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Guest Opinion: What solutions does Alan DeBoer propose? Sunday Apr 2, 2017 at 12:01 AM By Colette Paré-Miller When Alan DeBoer was running for State Senate, he had a reputation as a sociable guy who donated to many local charities, but residents had three major concerns. One was that the biggest corporations and richest individuals already dominate politics. Did it really make sense to send someone like him to Salem, instead of someone who would represent working families, family farmers, seniors and young people? The second concern was that he spoke only in generalities and never could be pinned down on his positions. And the third was that he always had an excuse for why he couldn’t support practical solutions to problems we face — but never had solutions of his own. Unfortunately, those concerns have been reinforced by DeBoer’s two guest opinions in the Mail Tribune since he took office. In the first, published Feb. 19, he complained that too many constituents have contacted him, taking up too much of his time, and he said we just need to “trust” him. When constituents traveled to Salem to talk to him about the affordable housing crisis, he scheduled the meeting for a time when only his staff would be available and he could avoid answering their questions. He also has not found time to heed constituent requests to support bills to make sure all children have health coverage, or that all women have full reproductive health coverage, or that all working people have paid family and medical leave in case of a serious personal or family illness or to care for a new child. But “just trust me” and “I don’t have time for you” apparently is not an answer he gives to the corporate special interests who contributed more than $600,000 to his campaign. Those contributors included not only Walmart, Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America, and the American Insurance Association, but also global fossil fuel companies like Chevron, Phillips 66, British Petroleum and Natural Gas PAC. Sure enough, his latest guest opinion (March 26) carries water for those giant polluters who do not want to see a faster transition to clean energy sources like solar and wind. Nor do they want to see Oregon adopt a program that is working in other states that makes the largest polluters pay for excess emissions and uses the money to invest in clean energy jobs in regions like ours. The bill DeBoer refers to in his column, Oregon’s Clean Energy Jobs Act (Senate Bill 557), would generate $700 million a year from the largest polluters to create good-paying clean energy jobs and save people money on energy bills. It would make solar more affordable, improve energy efficiency in homes and businesses, and increase the availability of affordable housing near bus lines. A similar program in nine northeastern states has already created 16,000 jobs while emissions and energy prices have dropped and economic growth has outpaced the national average. Last year in California, for more examples, that state’s program meant grants to farmers for more energy-efficient irrigation technology that will save billions of gallons of water, and 750 low-income families in the San Joaquin Valley received rebates to replace older, inefficient vehicles with hybrid or electric vehicles. Unable to deny the public benefits of this approach, DeBoer’s friends at Associated Oregon Industries, which represents the largest polluters, have turned to what might be called “fake news.” They produced a “study” that calculates the program’s cost based on assumptions that ignore both how it actually works and what the benefits would be. It is probably no coincidence that as soon as the study came out, DeBoer published his guest opinion with similar “fake news. ” Since he couldn’t criticize the Clean Energy Jobs Act itself, he tried to sow doubt about it by writing about problems with an entirely different and separate state program — the Business Energy Tax Credit (BETC). Ironically, the problems with BETC stem from too much corporate insider influence in Salem. DeBoer has yet to show that he is the right person to help fix that problem in state government on any subject. Finally, DeBoer’s guest opinion expresses concern about school funding. He doesn’t mention that he was a leader in spreading misinformation about Measure 97 that would have required the biggest corporations to pay their share and would have prevented pending cutbacks. On each of these issues, DeBoer has a ready excuse for why he can’t support reasonable solutions but has yet to say what he would propose instead. Except to continue to do whatever the biggest corporate special interests want. — Colette Paré-Miller of Medford grew up in Southern Oregon and is a supporter of the proposed Clean Energy Jobs Act.​