Vicki Walker steps into the ring to challenge sleepy Ted Kulongoski
Going to Vicki Walkers web site link and some of her accomplishments, I would say are rather impressive. For example,she was instrumental in passing legislation to set up Oregon's landmark pesticide tracking program (HB 3602), declaring youth suicide prevention a priority (HJR 53).
During the 2001 legislative session, Walker served as a member of the judiciary committee and criminal Law subcommittee; business, labor and consumer affairs committee; and the Smart growth and commerce committee.
Walker was also instrumental in raising the issue of racial profiling, enacting legislation in SB 415 that establishes a law enforcement committee to receive and analyze demographic data to ensure that law enforcement agencies do not engage in racial profiling.
and the list goes on...
Although I will say that her record seems impressive, I have to say that I do not think she carried herself very well on the Lars Larson show yesterday, in fact in my opinion, she skirted around and avoided answering some very simple pointed questions.
Lars asked her questions about how she felt about lowering taxes in general,and about the high price of gasoline.
she acted as if she was confused over the questions, and never really did answer his questions.
she pointed out that it is very hard to give any specific answers, however, that is not what Lars was asking for. He just wanted to know what her feelings were on the subject.
I will admit,I was not very impressed.
Lane County Commissioner Peter Sorensen-Dalso has already announced that he will challenge Kulongoski in 2006. Registerguard
"The Republican primary is likely to be a replay of 2002 contest between former state Republican Party chair Kevin Mannix and Portland lawyer Ron Sexton. State Senator Jason Atkinson, a Republican from Ashland is also running."
Walker's scoffed that critics who assailed her for challenging Kulongoski and potentially aiding the GOP. She was quoted, "I don't worry about all that," she said. "I'm not afraid of Kevin Mannix."
I do not believe that it will be Kevin Mannix that she has to worry about, in fact I'm hoping that people are not going to fall for the same old same old anymore and will insist on somebody who actually has a track record of being more responsive to the people and not ignoring them after they get elected.
It also saddens me to say that living in Eugene/Springfield area the majority of my life, that there really is not too many people in local government offices in this area that really impress me especially enough to be running for governor.
5 comments:
Hey, I'm really happy to see folks from Ted's own party stepping up to challenge.
Walker's a mixed bag. Love her for helping bring down the Real Neil Deal, but other than that, her performance seems all over the board.
On the other hand, Ted's has been all under the board, so....
How is Atkinson supposed to appeal to the masses when (so-called) newspapers keep refering to him in the "also running" category?
I'm not impressed with Walker very much. I do have to give her credit for blowing the whistle on Neil Goldschmidt.
Most politicians aren't usually very impressive. Few competant, capable, and brilliant people give up fulfilling career paths that usually pay well to mix it up in something as low rent as state politics.
I agree with foxtrot,
Most politicians are not impressive.
There are too many that are self-serving and only run for office for their own personal gain. Brian Obie is an excellent example when he changed the sign ordinances to allow more billboards to be put up which benefited his company.
The other issue that limits the people from running, is that unless you can get supporters with money behind you, the average person cannot run for office with any real chance of winning.
Then comes the personal bashing...
One of the issues that I keep harping on, is that politicians promise anything and everything to get elected, and then once they are, do whatever they wish to do and if we don't like it then that is too bad.
There are no checks and balances within our political system to balance things out. You have the impeachment process, but that is inefficient and ineffective.
Atkinson hasn't started campaigning yet. Expect big things to happen in the next few weeks and his name to suddenly start getting headlines.
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