Bulletin E-Edition:
New state candidates push their passions
By James Sinks / The Bulletin
Published: October 08. 2008 4:00AM PST
more photosSALEM — The new voice for Deschutes County in the state Senate will offer a new perspective in the Legislature.
The question for Central Oregon voters as they consider the two first-time legislative candidates: Which vantage point would they prefer?
Republican Chris Telfer is a business owner who said she will bring the careful eye of a Certified Public Accountant, a voice for fiscal restraint and the background of a city councilor.
Democrat Maren Lundgren, an attorney who works mostly in juvenile justice and a one-time barista, said she knows the perspective of struggling families — and can explain from experience how social workers, the justice system and teachers are helping troubled kids succeed despite tough odds.
Voters in Senate District 27 will choose between them on Nov. 4 to succeed state Sen. Ben Westlund, D-Tumalo, who is vacating the seat and running for state treasurer.
The district — which covers most of Deschutes County, including the cities of Bend, Redmond, Sisters and La Pine — has been solidly Republican territory, and the conventional wisdom is that it will remain so.
Registration figures as of August showed that the district had 34,059 Republicans, 31,188 Democrats and 18,273 voters who were unaffiliated with a party.
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While Westlund is a Democrat, he was elected in 2004 as a Republicaan but switched parties in 2006.
The lion’s share of campaign donations this year have flowed to Telfer, a sign of what the political odds-makers expect. She has amassed $271,037 in contributions this year, most of it from business donors, while Lundgren has reported $15,578, according to the Oregon Elections Division.
Telfer hopes to restore ‘fiscal sanity’
Telfer, 58, said she’ll offer expertise on how to write and stick within a budget — something that will be essential as the state faces a downturn because of the tanking economy — and also a willingness to take a hard look at whether regulations and costly programs are necessary. There are no accountants in the Legislature today.
“I think reality is going to be more sour than what we are hearing,” she said Monday, referring to the economy, “and I hope to bring some fiscal sanity to the process.”
Telfer said she will resign her post on the Bend City Council at the end of the year if she wins the Senate post.
As she has campaigned for the Senate seat, Telfer has met with 62 different lobbying organizations, representing everyone from judges to teachers to nurses, she said. Yet only two of them aren’t asking for more public funds or programs.
“In these tough economic times, that is going to be tough,” she said.
She said she wants to encourage jobs and to lower the cost of health care by reducing the financial reserves that insurers must keep.
Also, she said she won’t follow in the footsteps of Westlund, who has pushed for new restrictions on the mortgage industry, including better disclosure of obscure fees paid by home buyers and limits on a rate-raising mechanism that benefits brokers.
“There are already unneeded regulations,” she said. “Like any profession, there are some bad apples, but for the most part, the mortgage industry regulates itself.”
Lundgren wants to help ‘everyday folks’
Lundgren, 34, disagrees. She said the mortgage industry collapse — and the foreclosures that have helped cause it — shows that government hasn’t done enough to protect home buyers from unscrupulous lenders and brokers.
“We have got to do everything we can to protect everyday folks from what have been predatory lending practices,” she said. “People don’t read over their forms with the eye of a lawyer.”
Helping struggling families is the theme of her campaign, and a world view that has been framed in her daily work, which deals with troubled youths and their families.
A mother of four and a first-time candidate, Lundgren said she entered the fray to help children.
“There is this whole population of kids that are slipping through the cracks,” she said.
Among the factors making it worse: overcrowded classrooms, a lack of health care, an overtaxed mental health system and families that can’t get ahead, she said.
Investing in needy kids today — including expanding public health insurance to cover them — can save millions later, she said.
Lundgren said she has been focusing on independent voters as she takes her volunteers into the field, knocking on doors. Independent voters could help tip the balance, she said.
And even though she concedes she faces longer odds because of the Republican registration advantage, she has no second thoughts and remains upbeat. There’s a chance, she said, she could score a surprise: Most of the unaffiliated voters she’s talked to are angry about national politics and say they won’t vote for any Republicans, anywhere on the ballot, she said.
“The district is changing a lot,’” she said.
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