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Face-off for the Senate Oregon Senate District 3 candidates Tonia Moro and Alan DeBoer exchange several heated comments Thursday during a debate in Medford. Mail Tribune / Denise Baratta Thursday Oct 20, 2016 at 5:26 PM Oct 21, 2016 at 6:37 AM Damian Mann Mail Tribune @reporterdm Recent attack ads against state Senate candidate Alan DeBoer sparked heated exchanges with opponent Tonia Moro Thursday at a campaign forum at Rogue Community College in Medford.  "The negative ads started hitting yesterday, and I'm asking Tonia to explain," DeBoer said, addressing more than 100 people in the RCC/SOU Higher Education Center. Moro, who never delved into the specifics of the ads, said, "It seems that Mr. DeBoer wants to take all sides simultaneously." She said she's just pointing out a record that shows DeBoer takes money from developers. In one of the ads, Moro's campaign indicates DeBoer wanted to help a developer build a golf course in Ashland, though the details of which golf course and where it might be located were not included. DeBoer said Ashland was trying to find a way to deal with high phosphorous levels in treated wastewater as well as water temperatures that were too high to put back into Bear Creek. One solution was to use the wastewater for a proposed golf course at Billings Ranch that was never built. "I think that's what she's talking about — not enough details," DeBoer said. The candidates took a series of questions about education, Measure 97 and marijuana legalization at a one-hour forum sponsored by the Mail Tribune and the League of Women Voters of Rogue Valley. Across the state, the race is being closely watched because of its impact on the balance in the Senate, and as a result campaign cash is pouring in from locals and state political organizations. DeBoer has collected $412,000 so far, and Moro has raised $335,000, according to the Oregon Secretary of State's Office. That is less than in 2012, when the late Sen. Alan Bates and his Republican challenger Dave Dotterrer raised more than $1 million. The state Public Employee Retirement System is expected to take a big bite of tax dollars in the years ahead, and the two candidates staked out their positions on dealing with it. Moro said all the cuts that could be made to PERS have been made. Any new ideas, she said, would involve endless lawsuits and would not honor the commitments made to retirees. "A deal is a deal," Moro said. DeBoer said he agreed the state needs to live up to its commitments but said he's positive that something could be done to help with the anticipated bite PERS is going to take out of government budgets. Moro and DeBoer disagreed on Measure 97, the corporate tax initiative on the Nov. 8 ballot that would bring $3 billion a year into state coffers to support schools, health care and other government services. "I'm not a supporter of it," DeBoer said. "It was poorly written." If voters approve Measure 97, DeBoer said, the Legislature will be tasked with rewriting it because it will have a harmful effect on many Oregon corporations, which will ultimately just pass the tax on to consumers. "It's a 5 percent sales tax in disguise," he said. He said the state needs to find a way to better fund education. Moro said she supports Measure 97 because of the chronic lack of state funding for important services. "We are at the bottom of the barrel for our education system," she said. The tax would affect fewer than 1 percent of businesses, and most of those would be from out of state, Moro said. She said she doubted that the corporate taxes would be passed on to consumers. Moro said she would use money from Measure 97 to hire more teachers and reduce class sizes. She would encourage a focus on career education. Even though Oregon has the third-worst dropout rate in the state, DeBoer said, "Education is excellent." He said Ashland has taken steps over the years to reduce the dropout rate, and he thinks some of the same initiatives that worked in that city could be applied statewide. "My goal on the School Board was for every child to walk at the graduation ceremony," he said. DeBoer also supported workforce training programs. Rural areas of the state have been hard hit by a decline in federal dollars that helped counties suffering from a reduction in timber harvests. DeBoer said he supported the thinning project in the watershed around Ashland and said the same model could be applied to other areas to reduce the fuel load. He said the lack of careful timber harvests creates out-of-control wildland fires that pour smoke into Jackson County. "We were lucky this year," he said, noting the few wildfires that broke out. Moro said the region benefits economically from all the opportunities available in natural resource areas. She said Southern Oregon needs to tap into renewable energy and energy efficiency, embracing new technologies such as wind and solar. "We don't have the timber receipts, but it is time to move forward," she said. Moro supports the proposed expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, while DeBoer said he isn't sure about the idea. "Fifty-three percent of Oregon is under federal control," DeBoer said. He said he thinks Oregonians need to protect their natural resources, but he wondered how much more land should be outside of local control. Moro said the monument expansion would help preserve the biological diversity of the region. "Public stewardship is important," she said. Climate change is an issue that both candidates thought could be addressed locally. DeBoer said the state should do everything it can to encourage mass transit, electric cars and promoting simple things such as picking up the trash left behind by someone else. "Let's do everything we can to improve the environment," he said. Moro said she has worked to get support for the Healthy Climate Act and believes that a cleaner environment will spur development of jobs. "This is something near and dear to my heart," she said. — Reach reporter Damian Mann at 541-776-4476 or [email protected]. Follow him on www.twitter.com/reporterdm.