we set out
to cover,” he said.
He would like to see more
economic development in-
vestment in the transporta-
tion system and rural Oregon.
Places like Beaverton and
Hillsboro have been the tar-
get of much of the invest-
ment, Thompson said.
That needs to change, in
Would apply to
recreational pot
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
his opinion.
“They are booming, but I
don’t think anybody would
look at Polk County and say,
wow, they’re booming,” he
said. “We’ve got opportuni-
ties. We have property avail-
able. Workforce develop-
ment is an issue, but we can
bring in workforce.”
In education, Thompson
said the state needs im-
proved graduation rates,
which are currently toward
the bottom of the list na-
tionally.
He said the approach thus
far has been backward.
“We get hung up on how
we would like it to be, but we
don’t get hung up on where
we are right now. That’s the
starting point,” he said.
He said investing more
money won’t achieve the
same results as first diagnos-
ing the problems facing
schools.
He noted those could vary
by community.
He said one of the most im-
portant perspectives he would
like to take to the House is a
sense of cooperation.
“We are at a time that we
need to do some bold
things,” he said. “There has
to be bipartisan consensus
to make it happen.”
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Itemizer-Observer staff report
POlK COUNTy — On Satur-
day at about 10 p.m., Oregon
State Police troopers and emer-
gency personnel responded to
the report of single-vehicle
crash on Highway 22 near mile-
post 14, just west of the High-
way 99W interchange, accord-
ing to a report by OSP.
Preliminary investigation re-
Jetta was traveling westbound
on Highway 22 near milepost
14 when it drifted into the cen-
ter median, rolled over and
came to rest on its passenger
side on the south side of the
highway.
The driver, a 49-year-old
woman from Keizer, was pro-
nounced deceased at the
Voters will
decide on
3 percent
sales tax
leased pending her family
being notified, the OSP report
stated.
OSP was assisted by the Polk
County Sheriff's Office, Dallas
Police Department, Polk Coun-
ty Fire and the Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation.
This is an ongoing investiga-
tion.
MONMOUTH/INDE-
PENDENCE — The cities
of Monmouth and Inde-
pendence have both put a
measure on the November
ballot regarding recre-
ational marijuana sales
tax.
If voters approve, a 3
percent sales tax will be
collected by the state on
recreational marijuana
sales and go to the cities’
respective general funds,
which are used to pay for
law enforcement.
“The voters have to say
yes,” Monmouth City
Manager Scott McClure
said. “This isn’t one where
the council, on its own,
could pass an ordinance
putting in a new tax. As
per state law, it has to go
to the people.”
So far, there are two
shops where someone can
purchase recreational
marijuana in Independ-
ence.
Both started as medical
dispensaries, and both
began selling recreational
pot when the Oregon
Liquor Control Commis-
sion allowed it on Oct. 1,
2015.
Right now, a 25 percent
sales tax on recreational
marijuana is collected. By
the end of the year, the
OLCC will have separate
licenses for medical and
recreational cannabis.
State sales taxes on recre-
ational pot will go to 17
percent.
If voters approve the
additional tax, it would be
on top of the 17 percent.
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