East County Deserves Its Fair Share

East County deserves its fair share of resources. That’s why I first ran for office, to stand up for East County against powerful special interests that have, for far too long, held sway in Salem. In my first term as an Oregon State Representative, I delivered on my campaign promise. First and foremost, I fought to protect consumers from the abusive lending practices that have harmed our community and our economy. Because of my efforts, for the first time banks, mortgage lenders, and credit card companies have to follow the same laws as all other businesses in Oregon. And consumers can now hold predatory lenders accountable for deceptive and misleading business practices.

While I fought to regulate the corporations and practices that caused our current recession, the worst since the great depression, I also worked to protect families, schools and vital services from drastic budget cuts. Like East County families, the state government had to tighten its belt and the Legislature cut $2 billion from the state budget. In spite of these cuts, our community pulled together to keep schools open and police on our streets. We wouldn’t––and didn’t––sacrifice public safety or the futures of our children, even in the midst of the Great Recession.

Today my top priority is to put East County back to work. I voted for legislation that would provide grants and low-interest loans to small businesses to help get our economy back on track. I also voted to create thousands of good-paying construction jobs around the state through reinvestment in our states roads and transportation infrastructure.

I’ll continue to fight for East County and stand up against powerful special interest groups that have caused so much harm to hard-working folks. And I’ll put our community back to work. Because our children, our families and our community – our East County – deserve their fair share.

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