Oregon: Oregon

The Lane County Commission announced today that they've appointed Rep. Chris Edwards to the State Senate - in a unanimous decision. He replaces Vicki Walker, who was appointed by the Governor to lead the state parole commission. In the House, Edwards currently represents HD-14, which includes parts of west Eugene and Santa Clara, Junction City, Cheshire and Alvadore. The Senate district includes the parts of Eugene represented by Rep. Nancy Nathanson in HD-13. The Senate seat will be up in the November 2010 election. In 2006, it featured one of the most hotly-contested Senate races in Oregon between Senator Walker...

So Gov. Kulongoski is threatening to veto House Bill 2472 which terminates the current subsidies to producers of wind energy. Oregon’s liberal Democrat legislature wanted the additional $19.5 million the bill would save for other foolishness. The governor wanted to save his purported legacy as Oregon’s green governor.

In the end, neither side understood or cared about the actual importance of House Bill 2472. They were both too busy doing what liberals do best – using government to manipulate the economy and reward their friends.

Continue reading "The Whim and Caprice of Oregon’s Renewable Energy Policy"

By Ted Wheeler of Portland, Oregon. Ted is the county chair for Multnomah County. He can be found on Twitter here. Now that I’ve extricated most of the battle-flak out of my backside over Multnomah County’s recent effort to hire a Social Networking Coordinator, I want to answer the basic question posed by the Portland Tribune: "Ted Wheeler, what were you thinking?" Simply put, I was thinking that government should get with it and embrace the future. Local governments, in particular, can capitalize on the amazing opportunity that web-based technologies, including social networking (SN), provide. These tools are quickly reshaping...

By Karla Kay Edwards

In today’s economy everyone is looking for ways to create jobs and increase revenues. That includes Senator Ron Wyden, who has drafted the Oregon Forest Restoration and Old Growth Protection Act, which would manage Oregon’s federally owned forests tree by tree instead of as a sustainable landscape. Though his goals to improve forest health while providing jobs in our rural communities is well intentioned, it will only create more bureaucracy while jeopardizing forest health and our rural communities’ livelihoods.

As the leading lumber producer in the U.S., Oregon has the opportunity to stimulate the economies of rural communities which depend on forestlands for jobs and revenue generation.