Congressional District 2 is nothing if not a vast, disparate district. Its constituents range from the ranchers of eastern Oregon, to the Valley dwellers of Medford, to the outdoor enthusiasts of Hood River and Bend. It’s a district that’s long been represented in the U.S. House of Representatives by Greg Walden (R, Hood River)—but “representative” is perhaps too loose a term for Walden’s tenure. Greg Walden, in office since 1998, has proved himself to be a partisan politician who seems to care less about truly representing his district, and more about toeing the party line and pandering to special interests. He has moved against net neutrality, against the Affordable Care Act, and in favor of reducing the Cascades-Siskiyou National Monument, to name just a few items.
While no politician—Democrat, Republican or Independent—will ever truly be able to represent all of their constituents’ disparate views, they can at least try.
In her time on the campaign trail, Jamie McLeod-Skinner has done that—traveling countless miles to meet and listen to voters in every corner of her district, and in the process, gaining the support of rural farmers, mayors and city councilors and veterans, among others. It should also be noted that the Independent Party of Oregon has endorsed her over its own candidate in this race.
What voters seem to see in McLeod-Skinner is what we also saw in her when she visited the Source offices—a dedicated professional with the experience, background and passion to bring change to this district, who shows up to listen to what voters want, and then develops well-researched policy to address it.
We cannot say the same for Walden. For example, his campaign has never responded to our requests for an endorsement interview. He has staged a single town hall meeting in Bend over the past several years—done only after enormous pressure from voters in this area. Hundreds packed that event at Mountain View High School—something that would, to a representative who aims to truly represent his district—signal that his constituents want and need to hear from him more often. Yet his more recent visits to Bend are done largely in private. “Where’s Walden?” is a common battle cry from his constituents.
Walden has become the type of career politician that voters—city dwellers and rural residents alike—complain about; that politician who leaves for Washington, D.C., and forgets where he came from, and who he represents.
Case in point: Walden’s complicity—nay, his outright participation—in seeking to repeal the Affordable Care Act, under the President’s directive. As has been widely pointed out, residents of District 2 were insured in larger numbers than in any other district in the state due to the ACA; likewise, voters here would have stood to lose coverage more widely than any other district under its repeal. A representative committed to his constituents over his party would have acted otherwise—and in his role as chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, would have used his power there to fight for his constituents. Instead, Walden received a pat on the back from the President for his efforts. The bill he helped co-author cut out protections for pre-existing conditions—something he’d told voters he’d work to preserve. With the executive branch putting health care constantly under attack, you can be assured that if Walden is re-elected, voters will very likely see further cuts to their coverage
Beyond an endorsement against Walden, McLeod-Skinner is experienced and ready to serve. She has a law degree, and has served as a city councilor on the Santa Clara, Calif., City Council and as a city manager for the city of Phoenix, Ore. She also has experience in water resource planning, having worked in Bosnia as a reconstruction and water program manager for the International Rescue Committee.
As a self-described “rural Democrat,” McLeod-Skinner takes a balanced approach to issues including gun control, supporting waiting periods before gun sales, universal background checks, and regulating bump stocks, while at the same time being in favor of limiting military assault-style weapons. She’s a strong advocate for more resources and advocacy for veterans. She supports a reversal of tariffs that threaten the ability of farmers and ranchers to run a thriving business. She’s also in favor of expanding community colleges and offering tuition breaks to graduates who work in public service. We believe her thoughtful, moderate, accessible approach to some of the most pressing issues facing the district make her a strong contender against the entrenched politician that Walden has become. Constituents in this vast district deserve an advocate who is in touch with their needs. Vote Jamie McLeod-Skinner for Congressional District 2.
This article appears in Oct 24-31, 2018.
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Kinda glosses over the Phoenix city manager firing. This article lists it as a positive, which it most certainly wasnt. Lacks some intergirty by the Source.
This sounds like a lot of Walden bashing covered by a thin veneer astroturf.
And the “McLeod-Skinner takes a balanced approach to issues including gun control…” part is a true laugh out loud line. Only someone that endeavors to completely abolish the Second Amendment would consider those measures “balanced”.
I plan to vote for her, but didnt know much about the firing. Heres an article I found about the firing. Seems she chose to uphold her ethical standards rather than fall in line with a culture that included questionable, if not corrupt, practices.
http://mailtribune.com/news/happening-now/…
She has already received our vote. Mailed in our ballots today.
sad to see the endorsement for McLeod-Skinner was buried on pg 4…completely separate from the ” Election Issue”. Highly unusual. Also would’ve liked to see more about Walden’s shameless pandering to right-wing extremists by lobbying for the pardon of the Hammonds.
(Just a reminder…all these anti-government folks like the Bundys, Finnicum, Malheur Misfits…are all cut from the same cloth as Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. Reminder those guys? )
And to have a sitting congressman stay silent on the daily outrages by a republican president who attacks the independence of the judiciary, women, a free press, gold-star families, victims of sexual assault, our closest allied nations, people of a different skin color, etc…the list goes on. Shame on Walden. He can’t even speak up on behalf of decent human values, because Trump’s agenda of hate also serves the new extremist GOP.
He doesn’t serve American values and he certainly doesn’t serve anyone in the most populated part of his district…Deschutes County.
And holding his big fundraiser in Wilsonville? oh yeah…keep us constituents from seeing him rub elbows with the special (corporate) interests that contribute to his war chest.
That’s okay..why would we expect for him to hold his fundraiser in his own district and actually contribute to our local economy? He’s part of the “swamp” that I kept hearing about in the 2016 election.
I also voted for her. But I didnt like the way “The Source” ignored the facts surrounding her firing as city manager of Phonix, OR. Lacks integrity and undermines trust in their reporting. However, Walden is impossible to vote for, she gets the vote.
The Hammonds repeatedly threatened law enforcement before their conviction for arson and the plea deal and prison term that they AGREED to.Walden personally fought for their pardon in order to capitalize on the extremist agenda of the Trump administartion. The Bundy Brigade took over the Malheur Refuge inspired by the Hammonds. The Bundy Brigade vowed to go down guns blazin’ if anyone tried to arrest them. I guess Walden doesn’t think much about the safety of our law enforcement or the members of the public, clergy and federal employees that were directly threatened by these whackjobs who invaded Burns. But Walden apparently thinks right-wing, anti-government extremists deserve his support. I have friends in law enforcement I don’t appreciate Walden’s embrace of extremists who threaten the safety of the public, and real American values.
Skidork: Jamie has spoken publicly and without restraint about how her firing was due to her demand that the city she worked for do a payroll audit, after it was found that an employee was being overpaid. She has not hidden this from anyone. Were we to have infinite space in our paper we might have included it, but as it stands we didn’t feel it necessary nor worth several paragraphs of explanation. We could also use our “integrity” to point out countless shortcomings of her opponent, but again, space issues dictate.
And Hate is not an American Value: We always “bury” opinions on page 4. That’s their usual placement. We chose to wait on this endorsement because we were continuing to give Mr. Walden the benefit of the doubt and time to respond to our endorsement request. He never did.
Thanks for reading!
Baloney. A short sentence saying she only was city manager for 4 months would have covered it. No idea what your comment about Hate has to do with anything I said. You must have missed your medication recently.
Skidork: Helps to read the entire thread. I was responding to multiple readers in one comment.
That would be your bad. Do you actually work for “the Source”?
Did you write that terribly biased story? It’s the first Source story I have read in a long time. I won’t be reading it anymore again. What crap.
Skidork: These are editorials, so yes, they’re “biased” in favor of who our editorial board supports, based on our research and interviews with candidates. Thanks for reading and continuing to visit our site!
And now the 7 day clock is started for McLeod-Skinner supporters to clean up the carpet bombing of campaign signs they’ve littered our community with:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&e…