Elections are fast approaching and Oregonians in House District 4 have questions to consider when choosing their representative. On Oct. 6, the City Club of Eugene and the League of Women Voters of Lane County hosted an online candidate forum for candidates where questions about reproductive healthcare, the housing crisis, child care, and more were asked of the candidates.
District 4 represents the southwestern parts of Oregon — Coos, Curry, Douglas, Lane, and Benton counties and most of Linn and Josephine counties. District 4 has been served by Congressman Peter DeFazio for over three decades but he announced his retirement earlier this year. The candidates present were: Val Hoyle (Democrat), Alek Skarlatos (Republican), Mike Beilstein (Green Party), Levi Leatherberry (Independent/Libertarian).
This article features some of the questions asked by viewers of the forum and the respective candidate’s responses.
The Supreme Court recently overturned Roe and turned over regulation of abortion to individual states. Senator Lindsey Graham has introduced a nationwide bill banning abortion after 15 weeks. If elected, would you vote for Graham’s bill?
Alek Skarlatos: “I would not vote for Lindsey Graham’s bill and I would not vote for any bill that bans abortion in the United States. The Supreme Court literally just ruled that it’s a state issue. Republicans can’t have it both ways. I’m a state rights advocate myself.” When Skarlatos ran for this seat in 2020, he indicated his support for defunding Planned Parenthood and was previously endorsed by Right To Life Oregon. His current campaign has scrubbed his website of anything mentioning abortion.
Mike Beilstein: “Graham’s bill has no chance of passing, even if Republicans get a majority in the House. I support the rights of women and all people to get the medical care they need.”
Val Hoyle: “This is a personal issue for me. I’m the only one here who has been pregnant, given birth and lost a pregnancy. I can’t imagine going to a lawyer or a politician to get a medical procedure. Women’s health care needs don’t change because they cross state lines.” She also referenced Skarlatos’s changing stance on abortion. “Republicans have said what they wanted to do, when people tell you who you are you should believe them.”
Levi Leatherberry: “I support abortion, this district supports abortion. It makes more sense to have it at a state level.” He also asked why Democrats didn’t codify abortion when they had the majority. “Not having it as a law allows you to endlessly talk about it and fundraise off of it.” He also accused Val Hoyle of taking fundraising money from big pharma, although according to Open Secrets, a website that provides transparency of candidate funding, Hoyle hasn’t actually taken any money from pharmaceutical companies.
How do you plan to address the housing and homelessness crisis in Oregon?
Hoyle: “The federal government has walked away from its obligations. We need different solutions including investing in behavioral health and addiction services. One of the biggest challenges in finding employees is the lack of housing.” She stated that she is willing to partner with anyone, across party lines, to find solutions.
Leatherberry: “One of the big ways is to go after the price. If you look at housing prices and why they’re going up it’s because of big actors such as real estate moguls, wall street, federal policies. Politicians are the ones causing prices to go up, we have to look at their fundraising.”
Skarlatos: “Cost of housing has always been going up, due to supply and demand. Cut out investment banks buying houses and foreign interest in buying houses. Homelessness is an in-depth issue regarding drug use, mental health.”
Beilstein: “Housing in general is treated as an investment rather than a utility. The cost is going up faster than wages in this country. We can take the finance aspect out of housing. Public housing has worked well and government agencies should invest in housing to keep it public.”
The Child Tax Credit was expanded in 2021 under the American Rescue Plan but lawmakers have allowed it to expire. Would you vote to continue the tax credit?
Skarlatos: “On face value I would vote to expand it. Getting married and having children should be encouraged in this country.”
Beilstein: “One of the best ways to eliminate poverty is to give people money. The Child Tax Credit resulted in a reduction of poverty. I would definitely support expanding this tax credit, and health care for children. I ultimately support a universal basic income.”
Hoyle: “When we had the Child Tax Credit we cut child poverty in half, kids who aren’t going to bed hungry. We should be investing in this, and child care. When children do better, we all do better. Bring back the child tax credit. I would support family leave, and make sure we have access to high quality child care.”
Levi: “This is actually something the Democrats are quite good at. The main difficulty is the price. These are good policies but we’ve gotta put our money where our mouth is.”
How would you help our community recover from unemployment post pandemic?
Beilstein: “Access to services and access to things that make life better are more important than access to work. Emphasis on jobs is inappropriate. We can have more jobs but people should be working less. We need to meet the necessities of life but we don’t need to expand our use of resources.”
Hoyle: “After the pandemic, people went back to work and we have recovered those jobs. We need to look at how we train our workforce differently. Like the apprenticeship model where you train people to an industry standard, paid, supervised, on-the-job training and certified classroom instruction. We can get people trained to match jobs now. We are leading in Oregon in that way.”
Leatherberry: “Small businesses had a really hard time during the pandemic. Money was going to large franchises. Money needs to go into the correct place. We can make a lot of progress financially.”
Skarlatos: “We need to get back to a natural resource-based economy. Salvage logs and prevent forest fires. Expand the port of Coos Bay, and create family wage jobs here in Western Oregon.”
Treatment of women is a key factor in choosing a candidate. How do you suggest the US and this district end the epidemic of violence against women, as well as sexual assault and sexual harrasment?
Leatherberry: “Domestic violence has gone down statistically. We need to alleviate poverty and provide better resources. Give women money to start small businesses to become leaders in the economy to help them avoid violence.”
Skarlatos: “All crime is on the rise, we need more funding for law enforcement. Elect and fund better domestic violence support. This isn’t isolated towards just women, violent crime has gone up 800% in Portland. It’s a systemic problem across the country.”
Beilstein: “More attention needs to be brought to this, it’s not just about women, it’s a systemic attack on the working class. Economic disadvantage stops their ability to leave a situation of domestic abuse. Education and economic opportunity for women and attention of law enforcement to the issue can provide some help. It’s going to take a long time to end our patriarchal culture.”
Hoyle: “Gender discrimination can not be purely legislated. Whether there are laws for equal pay for equal work or the Violence Against Women Act. Women of color, low income women suffer disproportionately. Make sure there is funding for labs to process rape kits, pass red flag laws, make sure people convicted of domestic violence have a harder time getting access to firearms. Paid family leave, funding child care, and passing the Violence Against Women Act.”
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence one in four women — and one in nine men — experience severe intimate partner violence and only 34% of survivors receive medical care for their injuries. Domestic violence can affect people across all economic ranges and the economic impact includes a loss of 8 million working days a year and costs over $8 billion a year.
The full candidate forum is available on the City Club’s Youtube channel. Candidates were asked questions regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine, climate change, gun control, wildfire prevention, and more. Election day is Nov. 8 and the deadline to register to vote in Oregon is Oct. 18.
