Gelser named to vacant HD 16 seat
T.A. Barnhart
Sara Gelser has been named to fill the remainder of the term for House District 16. The term lasts through 2006. Two other nominees forwarded by the Benton County Dems Central Committee, Bob Conder and Tina Empol, were also considered, but the vote for Gelser was unanimous. The term ends December 31, 2006, and Gelser has been campaigning for the seat since July.
Gelser was selected by the Central Committee on an overwhelming first ballot, but state law required at least two other candidates to be selected. Five others stood for the seat, and, as a supporter of Gelser, I have to say I would have been happy with any of them. The quality of these candidates indicates how strong the party is in Benton County. We now have a representative in Salem we can back without reservation, and, with great leaders at every level of government in the county, the BC Dems are in a great position both to send a Dem to the State Senate but also to contribute to statewide victories.
For more information on State Representative Sara Gelser, visit her campaign website.
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7:55 a.m.
Nov 30, '05
What a great choice! Hats off to Benton County Dems...
Nov 30, '05
SInce Sara's website does not really include any substantive positions on specific issues, (let's be adult here since this is real life government with real consequences for the lives of people: we can safely assume anyone running for office support "good things" and opposes to "bad things"), perhaps now that she is officially a State Representative she can provide us with concise answers to the substantive leadership questions starting with:
Does she support or oppose the non-partisan primary being pushed by Keisling?
Some would argue that meth theme of the last legislative first and foremost was grandstanding by Kulongoski and both parties in the legislature because collectively they were incapable of real leadership. Does she agree or disagree? What is her brief, but critical analysis of each of the meth measures passed in contrast and in reference to the analyses of the "meth war" offered by:
www.commonsensedrugpolicy.org www.drugwarfacts.org www.jointogether.org/0,2521,578073,00.html
Does she support the Clinton, Murtha, or Feingold (or Bush!?) plan for bringing our troops home from Iraq? And what is her position on whether we should end the ongoing, but virtually forgotten, war in Afghanistan?
12:32 p.m.
Nov 30, '05
More questions for the new rep from Benton County:
Where does she stand regarding optimum foil hat design to keep out the alien radio signals?
What is her position regarding troop deployment in the western Pacific?
What will she do to help stamp out the scourge of British soccer fan hooliganism?
<hr/>Or we could stick to questions that she might actually confront as a newbie state legislator........
<hr/>I know virtually nothing about the condition of the Benton County Dems, so I guess that I'll get behind Ms. Gelser for now based on the best judgement of the "Dems on site". There will undoubtedly be opportunities for further appraisal as we see her in action.
12:40 p.m.
Nov 30, '05
Thank goodness for Pat Ryan.
Nov 30, '05
Congratulations. Sara's web site gives a lot of information about her supporters which appear to include teachers, doctors and those in the public service sector. I note she failed to mention overweight middle aged liberal attorneys as one of her key constituencies, but I will send her a contribution anyway. With the present disaster of leadership in Salem I wish Sara well - it may feel more like an idiot's convention than a legislature when she gets there!
Nov 30, '05
Wayne,
No other comments from the peanut gallery. Pat has an illegal monopoly on the section.
LOL
3:26 p.m.
Nov 30, '05
bluenote, i think we plan to add an entire section for overweight middle aged liberals of all kinds, including web service providers and out-of-work writers. a very important constituency. skinny 19-year-old baristas are on the list (at least until my son turns 20).
as for the leadership disaster: support futurepac & get rid of minnis & scott. 90% of the problem right there.,
Nov 30, '05
Just for the record, she'll have to deal with all three of these issues, and the first for the next regular election. That's why I asked:
1) This last session the Democratic Senate passed a measure to make Senate seats non-partisan as a protest. Of course the Republican House blocked it. It would have been one of those juvenile stunts if it weren't for the fact that Keisling ballot measure will now force the Legislators to act, and/or make the Democrats repudiate their own stupid stunt when Keisling uses it in his campaign.
2) The meth grandstanding isn't over either. Gesler will in all likelihood get a chance to prove whether she is just another venal politician or a real leader.
3) As long as the war goes on we will be sending Oregonians, I would think every legislator would have the common decency to say where the stand on sending people to die. Particularly, since it is the states and hometowns that will have to bear the long term costs of this disaster.
But hey, it is that kind of smugness and focus on what matters in the previous responses that have been so successful in winning us back the Oregon House, defeated Minnis, (how many cycles is it now?) and led us to victory in the U.S. House, Senate, and Presidency, isn't it?
9:02 p.m.
Nov 30, '05
I think the question about meth was a good one.
Legislators wasted a lot of time on this issue last time, passing a bill that hinders people from getting prescriptions for illnesses. At the same time it's doing nothing to stop the manuacture of meth-- they're bringing it in as a liquid, ordering hundreds of pills on the net, buying it out of state, etc.
And of course it does nothing to actually put people behind bars-- they're stealing from people every day and nothing is done about it. That money is then used to buy/make meth. That's where real work could have been done on the issue of meth.
Or how about getting these people into some treatment programs?
I was against the bill from the start and was unhappy to see it pass-- for many reasons. And over the next few months it's going to be interesting to see how hard it is for me (I have insurance) as compared to my sister (who doesn't have insurance) to get a prescription when we hit our usual severe colds around the beginning of February.