Wilsonville Spokesman Online

Kurt Schrader's opponents: 'He's changed'

Republicans claim the first-term Congressman now in 'lock step' with DNC

• By: Patrick Johnson  
• Published: 1/5/2010 9:26:55 AM

Photo By: Ray HugheyRep. Kurt Schrader

He’s changed.

That’s the consensus from two Republican candidates after reviewing Rep. Kurt Schrader’s first term in Washington D.C.

The responses came after a series of articles ran in Eagle newspapers around the Willamette Valley, where Schrader outlined his first year in office as a freshman Democratic Representative for Oregon’s 5th Congressional District.

“I read the interview and what I see in my friend Kurt Schrader is a desperate attempt at self-rationalization,” said Rep. Scott Bruun, who has served in the Oregon House of Representatives since 2004. “Kurt is a good man, I admired him when he was in the Oregon Legislature. I would still call him a friend, although I’m not sure he would think the same of me. The Kurt I knew in the Oregon Legislature was independent and since he has gone to Washington has been in lock step with Nancy Pelosi and the DNC.”

Bruun announced in October he will be running for Schrader’s seat, that is if he can make it past the May Republican primary, where he faces Fred Thompson of Salem.

Thompson agreed with Bruun’s characterization of Schrader.

“Kurt Schrader has voted more than 98-percent of the time with Nancy Pelosi,” Thompson said. “That’s wrong, because she is not right 98 percent of the time. We don’t need San Francisco politics here in Oregon. This is Oregon. I read what Kurt said about what he learned during his time in Washington D.C. Well, the only thing he has learned is that when she pushes a button, he pushes the button for her. That’s not right. My wife and I don’t even agree 98-percent of the time.”

Thompson has less political experience than Bruun, but said that he would bring business acumen to the position if elected. He describes himself as the “conservative” candidate in the primary race.

Both men said that Schrader’s “yes” votes on the stimulus, cap and trade and health care bills show that he is more interested in bowing to the will of his party than representing his constituents in Oregon.

However, Schrader recently joined the Blue Dog Coalition, a caucus of fiscally conservative Democrats who don’t always see eye-toeye with the party’s leadership.

CAP AND TRADE
Both Republican candidates said they feel the cap and trade legislation will have detrimental impacts to economic development, because of the unknown cost of energy until the bill is resolved.

“I know if I had an expansion planned for my company and I had this hanging out there I would hold off until I knew how much my energy costs were going to increase,” Bruun said. “A lot of people can’t make accurate decisions about their businesses or investment with this hanging over their heads. I don’t think it will solve the problem, which is climate change. I think it struggles so hard to be all things to all people that inevitably it doesn’t do anything.”

Thompson said he has done a lot of work in the energy industry and he feels the only thing the cap and trade legislation will do is create a bigger market for energy brokers.

He said he has worked diligently to get facilities to meet the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. That was done in house, without having to pay brokers for emission levels.

“I don’t agree with that, if we have an air quality issue, we need to resolve it,” Thompson said. “We should resolve it at the manufacturing facilities, not have a bunch of brokers out there that are swapping credits back and forth and taking a portion of the proceeds. You are just taking revenue, cash, out of the businesses which is not going to allow them to bring capital investments in their businesses to resolve the issues.”

HEALTH CARE
Bruun and Thompson both said they don’t support current legislation being considered for health care reform.

They both are concerned that the House and Senate bills being discussed will raise the cost of health insurance for business and individuals, as well as change the relationship between the citizens and the government.

Both also said that tort reform, and addressing the malpractice insurance issues, are key to any health care legislation.

Thompson said that when his older brother had polio, the government tried to put his brother in “crippled children schools and hospitals.”

Through the Shriners International, his brother was able to get some control of the arm that was impacted, which he considered an act of charity.

He believes that if the current plan is passed, all of those charitable hospitals will be run by the federal government.

“This is my bottom line,” he said. “I believe you have the right to have health care. I believe you have the right to have the hospitals you want, the doctors you want, the treatment you want, but you do not have the right to have someone else to pay for it.”

Bruun said he feels the problem with healthcare is the third-party payer system, in place today. In this system, employers pay for the insurance and most employees don’t understand the costs of the coverage.

“So the employer-based system, you and I as the patient are not the customer,” Bruun said. “There is no free-market in healthcare because the ultimate user is not the customer, so it creates a lot of opportunities to overconsume.”

Bruun said the system must change by transitioning from businesses paying for health insurance to having a federal tax credit system for consumers for health insurance.

“If you can find your healthcare coverage that is less than the (tax credit),
great,” he said. “If not, you can pay extra, it’s up to you. It allows people to shop. You are never going to have the costs come down until you have a free market, and you won’t have a free market until people can shop.”

Both men are currently running for the Republican candidacy in the primary for the District 5 seat, scheduled for May 18.

The filing deadline for the primary election is March 9.

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