Merkley returns to his roots for campaign stop in Senate run

When Jeff Merkley was a child, his father took him to the steps of an elementary school and pointed to the front doors.

“He said, ‘These are the doors to the school, but, more importantly, these are the doors to opportunity. Go through those doors, work hard and you can do and be anything, virtually anything.’ And that was a vision I really took to heart,” the Oregon House speaker said during a campaign stop Tuesday in Roseburg.

A day earlier, Merkley, 50, a Portland Democrat, kicked off his campaign against incumbent Sen. Gordon Smith, a Republican. He came to Roseburg on Tuesday in a recreational vehicle decorated in green and blue and carrying the message “Change. It’s Coming.”

Darrell Merkley, Jeff’s father, worked as a millwright in Riddle. He later worked for a Caterpillar dealer in Roseburg, where Jeff Merkley attended kindergarten and first grade at Fullerton IV Elementary School. They later moved to Portland.

Jeff Merkley was the first member of his family to graduate from college. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and a master’s degree in public policy from Princeton. He told a luncheon audience at Chi’s Garden Restaurant that he’s never forgotten the lesson from his father and the idea that America is a land of opportunity.

During his time in the Senate, Smith has favored the rich and powerful over the masses, Merkley said.

“For the last six years, we have had a president, George Bush, and a U.S. senator, Gordon Smith, who have not seen America as the land of opportunity but, instead, a land of opportunism for the few,” Merkley said. “In this Smith/Bush America, if you are already powerful, you’re given even more power. In this Bush/Smith America, if you already wield influence, you are given even more influence.”

Merkley became speaker of the House after Democrats took control of the legislative body for the first time in 16 years. He said it was the most productive legislative session in some time, with major legislation passed and signed by Gov. Ted Kulongoski.

Merkley said he pushed legislation to eliminate excessive interest rates charged by check cashing and payday loan businesses, to create a “rainy day fund” for the state, fought to make health care more affordable and worked to increase the state’s investment for education.

“So far, what I have encountered is huge enthusiasm that we finally got a legislature that could work with the governor and get this state moving again on health care policy, education policy, energy policy, environmental policy,” Merkley said.

Smith, Merkley said, has voted in line with the Bush administration 90 percent of the time. He ends up canceling the vote of Oregon’s other senator, Democrat Ron Wyden, 94 percent of the time, he said.

“We need more than 6 percent leadership,” Merkley said. “We also need a senator from Oregon who opposes a disastrous war in Iraq from the beginning.”

Smith will likely have more money to spend on the campaign, but Merkley said he doesn’t see that as a big disadvantage.

“What he lacks is a vision that reverberates with Oregonians that addresses the frustrations that we all feel about where our nation has been headed. He has been so closely tied to advocating for and fighting for the destructive policies of the last six years, that that’s the conversation we’re going to have with Oregonians around the state. Let’s channel that frustration and put our nation back on track,” Merkley said.

Born in Myrtle Creek, Merkley said he believes his message will be well-received in conservative parts of the state, including Douglas County.

“For one thing, I come from this part of the state and I’m fighting for working families. Sen. Smith has fought for the elites of this nation and for opportunism for those elites. The state is not filled with elites. It’s filled with working families, so it doesn’t matter where your address is. But it does matter where your heart is,” Merkley said.

Bruce Cronk, a Democrat from Green and former head of the Douglas County Democratic Party, said it’s too early to know who he will vote for. He said he’s interested in hearing more from Merkley and Steve Novick, another Democrat running for Smith’s seat.

“I’m glad we have some candidates stepping up to get rid of Gordon Smith. He doesn’t represent us. He certainly doesn’t represent me. He doesn’t represent working people.”

Roseburg attorney Charles Lee said he came prepared to be disappointed but said he was pleased with Merkley’s talk.

“I didn’t know very much about him before. I think he did a pretty good job with the stump speech,” Lee said. “He came across as somebody that has been thinking about issues and problems and trying to find answers. And that’s a hard thing to find in a politician.”



• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.