Oregon Gubernatorial Hopefuls Focus On Natural Resources, Farming

Oregon Republicans have 19 gubernatorial candidates to choose from in May’s Primary. Eleven of those candidates joined Timber Unity, in Hillsboro last week, to debate topics related to natural resources. On wildfires, Bob Tiernan, Tim McCloud and Bill Sizemore agreed forest management is needed, but their ideas on how to accomplish that goal varied widely.

“Fires are a natural occurrence and what we can do as a state is to put them out as soon as possible, wherever they start,” Tiernan stated.

“Destroying the pests and beetles that destroy our trees has to be at the top of mind,” McCloud said.

“So, the traditional approach to letting us go back in to log when we need to log, thin where we need to thin, spray where we need to spray, that’s what has to happen if we’re going to save our forests,” Sizemore said.

Meanwhile, Stan Pulliam, Bridget Barton and Christine Drazan blamed current leadership for not increasing Oregon’s food production and farming.

“Oregon’s going to run out of pink paper when I’m Governor," Pulliam said. "We’re gonna hand out so many pink slips in the state government.”

“Day one: no more regulations; no more tax increases,” Braton said.

“We need to recognize that Portland liberals should not be the one dictating policy to our Ag community," Drazan said.

One thing all 11 candidates had in common, criticizing the current Governor’s policies and the Democrat-led Legislature. The last day to register to vote in the May 17^th primary or change your party affiliation … is April 26^th. To register, or to learn more about this year's primary, visit the Oregon Secretary Of State's Website.

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