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Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley, left, talks with Douglas County Commissioner Joe Laurance at the annual Flegel Victory Dinner at the Seven Feathers Convention Center October 19. Merkley, along with Steve Novick, is running for the Democratic nomination for Sen. Gordon Smith’s seat in the U.S. Senate.
Democratic challenger Jeff Merkley lambasted U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith Tuesday evening, saying he’s voted lockstep with the policies of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney while turning his back on Oregonians back home.
Merkley, the speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives, told members of the Douglas County Democratic Party that nationally Smith is considered one of the four most vulnerable Republican senators in this election year.
“Why is that? Because we have a U.S. senator who votes 90 percent-plus time with Bush and Cheney. And he is in a state that has the lowest opinion of Bush and Cheney of any state in the nation,” Merkley told a group of 30 people who gathered at Chi’s Garden Restaurant in Roseburg. “He is dramatically out of synch with this state on the war on Iraq, on health care, on energy policy, on education, on creating family wage jobs.”
Smith, Merkley said, spends his time in Oregon talking about stem cell research, hate crimes and mental illness.
“By the time he’s done talking about those, you have a vision of someone who votes with the Democrats,” Merkley said. “He’s talking about the 10 percent of the time he’s with this state, not the 90 percent of the time that he’s taken us off track with Bush and Cheney and doubling the national debt and taking us into this foreign war and making us dependent on foreign oil. He doesn’t want to talk about those things.”
Merkley told the audience that the nation has to break its reliance on foreign oil. Smith, he said, has supported continuing subsidies for oil companies. Instead, the country should be doing more to promote solar, wind and wave energy.
He said more work should be done to perfect the process and make it more economical to produce ethanol from the cellulose found in waste trees in the forests. Building an ethanol industry from corn production doesn’t make sense, he said, when the net gain is negligible because of the amount of fossil fuels needed to produce the corn.
Merkley said Smith and Democratic U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden — who will appear at 5 p.m. today for a town hall meeting at Roseburg City Hall — cancel themselves out on votes that matter to Oregonians.
He said the state’s Republicans have cultivated the notion that it’s better to have two senators of different parties so that no matter which party is in power, Oregon has some clout. That, Merkley said, isn’t enough.
“I want Oregon to have a voice and to do that we have to have two senators working together,” he said.
Merkley admitted that he and fellow Democratic challenger Steve Novick have their work cut out for them to match the $10 million that Smith has pledged to raise in seeking a third six-year term in the Senate. He said it’s important for both of them to raise enough money to have their voices heard.
Tuesday’s appearance was Merkley’s second before the Douglas County Democratic Party. Merkley, who was born in Myrtle Creek and who also lived in Roseburg as a child before his family moved to Portland, also spoke here back in September.
He started out his speech by inviting the audience to turn around and wave to Smith. The senator sent a campaign aide to tape Merkley’s speech.
“Sen. Smith thinks it’s important to monitor what’s going on, because he’s a little worried about something called an election in November,” Merkley said.
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.
Merkley, the speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives, told members of the Douglas County Democratic Party that nationally Smith is considered one of the four most vulnerable Republican senators in this election year.
“Why is that? Because we have a U.S. senator who votes 90 percent-plus time with Bush and Cheney. And he is in a state that has the lowest opinion of Bush and Cheney of any state in the nation,” Merkley told a group of 30 people who gathered at Chi’s Garden Restaurant in Roseburg. “He is dramatically out of synch with this state on the war on Iraq, on health care, on energy policy, on education, on creating family wage jobs.”
Smith, Merkley said, spends his time in Oregon talking about stem cell research, hate crimes and mental illness.
“By the time he’s done talking about those, you have a vision of someone who votes with the Democrats,” Merkley said. “He’s talking about the 10 percent of the time he’s with this state, not the 90 percent of the time that he’s taken us off track with Bush and Cheney and doubling the national debt and taking us into this foreign war and making us dependent on foreign oil. He doesn’t want to talk about those things.”
Merkley told the audience that the nation has to break its reliance on foreign oil. Smith, he said, has supported continuing subsidies for oil companies. Instead, the country should be doing more to promote solar, wind and wave energy.
He said more work should be done to perfect the process and make it more economical to produce ethanol from the cellulose found in waste trees in the forests. Building an ethanol industry from corn production doesn’t make sense, he said, when the net gain is negligible because of the amount of fossil fuels needed to produce the corn.
Merkley said Smith and Democratic U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden — who will appear at 5 p.m. today for a town hall meeting at Roseburg City Hall — cancel themselves out on votes that matter to Oregonians.
He said the state’s Republicans have cultivated the notion that it’s better to have two senators of different parties so that no matter which party is in power, Oregon has some clout. That, Merkley said, isn’t enough.
“I want Oregon to have a voice and to do that we have to have two senators working together,” he said.
Merkley admitted that he and fellow Democratic challenger Steve Novick have their work cut out for them to match the $10 million that Smith has pledged to raise in seeking a third six-year term in the Senate. He said it’s important for both of them to raise enough money to have their voices heard.
Tuesday’s appearance was Merkley’s second before the Douglas County Democratic Party. Merkley, who was born in Myrtle Creek and who also lived in Roseburg as a child before his family moved to Portland, also spoke here back in September.
He started out his speech by inviting the audience to turn around and wave to Smith. The senator sent a campaign aide to tape Merkley’s speech.
“Sen. Smith thinks it’s important to monitor what’s going on, because he’s a little worried about something called an election in November,” Merkley said.
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.
