Rep. Hooley should brace for a tough race (Statesman Journal endorses Jackie Winters)

Statesman Journal ^ | April 17, 2004 | Editorial

[AuH2ORepublican]

Rep. Hooley should brace for a tough race

Both Sen. Jackie Winters and Jim Zupacncic are formidable foes.

April 17, 2004

Voters in the 5th Congressional District can choose between the strongest Republican candidates in years.

Either state Sen. Jackie Winters of Salem or lawyer Jim Zupancic of Lake Oswego would be a formidable opponent to Democratic Rep. Darlene Hooley.

Winters’ and Zupancic’s views are alike in many ways. Both support President Bush’s tax cut, his No Child Left Behind act and his approach to thinning public forests. Each vows to cut government waste and paints the other as more likely to vote for tax increases.

In background and style, however, they’re quite different. Winters rose from poverty to become a well-known restaurant owner and the state ombudsman for Gov. Vic Atiyeh. She served two terms in the Oregon House before being elected to the Senate in 2002.

[snip]

Winters’ ascension to Congress would be a loss for the Oregon Legislature. However, the Statesman Journal editorial board endorses her in the May primary for the 5th District.

No matter who wins, Rep. Hooley should prepare for her toughest race yet in November.

[AuH2ORepublican]

More evidence that State Senator Jackie Winters is our best possible candidate to defeat liberal Democrat Congresswoman Darlene Hooley in November in an Oregon swing district that Bush carried in 2000. Unfortunately, the Statesman Journal must be excerpted, so please click on http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=78750 to read the complete editorial.

If elected, Jackie Winters, who has been endorsed in this primary by Oregon Right to Life and by the NRA, would be the first black female Republican to serve in Congress and would provide us with a solid conservative counterpart to all of the liberal black Congresswomen who spew nothing but victimhood and racial bigotry on TV. To read more about Jackie Winters, do a search of the keyword "JACKIEWINTERS" on FR. You can also visit her campaign website at http://www.jackiewinters.com/, where you can also contribute to her campaign on-line.

GO, JACKIE, GO!

[AuH2ORepublican]

Black Republican State Senator Jackie Winters receives another endorsement in her race for Congress!

Statesman Journal added to list that includes NRA and Oregon Right to Life.

[WHATNEXT?]

Is the Statesman Journal conservative?

[Coop]

Interesting. Thanks for keeping me up to date on this race!

[AuH2ORepublican]

Coop, you may be interested in this endorsement of Jackie Winters from the Portland Oregonian, Oregon's largest newspaper:

Hooley, Winters for 5th District - Oregonian 4/23/04

Jackie Winters is the best Republican to face Darlene Hooley in what will be a competitive race this fall

Friday, April 23, 2004

Many voters nationwide don't get much of a choice in their congressional elections because of creatively drawn district boundaries that favor certain parties or incumbents. But voters in Oregon's 5th Congressional District get a real competition. Rep. Darlene Hooley will face a Democratic challenger in the May primary and a solid Republican opponent in the November general election.

Voters in this conservative, swing district should nominate Hooley and Republican state Sen. Jackie Winters. Both make a good case for representing a diverse district that stretches from Corvallis to a piece of Southwest Portland, and from the Cascades to the coast.

...(Winters portion of Endorsement)
The fight for the Republican nomination pits Winters, the Salem-based co-founder of Jackie's Ribs restaurants, against Jim Zupancic, 52, a Lake Oswego business and real estate attorney. Both favor President Bush's tax cuts, oppose abortion and agree that businesses are over-regulated. However, their political experience and personal styles are markedly different.

Winters, 66, has served in the state Legislature since 1999, both in the House and Senate. She's distinguished herself as a hardworking, independent and thoughtful legislator, and she recently helped broker a deal on the state's health and human services budget. Her knowledge of the links between federal and state funding would serve her well in Congress. So would her years running a small Oregon business.

Zupancic, a former school board chairman in Lake Oswego, presented himself as a moderate, pro-schools Republican when he ran unsuccessfully for a state House seat two years ago. This time, he's repositioned himself several notches to the right.

He says he opposed the recent state tax plan that was designed to protect Oregon schools and other vital services from crisis. He also repeatedly hammers Winters for her support of those taxes, calling Winters and Hooley "the tax-and-spend twins."

Zupancic is a smart, ambitious and well-funded candidate, but his change of tune is troubling. What's more, we think Winters exercised solid leadership for helping craft a budget and then supporting a bipartisan plan to fund it. Both Salem and Washington, D.C., need more common-sense leaders like that.

[Coop]

thanks much

[AuH2ORepublican]

And the agriculture and timber groups have endorsed Jackie Winters as well:


AG-PAC says Winters is a "dedicated ally to Oregon’s vital agricultural and timber industries and a true 'Friend' to the Oregon family farmer."

I am proud to forward to you the recent endorsement of AG-PAC. Please forward this to your friends in the AG community. Thank you, Jackie Winters

Senator Jackie Winters
P.O. Box 126
Salem, Oregon 97308

RE: AG-PAC Endorsement

Dear Senator Winters:

On behalf of the AG-PAC Board of Directors’, it is with great pleasure that I inform you of AG-PAC’s endorsement of both your primary and general election campaign’s for United States Representative, Congressional District 5.

You have been a dedicated ally to Oregon’s vital agricultural and timber industries and a true “Friend” to the Oregon family farmer. Your door has stood open to any in need and time was always made for those who just stopped by. Personally, I would like to thank you for working for ALL Oregonians, not just those in your own district.

AG-PAC is an umbrella political action committee representing nearly every major agricultural commodity. You can be proud of the vote of confidence this diverse group of organizations has given you.

Once again Senator Winters, our warm wishes to you on a successful campaign.

Sincerely Yours,
Carol A. Russell
President
AG-PAC

[Coop]

Dubya polling well in Oregon is certainly a good thing for either Winters or her primary opponent.

[Vis Numar]

I think Jim Zupacncic is going to crush Winters.

[AuH2ORepublican]

The Oregon GOP congressional primary is this Tuesday, May 18, and it appears that it's going to be close in the 5th CD race between state senator Jackie Winters and Jim Zupancic to determine the right to take on vulnerable liberal Democrat Congresswoman Darlene Hooley in a district that Bush carried in 2000. If she wins the primary and beats Hooley in November, Jackie Winters would become the first black female Republican ever elected to Congress.

Jackie Winters is endorsed by the Portland Oregonian and the Salem Statesman-Journal, as well as by the agriculture and timber industries (all three endorsements are on this thread). Moreover, Winters is strongy endorsed by the NRA (see http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-gop/1117567/posts), and by the former chairman of the Oregon GOP as well as by Oregon Right to Life (see http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-gop/1117567/posts). And since her opponent, Jim Zupancic, refused to fill out the Christian Coalition's candidate survey (see below), religious conservatives know that Winters is the only Republican candidate in the race who will stand up for family values. Here is a press release regarding Zupancic's snubbing of the Christian Coalition (which release also includes some of Jackie Winters' most important endorsements), followed by an op-ed by Winters published yesterday regarding her commitment to reduce government spending and make President Bush's tax-cuts permanent. Please tell your friends in Oregon to vote for Jackie Winters on Tuesday. In the meantime, here are the press release and op-ed:


Zupancic first refused to fill out the NRA questionnaire, now refuses to fill out the Christian Coalition Voter Guide questionnaire. Local Republican says "I just don’t know if we can trust him."

The Christian Coalition of Oregon distributed their 2004 Primary Voter Guide across Oregon today. Jim Zupancic is listed as “refused survey.” This refusal to fill out the Christian Coalition’s survey on such issues as partial birth abortion and marriage defined as one man and one woman, comes on the heels of Jim Zupancic refusing to fill out the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) questionnaire.

“I find it very telling that Jim Zupancic does not want to tell the Christian Coalition or the NRA where he stands on the issues,” Senator Jackie Winters stated today. “My opponent has taken issue with my stands on issues and yet when he is asked to provide his, he ducks the questions.”

“I just don’t know if we can trust him,” said Cheryl Mesdag, an activist in the Marion County Republican Party who has a long history in local GOP circles, in today’s Statesman Journal profile article on the Fifth Congressional race.

Furthermore, Lou Beres, State Chairman of the Christian Coalition of Oregon, recently wrote to his members saying: “At Christian Coalition of Oregon, we are dedicated to holding elected officials accountable for their actions. That means getting them on the record before they take office and paying very close attention to what they do after they’re elected.”

The Christian Coalition of Oregon does not endorse candidates in elections. They survey the candidates on issues and publish their responses in a Voter Guide distributed to churches throughout the state.

Jackie Winters, who filled out the Christian Coalition’s questionnaire, stated “I think it is very telling that long time party stalwarts are seeing that Jim Zupancic does not want them to know where he stands on the issues important to them. I believe Republican voters are tired of his vicious attacks against me and realize they don’t know where he stands on the very issues he is attacking me on.”

Jackie Winters has received the endorsements of several active grassroots’ organizations and major district newspapers including the following:

Oregon Right to Life (ORTL); National Rifle Association Victory Political Victory Fund (NRA); Oregon Forest Industries Council (OFIC); AG-PAC (a grassroots membership organization made up of agriculture groups throughout the state); BrainstormNW; the Statesman Journal; The Lake Oswego Review; and The Oregonian.

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Standing tall for taxpayers is 1st priority

JACKIE WINTERS
May 13, 2004

During Ronald Reagan’s tenure in the White House, his mandate was “work like tireless bloodhounds to root out government inefficiency and waste of tax dollars.” That is exactly what I will do when I am elected to Congress in November.

Approximately $1.9 trillion is sent to Washington, D.C. every year by hard-working taxpayers like you and me. Twenty cents of every one of our tax dollars spent by the federal government is lost to waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement — 20 cents of every dollar.

My toughest challenge once I arrive in Washington, D.C., will be to cut fat out of the federal budget. Identifying the wasteful spending will not be difficult; after all, we have all heard about the $640 toilet seat and the National Park Service’s $797,400 outhouse.

It is time someone stood up for Oregon taxpayers.

The tough part will be convincing my fellow congressmen to vote against the pork-barrel spending that may benefit their home district.

I believe our federal tax dollars should go toward funding our nation’s defense, maintaining our highways and bridges and critical needs of our nation — not to Southern California to fund $500,000 worth of buses at Disneyland.

My on-the-job experience as ombudsman for former Gov. Vic Atiyeh and my years as a state legislator will allow me to hit the ground running as I work to make sure all levels of government complement each other, not oppose each other, for the benefit of all American taxpayers.

I know how to cut budgets and get the votes to pass them. As chair of the Subcommittee on Health and Human Services on the Joint Ways and Means Committee, I eliminated an entire layer of bureaucracy in the Oregon Department of Human Services. I have worked with state agencies to help them find ways to work more effectively and more efficiently with your hard-earned tax dollars. When needed, I have also held them accountable.

These are challenging times. Oregon deserves a congress member who will stand up for what is right — like making President Bush’s tax cuts permanent and working to reduce the endless stranglehold of government waste, rules and over regulations that discourage rather than encourage innovation and ideas.

A lifetime of experience has prepared me for this job. I ask for your vote on May 18.

[Clintonfatigued]

"Jackie Winters is our best possible candidate"

Quite so. Unlike her opponent, she has a record of winning elections. This means she has an electoral base within the district which could be the stepping stone to a majority of the vote. And the district not only voted for Bush in 2000, it voted Republican (for Kevin Mannix) in the 2002 governor's race. The fact that this district is a swing district means that Bush's GOTV operation will concentrate heavily in the area. Winters should have some residual benefit from that.

[aimhigh]

Is the Statesman Journal conservative?

This paper is so liberal, they publically stated gay marriage is the most important story in the nation. This endorsement alone would cause me to vote for Zupanic.

Jackie sold out to the private collection agencies in the last legislature, knowing it would costs a loss of millions in collections to the state. In a recent Oregonian newspaper survey, she didn't have the guts to state her position on gay marraige. Oregon has too many RINO's. We don't need another.

[WHATNEXT?]

Sooo, we don't have Winters (the tax increase support must have done her in). Will you folks in the 5th district work for Zupanic?

[WHATNEXT?]

Sooo, we don't have Winters (the tax increase support must have done her in). Will you folks in the 5th district work for Zupanic?

[AuH2ORepublican]

"Will you folks in the 5th district work for Zupanic?"

---

Sorry, I don't live in Oregon, so I can't "work" for Zupancic. And I won't donate money to a pro-abortion candidate. But I wish Zupancic the best in his uphill congressional bid, since even a pro-abortion, pro-gun control Republican like Zupancic would be better than the ultraliberal Democrat Hooley, although frankly I don't think Zupancic has anywhere as good a shot of beating Hooley as the pro-life, pro-gun Winters would have had.

And yes, I agree with you that Winters' support for a tax increase cost her the primary. Hopefully that will teach a lesson to her and other Republicans who raise taxes in order to balance the budget instead of forcing spending cuts to be approved. But it's a shame that in Tuesday's primary it was the more conservative candidate who lost because of her error in judgment.