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The
Hidden Farr Right If you went for the tension, the zingers, the mudslinging, you may have left disappointed. State House candidates Debi Farr and Chris Edwards, vying for the District 14 seat representing far west Eugene, Bethel and Junction City, did a lot of agreeing during their Sept. 22 debate before the City Club of Eugene. Both invoked kids, families, communities. Both touted the (now lifeless) West Eugene Parkway proposal and "school choice." Both pledged to better fund community colleges, crack down on illegal immigration and leave the corporate kicker alone. Bo-ring. But off the stump, this race isn't as tame. Republican incumbent Farr may be all smiles as she waxes concerned on children's nutrition and bipartisan cooperation, but her record reveals a heavy GOP lean that favors tax cuts over school funding. Democrat challenger Edwards, awkward but earnest in his delivery, is campaigning on health care and schools while quietly supporting progressive causes such as renewable energy and labor rights. In the larger picture, the differences between the candidates are pivotal. Currently the Legislature is split between parties, with the Democrats dominating the Senate and the GOP heading the House. The Senate, with a six-Democrat lead and only two close races, will in all likelihood stay under liberal control. But the House, with a six-Republican edge and seven tight races, could swing if the Dems manage to hang on to all their seats while unseating four incumbent Republicans. Poli bloggers are eyeballing the Farr-Edwards race, scoping out the real differences between the candidates.
Education When it comes to schools, the distinction isn't obvious. Both Farr's and Edwards' propaganda materials are smattered with photos of children, a visual drill to bore home a pro-schools message. But the incumbent's legislative record, including several votes against better school funding, gives her opponent ammo. "She doesn't vote with her proclaimed values," Edwards said. He attacks Farr for voting to shelve a bill that would have transferred state surpluses into an education stability fund and for opposing an effort to force the Legislature to give public schools enough money to meet their basic needs. Instead, Farr backed Speaker Karen Minnis' effort to base education funding on fluctuating state income taxes. She opposed a bill to fund capital construction projects within the Oregon University System and at community colleges but supported a similar bill that cuts OUS schools out of the equation. (Her kids attend LCC.) And Farr wasn't around to vote on a bill that would have kept the education budget steady with inflation; Rep. Phil Barnhart (D - Dist. 11) says she skipped out for lunch with her husband. Farr neither confirmed nor denied Barnhart's allegation. She did not follow through with EW's numerous attempts to schedule an interview, and her campaign staff did not return calls or emails. Farr's challenger has also made education his campaign cover girl. Edwards proposes to improve teacher health care benefits and eliminate cushy retirement packages for administrators, the so-called "golden parachutes" that Farr voted to retain. He's talking about legislation to expand vocational training, a "rainy day fund" to stabilize school funding and smaller class sizes.
Health Care Last session, Farr sponsored bills to make health insurers cover women's breast exams and chemical dependency treatment programs. But she also voted consistently against transparency in medicine, opposing one bill to make health insurance information more accessible to consumers and another requiring pharmaceutical companies to report their big gifts to doctors and hospitals. The health care industry was Farr's top special interest donor in 2006, according to Project Vote Smart. What Farr votes to obscure, Edwards wants to lay open. He's campaigning for full disclosure of hospital billing rates for insured versus uninsured patients and public hearings before insurance companies can raise their rates. He's pushing for prescription drug pools to lower health insurance costs for small companies, and he attacks Farr's recent vote to tie up a bill that would have expanded eligibility for Oregon's Prescription Drug Program.
Reproductive Rights Farr infuriated pro-choice Oregonians by supporting a bill that defines fetuses at any stage of development as human beings and voting to shelve a bill that would give women easier access to emergency contraception. Farr also supported an effort to require parental notification before an abortion on a minor. That bill, which passed in the House but died in a Senate committee, was reincarnated as Measure 43. Edwards says he supports women's right to abortion and easier access to emergency contraception.
Environment The Oregon League of Conservation Voters gives Farr a 13 percent lifetime rating. Last session she voted to allow more logging in state and national forests, let recreational hunters use hounds to hunt cougars, and stop funding the state pesticide use reporting system. She's a steadfast supporter of pesticide company interests, earning a 100 percent lifetime rating from pesticide industry group Oregonians for Food and Shelter. She supported budget provisions blocking fuel efficiency standards and canceling the Willamette River cleanup, and she joined a House GOP effort to hitch tax breaks for major polluters to a biofuels development bill. She voted to let even more developers waive zoning rules through Measure 37; in contrast, Edwards talks about strong land use laws that would preserve Class A farm soils. The OLCV has endorsed Edwards largely for his support of efforts to develop Oregon's renewable fuel industry. But he has little to say on habitat and toxics issues, and he disappointed some progressives when he supported a failed attempt to build a four-lane highway through some of the Willamette Valley's last intact wetlands. It's unclear how Edwards, as a former timber mill manager, will vote on logging issues; he's worked closely with Big Timber, but his own family's mill was tooled for small diameter wood, which is more compatible with sustainable forestry.
Tax Cuts During the 2005 session, Farr supported $600 million in tax cuts for wealthy Oregonians and corporations. The Edwards campaign contends that education, health care and other social services are absorbing the loss. But Edwards says he has a soft spot in his heart for small businesses, having run one himself, and he'd be hesitant to repeal the corporate kicker before consulting with local business owners.
Labor According to the AFL-CIO, Farr supported labor rights in just over half her votes during the last legislative session. But it seems the union won't forgive her for backing an agriculture industry bill that would allow employers to avoid fair contracts with seasonal workers or for publicly pooh-poohing mandatory union dues and tax-exempt public employee retirement accounts. She didn't get the AFL-CIO's endorsement, but she did score backing from AFSCME and the Amalgamated Transit Union. The AFL-CIO also snubbed Edwards, skipping the District 14 endorsement entirely rather than plugging a political unknown. Edwards found strong union backing elsewhere, racking up props from the local chapters of the American Federation of Teachers, Service Employees International Union and United Food and Commercial Workers Union. He distinguished himself from Farr at the City Club debate by defending the PERS tax exemption and mandatory union dues, but he later admitted that his own former employees at Western Wood Products weren't unionized.
Payday Loans Consumer advocates were frustrated by Farr's vote to delay a bill that would have limited the maximum interest rates on payday loans. Farr received $2,500 in campaign contributions from payday loan interest groups in 2004, according to the Money in Politics Research Action Project. Edwards says he'll crack down on payday loan lenders, who he feels take advantage of Oregon's working poor by charging exorbitant interest rates.
Government Accountability Last session the Legislature passed a bill requiring populous counties to set up tax supervising commissions or publish their financial summaries online. Farr opposed it, also voting against a bill to fine public figures who commit felonies on the job. Edwards' message is, "Cut government waste." He takes a business person's approach, proposing to improve government transparency through independent spending audits and root out missing education funds by giving agencies incentives to be more efficient.
Outlook This is a race to be decided by the 14,695 non-affiliated voters in District 14. Far west Eugene leans left, Junction City leans right and Bethel straddles the middle, creating a district that maintains a thin Democratic margin yet tends to elect Republican representatives. Edwards has the advantage of people-power: $81,000 of in-kind contributions, mainly canvassing by volunteers, and about $19,000 in contributions under $100. And he has the enthusiastic support of the Oregon Bus Project, which saw defeat on only two of the 17 state legislative campaigns it backed in 2004. But one of those losses was the campaign of Bev Ficek, the Democrat who ran against Debi Farr in 2004. Edwards has been hitting the ground hard with Bus Project volunteers, and he's earned a reputation for deep listening. "Getting Chris off the doorstep is one of the hardest things," says Lane Bus Project board chair James Mattiace. "He just talks to people, finding out what's going on with them and engaging with conversations on the issues." But it may be that same unspoiled quality that led Farr to call him inexperienced during the City Club debate. Farr has the opposite problem: convincing voters that she's not a hard right-winger. As the public witnesses national GOP scandals from Foleygate to the failures in Iraq, Farr has chosen not to endorse Republican gubernatorial challenger Ron Saxton. Nor has her campaign mentioned Dubya. Instead, Farr proudly told the City Club that she's an independent thinker, calling for open primaries and a shift to a nonpartisan Legislature. She noted that she partnered with Dems to co-sponsor dozens of bills last session, but most were politically safe proposals like helping seniors gain independence, funding lunch programs for kids, ramping up services for veterans and cracking down on sex offenders. On heated bills she stuck with her party, standing with Republican Speaker of the House Karen Minnis 99 percent of the time. So Farr is talking to the center while staying loyal to her conservative base. A Salem lawyer and GOP blogger who goes by "Gullyborg" put it this way on NWRepublican.blogspot.com: Debi Farr is a very safe re-election. And I have spoken to her often, personally and professionally … [T]he political reality is that [Farr] has to appear more liberal in order to be a safe re-elect. Demo-graphically, her district is majority democRat [sic]. But she knows how to use code words and hidden meanings very, very well. She talks publically [sic] about all the touchy-feely liberal things like hungry children, working poor, health care, etc. But what she is really doing is using the lexicon of the left to push a more conservative agenda. Feeding the poor children? She and her husband are doing it by helping private charity (Pat Farr runs Food [sic] for Lane County) instead of relying solely on gummint handouts. Helping the working poor? That's called TAX CUTS. Straight speak, at last. Adrienne van der Valk contributed research to this report.
Campaign finance With contributions of about $132,000 by Oct. 2, Edwards has out-raised Farr by about 45 percent. But Farr's campaign has more cash: $81,000 of Edwards' contributions are in-kind, compared with $11,000 of Farr's. Most of Edwards' in-kind donations represent volunteer hours. The Edwards campaign collected $19,000 in cash contributions under $100, compared to Farr's $915. Farr's campaign fund is heavy with large donations from special interest groups. As of Oct. 2 her campaign has raked in $91,230 and spent $70,353. Her major contributors are the Oregon Victory Committee ($30,000), Majority 2006 ($10,973), Friends of Wayne Scott ($10,000) and Oregon Forest Industries Council PAC ($7,500). Donors of $1,000-$2,000 include Oregon auto and beverage companies; credit union, nurses' and realtors' PACs; AFCSME, Oregon Loggers, Wildish Sand & Gravel and Associated Oregon Industries. Edwards' contributions total $132,301, all but some $10,000 of it spent. His biggest backers are Future PAC ($33,854), Citizen Action for Political Education ($26,074), OR Education Association ($10,052), Oregon Trial Lawyers Association PAC ($7,977), Andy and Deborah Rappaport ($4,000) and Bus PAC ($2,171). Donors of $1,000-$2,000 include the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, Mandate Media, Timber Products Company, Blumenauer for Congress and Eugene Education Association PAC.
Secretary of State campaign finance reports (www.sos.state.or.us/elections)
Registered Voter Affiliations: 39.3 percent Democrat, 34.8 percent Republican, 23.5 percent non-affiliated, 2.3 percent other Representatives since 2001redistricting: 2004: Debi Farr — R (53 to 47 percent) 2002: Pat Farr — R (53 to 47 percent) Source: Oregon Secretary of State July 2006 data
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Debi
Farr, incumbent
Chris
Edwards, challenger
The
District Geographical
Scope: Far west Eugene, Bethel and Junction City