Paraguay RPCV John Wight, the Republican candidate, wants a cap on state funding tied to population growth and inflation in race for Oregon State Senate
Spending revs Senate race
A Republican and Libertarian call for tight fiscal policies while the incumbent Democrat says they're ignoring hard choices
Thursday, October 21, 2004
PATRICK HARRINGTON
The Republican and Libertarian challengers for the Oregon Senate District 18 seat are campaigning on bringing fiscal responsibility to state government.
[Excerpt]
John Wight, the Republican candidate, wants a cap on state funding tied to population growth and inflation. Roger Garcia, a Libertarian, calls for reining in state spending through performance-based budgeting. Ginny Burdick, the incumbent, says calls for spending caps amount to "political rhetoric" and wants the Legislature to set priorities on spending.
The District 18 seat represents parts of Washington and Multnomah counties, including parts of southwest Portland and Tigard.
Wight said he decided to run for the seat because of Burdick's record in the Senate. "I was unhappy that there was no alternative."
Wight, 61, runs Shannon Associates, which provides low-income housing. He was born in Kansas and has lived in Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming. He completed law school at the University of Texas in 1967 before joining the Navy as a communications and operations officer.
After visiting Bremerton, Wash., while in the Navy, Wight and his wife decided to settle in the Northwest.
Wight worked for a Portland law firm from 1971 until 1975. In 1975, he became a Senate committee assistant in the Legislature, and from 1975 through 1980 was executive assistant to Portland Mayor Connie McCready and director of the Portland Bureau of Economic Development.
Wight returned to private law practice for most of the 1980s and 1990s, focusing on real estate and employment issues. He has worked as a volunteer attorney for the conservation group 1,000 Friends of Oregon and chaired the Multnomah County Civil Service Commission from 1982 to 1996. From 1999 to 2001, Wight was a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay.
Wight, who lives in Portland, said he is a conservative on economic issues. Government services and programs amount to little more than a quick fix unless people have jobs, he said.
"When people have jobs, the demand for other services is diminished," he said, and Oregon's taxes are driving people out of the state.
It's misleading to say you support education if you don't work to create an economic environment that puts an education to good use, he said. "You can't be for education if there are no jobs waiting."
To ensure economic stability, Wight said, he supports tax reform and a spending cap tied to population growth and inflation. "If population plus inflation is 10 percent, then you can have 10 percent growth in the budget."
According to documents filed with the state in September, Wight had raised $6,339 and spent $8,053 on his District 18 campaign. The largest single contribution, for $1,545, came in the form of research by The Leadership Fund, which is operated by the Senate Republican caucus.
