Protesters on both sides of reform meet outside Walden's Bend office

Published: November 14. 2009 4:00AM PST

Bearing signs and shouting slogans, about 100 protesters braved the cold weather Friday to show support or express disdain for U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, who voted Nov. 7 against the health care reform bill.

Protesters stood on both sides of Greenwood Avenue for about an hour Friday, chanting and cheering at honking cars. The event was staged outside Walden's Bend office, on Northwest Bond Street.

An e-mail was sent out Monday by MoveOn.org, a progressive advocacy group, asking supporters of health care reform to protest Walden's vote against the Affordable Health Care for America Act, which passed through the U.S. House of Representatives 220-215.

After word of the MoveOn.org protest got out, e-mails were sent to some of the conservative grass-roots groups in the area calling on them to stage a counterprotest.

“We're here to thank Greg Walden for voting against national socialized health care,” said John Carrigg, a Bend resident and a co-chairman of the Bend Tea Party group.

Carrigg held a sign at the protest, one side featuring a photo of Karl Marx with the words “Moderate Democrat” written on it, the other side with a picture of Ronald Reagan, whose policies Carrigg called the solution.

Lee Henry, 58 and of Bend, was also on hand to support Walden's vote.

“It all costs so much money, and in this economy, it's an absurdity,” Henry said.

“I'm against what Washington is doing. ... I want more people to be aware that people, a lot of people, are totally against this. And we're willing to put up with this weather, or any conditions.”

Greg Delgado, a 45-year-old Bend resident who heads Central Oregon Jobs With Justice, stood across the street from most of the Walden supporters.

“We need to do something. Business as usual doesn't work for us,” Delgado said. “I'm one of the 40 million who doesn't have health insurance.”

Delgado was joined by Cynthia Faust, a 62-year-old who traveled from Redmond to show her support for health care reform.

“It's really humiliating that we're a first-world nation whose people are being ignored and squeezed,” she said while holding a sign that read “Big insurance. Sick of it.”