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HAZE Temp: 47 °F Wind: CLM at 0 mph Thursday, November 21, 2002 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend October 16, 2002 Walden, Buckley clearly clash on most issues By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune You’d think 2nd Congressional District Rep. Greg Walden would be resting on his political laurels this general election. Consider this: The Republican is in an overwhelmingly GOP district. No Democrat has been elected to the seat since 1978. And Democratic challenger Peter Buckley of Ashland, who filed two days before the deadline, has never held public office. But Walden, 45, of Hood River, insists he isn’t taking anything for granted as he seeks his third term in the 19-county district blanketing most of Southern Oregon and all of Eastern Oregon. "I take all my challengers seriously," said Walden, a former state legislator. "It’s incumbent on me to get out in the district, not only during the campaign season, but in the regular course of doing this job." Walden, who tries to visit each county within the district twice a year, was interviewed via cell phone while beginning his 132nd round trip from the district to Washington, D.C. Buckley, who is also 45, speaking from a cell phone in the Union County Senior Center in La Grande, is equally intent on the campaign. "I’m very, very serious about this race," Buckley said. "My dad was a Navy guy who spent many years in service. I believe each one of us has to make a contribution to this country." Though not as a candidate, Buckley has been involved in politics since he was 13, working on three county supervisor campaigns in Northern California, he said. "With the direction this country is moving in now, this year I wanted to make the biggest contribution I could," he said. "That’s why we’ve been on the road month after month. We’ve burned out one station wagon. Now we have rental cars." Buckley, who is married with three children, is a theater administrator with a bachelor’s degree in theater from Santa Clara University. Walden, married with one child, owns several radio stations in the Hood River area. He has a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Oregon. Both candidates believe that public forestlands need thinning to reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfires, although they differ on the approach. They also take different approaches to other issues such as resolving the pending war with Iraq. As evidence of his ability to reach across the political aisle, Walden citeshis legislative efforts to resolve the fight over water in the Klamath Basin as well as a bill he co-wrote with fellow Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio, D-Springfield, and other members of Congress to reach consensus in the forest thinning debate. While it would streamline the appeals process to ensure that hazardous fuels reduction projects aren’t endlessly appealed, it would also protect citizens’ right to appeal government decisions, he said. "I’ve found that the best way to get something done in Congress is to build a bridge across the aisle," Walden said. When it comes to Iraq, war should be a last resort, Walden said. "I believe using military force to eliminate Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction should be undertaken only after all other means have been exhausted, but we should reserve the right to use force if United Nations resolutions continue to be ignored by the Iraqi regime," he said. But he questions the wisdom of waiting until a threat is imminent. Iraq’s production of chemical and biological weapons and his attempt to produce nuclear weapons aren’t in dispute, he said. "Every day we delay, Saddam Hussein grows stronger and the threat to America’s security increases," he said. "He is a menace in the world who has to be dealt with." Buckley counters that Walden has too often sided with the extreme Republican-right agenda in Congress as well as the Bush administration to be representative of the region. "Greg Walden is a nice guy but he hurts nice people with his votes," Buckley said. "He follows that agenda." Buckley decided to run after it appeared that no Democrat would step up to the political plate. "It was unacceptable to me that no strong voice was going to speak out," he said. "There are very few points where Greg and I agree," he said. "Look at the Klamath Basin. He has sided 100 percent with the agriculture community. "I believe we have to address all the needs, not only the agriculture community but also fishing, the tribes and wildlife," he added. "It’s not winner-take-all in a democracy." When it comes to thinning public forests to reduce fire danger, Buckley’s platform agrees in part with Walden’s stance. However, he is concerned that thinning will be driven by commercial logging projects to the detriment of the environment. Buckley believes that planning a war against Iraq is dead wrong. The vast majority of people he has talked to around the district are opposed to rushing to war with Iraq, he said. "To force this issue into election-year politics is not only wrong, it’s extremely dangerous," he said, adding, "There is no need to rush to war, and I passionately oppose those who demand that we do. "This has become an issue only because the Bush administration wants to divert attention from the administration’s disastrous economic record," Buckley said. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy webmaster feedback A D V E R T I S E R S