Sean C. Morgan
Fred Girod says he’s the guy to stand up for rural Oregon in the state Senate.
The Stayton resident is the incumbent running for state Senate District 9 against Democrat Steve Frank.
Girod said he is recovering well from surgery on Oct. 2. He had cancer in his tonsil, and the cancer was removed.
“The margins and nodes are negative,” he said. “I couldn’t be happier, and I’m expected to live a long life.”
Girod, who has held the office since 2008, is running again because he loves rural Oregon.
“It needs to be protected from Portland and Eugene, and I think I’m the guy to do it,” Girod said. “Overregulation of timber and agriculture – We’re a natural resource based economy, and they’ve put a tremendous number of us out of work.”
The science they use is faulty, Girod said. The No. 1 cause of greenhouse emissions in Oregon is from forest fires, yet they stop the harvest of timber.
“I think I’ve done a really super job in the senate,” Girod said. The people who support him are natural resource interests because he is a voice for rural Oregon.
He has the experience and developed the relationships necessary to work with Portland legislators to protect rural Oregon, he said. He points to fire suppression funding as an example.
“Every time they try to take a dime, I have to go out there and scream bloody murder.”
He said right now it’s the smaller things where he can make a difference. If the Senate picks up another Republican, they’ll be able to do more on larger issues.
He believes in small government, he said, and in that small government, “education is the kingpin.”
He favors cutting several agencies, freeing up cash for education, which has been subject to cuts around the state since the beginning of the recession in 2008.
The Department of Consumer Protection Services is a $1 billion industry that could sustain huge cuts, he said. The Department of Environmental Quality is redundant with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Huge cuts could be made, and they are overdue, he said. “Again, that’s something Portland and Eugene hang on to.”
PERS
Education costs are rising, thanks to increasing Public Employees Retirement System rates on local agencies and school districts, he said. That came after 24 years of Democrat governors who have given great contracts to employees that the agencies have to honor today.
There was a fix with reforms that created a third tier of employee retirement benefits, but the state is still out of synch, Girod said. This year, the PERS rate increased by 9 percent, the equivalent of 11 layoffs in Lebanon School District.
It’s tough to fix it, Girod said. The courts have ruled against reducing benefits that were promised to retirees.
Among possible partial solutions is removing the guarantee of an 8-percent return for retirees after their retirement to age 85, reducing it to between 4 and 6 percent. There are other small things the legislature can do to address the problem.
To make sweeping changes, someone would need to take it to court, but that’s unlikely with the current establishment, he said.
Economy
“We’re a natural resource base,” Girod said. “If we managed our natural resources properly, we could be one of the richest economies. We just do everything we can to mismanage our resources.”
That has resulted, since the early 1990s, in a reduction 50,000 jobs directly. With a multiplier, that’s 150,000 jobs, and three-quarters of Oregon’s plants have shut down.
Even with new sectors opening up, “you look at the numbers, and we haven’t come close to coming back.”
Last session, Girod passed a bill urging the federal government to give back O&C lands or at least approve the Walden-DeFazio compromise that would open a lot of land to timber harvest, Girod said. The opposition to that bill was entirely from Portland. Eugene legislators supported it because Lane County is struggling.
He will continue to pursue solutions like this to get the economy going again, he said.
Cougars
Girod is still interested in dealing with cougars, which are appearing closer and closer to human habitation and attacking livestock.
Rep. Sherrie Sprenger got a bill through the House last session, which died in the Senate, to allow dogs in hunting cougars in problem areas, Girod said. Linn County would have been the place the law would have worked. He will help her try to get it passed again.
They also are looking at the possibility of putting the question on the ballot to overturn the 1994 measure that banned hunting cougars and bears with dogs.
Railroad Issues
Girod also is planning to do something to address Albany and Eastern Railroad’s charging residents for their crossings.
The railroad is charging neighbors $720 in permit and maintenance fees. Some residents are refusing to pay, and the railroad has threatened to close their crossings.
Girod plans to introduce a bill that would take away the railroad’s right to close crossings if a sheriff deems it unsafe. Railroads are federally protected, and he is not sure what the legalities are, he said.
“I think what the railroad is doing is just flat-out wrong,” he said.
Water and Agriculture
Girod has been active with fishing issues, and he was among those who asked the governors of Oregon and Washington to stop gill netting in the main stems. The issue is on the ballot as Measure 81. That should increase returning fish numbers and potentially reclassify them from “threatened” and “endangered.” With those designations, river flows are more highly scrutinized, and increasing their numbers should help reduce the impact of regulations set to protect threatened and endangered species.
Agriculture is a backbone to the Oregon economy too, he said. “We need to get government off their backs and let them do what they’ve been doing for centuries.”
Administrative rules get in their way, and Oregon needs an administrative rule curtailment law, Girod said. It’s one of the few states with no oversight over administrative rules.