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Walden stayed GOP course in 2001 voting By JOHN DARLING for the Mail Tribune The congressman representing Southern, Central and Eastern Oregon found himself at odds with the rest of Oregon's U.S. House delegation most of the time on major domestic issues in 2001 - not surprising, since Rep. Greg Walden is Oregon's only Republican in the U.S. House. In a year-end tally put out by the Congressional Roll Call Report, Walden is shown sticking with his party and parting ways with his four fellow members of Congress on repeal of ergonomics legislation, tax cuts, faith-based initiatives, definition of a fetus, campaign finance reform, Arctic drilling, patient rights, economic stimulus, aviation security and fast-tracking trade pacts. Only on one major domestic issue did Oregon's five members of Congress vote in unison - supporting President Bush's K-12 education bill. It requires annual reading and math testing in grades 3-8 and passed 381-41. A majority of three of House members from Oregon, including Walden, voted on the prevailing side to ban cloning for both human reproduction and in research that might find breakthroughs against disease. Reps. Peter DeFazio and David Wu supported the ban. On the anti-terrorism bill, Walden was joined by Rep. Darlene Hooley in support. Year-end trackings from a dozen of the major political action committees (PACs) show Walden with high ratings from pro-business, anti-tax, right-to-life and conservative groups and low ratings from environmental, civil rights, labor and pro-choice groups. Oregon's two U.S. senators, Democrat Ron Wyden and Republican Gordon Smith, parted ways and voted with their parties on the president's tax cut and campaign finance reform, a bill widely supported by Democrats to bar unregulated soft money contributions and raise hard money limits. Both bills passed, but campaign reform languishes in the House. Called the Shays-Mehan bill in the House, it was brought up by majority Republicans under rules that critics saw as partisan obstacles to fair debate. Oregon's four Democrat members of Congress voted against the rules. Walden voted for the rules. The motion lost and debate ceased. The two senators voted aye on patients' rights, aviation security, the anti-terrorism bill, Congressional pay raise and Bush's education bill, according to Roll Call. The business-backed ergonomics bill repeals Clinton-era regulations to protect workers from repetitive motion injuries. It passed 223-206. The fetus bill gave a fetus the same rights as its mother when a violent crime is committed against the mother. Opponents saw it as an attack on Roe v. Wade. It passed 252-153. Democrats tried to block drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by stripping it out of an energy bill. The move failed 206-223. The bipartisan efforts on war and post Sept. 11 recovery are over and many close, bitterly fought votes and a five-seat Republican edge point to fierce battles in selected close-call House districts this election year, Roll Call noted. Voters are focusing not so much on local issues and personalities as on big-picture issues, it said, such as education and prescription drug coverage for the elderly. John Darling is a free-lance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.