February 25, 2005

Salem – Calling Governor Ted Kulongoski’s recent efforts to appease preservationists, "pandering," Senate Republican Leader Ted Ferrioli (R-John Day) on Thursday said proposals made by the Governor will cost the state jobs and devastate rural communities.

"The Governor took a hard left turn in January and has been pandering to the extreme left wing of his party ever since," stated Senate Republican Leader Ted Ferrioli. "In his attempt to gain votes in his party’s primary, he has adopted policies that will cost us jobs, harm rural families, and reignite the politics of division."

In 2004, Oregon voters defeated a plan that would have locked up more than half of Oregon’s state forests. Showing complete disregard for the will of the voters, the Governor has proposed Les AuCoin for appointment to the Board of Forestry. AuCoin is a vocal opponent of the board’s management plan that would bring as many as 4,300 jobs to hard hit timber dependent communities. These are jobs desperately needed in rural Oregon.

The Governor is also proposing a plan that will decimate livestock herds, wildlife, and associated jobs. Ranchers and rural legislators say his plan to re-introduce the gray wolf into Oregon will tie the hands of ranchers, leaving livestock unprotected and decimating deer and elk populations.

"He is literally throwing Oregon to the wolves. The Governor and his extremist allies are trying to force an exploding population of these predators onto rural Oregon," stated Ferrioli. "Would these proponents favor wolves into the Willamette Valley?"

The final piece of environmental pandering is the Governor’s plan to shut off water from the Columbia River. If implemented, the plan would remove the life blood from Eastern Oregon farmers and the families they support. The plan will also rob the cheap power that is so attractive to businesses hoping to bring jobs to the state. In the wake of near record salmon runs, Republicans argue there is no justification for the Governor’s policy.

"The Governor has now shown us that his re-election is more important than jobs and families," Ferrioli said. "Whose Oregon is it anyway? The Governor needs to represent the interests of all Oregonians, and stop pandering for re-election."