Gubernatorial debate here in wonderful welches, oregon. I am mark garber, past president of the oregon Newspaper Publishers association, and i will be moderating the debate. For many decades, this onpa has been the unofficial kickoff to the gubernatorial season in oregon. This year, we have a particularly exciting race for governor as we have a known incumbent and three very wellknown candidates on the stage today. This event is being live streamed on newspaper websites across oregon. I want to thank our partner, allied Video Productions, for helping make the live stream possible. After brief introductions and a reminder of the rules, we are going to get to the debate. Other than during these introductions, we want the audience to remain quiet during the entire debate, that means no beeping noises from your cell phones, please, so please make sure they are silenced. Thank you. We want to give a warm newspaper industry welcome to the candidates we invited to appear today. In alphabetical order, we have former state representative and House Minority leader christine drazan, the republican nominee for governor. Welcome, representative. [applause] next, not in order of how they are sitting, but alphabetical order, former state senator betsy johnson, running as a nonaffiliated candidate for governor. Please welcome senator johnson. [applause] finally, we have former oregon House Speaker tina kotek, the democratic nominee for governor. Please welcome speaker kotek. [applause] we want to thank the four journalists we have today who have helped plan the debate and have taken time to be here to ask questions. Journalists from different parts of the state will bring their own perspectives, they are daniel juster, managing director of the lake county. Laura gunderson, managing editor of news for the oregonian. Andrew cutler, publisher of the east oregonian and grand observer. And mark miller, editor of the media Group Newspaper in washington county. Lets say thanks to all of them. [applause] we are about ready to start. I want to briefly remind everyone about teddys guidelines. We conducted a drawing to determine the order of opening a Closing Remarks. Each candidate will have three minutes to open and three minister close. Each ballast will ask each panelist will ask two questions and each candidate will have 90 seconds to respond. Onpa timer lori was signal with 30 seconds to go with the yellow card in the red yellow card and the red card will go up at the end of time. If you go over your past elected time, i have to interrupt you. Sorry about that. We will rotate questions among candidates, so everyone gets a fair shot to first answer a question. Our journalists have the option to ask followup questions of the response to the followup questions will be limited to 60 seconds. At their discretion, journalists may use a followup question to ask a candidate to respond directly to criticism from another candidate. Not that that is going to happen, but they have the option to follow up in the response to those followup questions will be limited to 60 seconds. Prior to the debate, each candidate drew the name of another candidate and will have an opportunity to ask that candidate a question after panelist questions have been completed. Responses will be limited to 90 seconds. You are all aware of who you get to question. Lets get started with Opening Statements based on the drawing. Representative drazan will go first. Christine thank you. It does feel like the kickoff of the general election campaign. I am honored to be here. My name is christine drazan. I am originally from klamath falls. I start all my introductions that way and the reason is that that is a really important piece of how you will get to know me and my leadership, and how i arrived at my approach to Public Policymaking. As a kid in klamath falls, my family was less stable than they would have liked. The economy there suffered based on the fact that most of that economy was dependent on Natural Resources and over time, that shifted. The ability to sustain Rural Communities in that sector has shifted. It also meant that, for my family, they did talk a lot about politics. They thought politicians were mostly no good and rotten, and that they didnt see the problems they created for real people, and that they left people behind. They talked that way and made this connection for me between the life we were living at whether they could put food on the table or whether we had to move to a cheaper place and my dad could find a job, whether the folks in our community could find a job. I was raised with that mindset that civic life matters. I put myself through george fox college. After college, i made the decision to find out for myself if what they thought was true, that our political life and lost faith the people of oregon. I went to work inside the State Capitol as a staff person. We had republican majorities. John had just started his term as governor. We had a democrat in the center and republicans managing the legislative process. I rose through the ranks to be chief of staff to the majority and chief of staff to the speaker. It gave me a front row seat to negotiations, bipartisanship, compromise, blowups, you name it, i had the opportunity to see for myself how the process worked. I learned dave i learned a few things. First of which is, i stand with my parents assessment that sometimes, politicians dont help the people. That is what we are experiencing now. I believe with single party control, politicians have lost sight of serving everyday oregonians at this year is about making a change, making a decision to find balance in our political life and this year, we can choose to improve the future of oregonians and strengthen our state. Speaker kotek . Tina i want to thank the oregon Newspaper Publishers association for having this debate. My name is tina kotek. I began my Public Service at oregon food bank, working to eliminate hunger and its causes. I moved on to be an advocate for children, served as a state legislator in a Diverse Community of neighborhoods and businesses and the last nine years as a speaker of the oregon house. I am honored today to be the Democratic Party nominee for our next governor. As a leader, i have both been focused in my Public Service of measuring my success on the positive impact that i have had on peoples lives in our state. We are in unusual economic times. We are seeing very high gas prices, prices for groceries, health care, costs going up. It is important to remember that , from what i have heard, families are worried about making ends meet. Our parents are worried about sending the kids to school. Folks in our neighborhoods are feeling unsafe. They are worried about being able to walk in their neighborhoods and i believe all oregonians are worried about the addiction crisis that is gripping our state. I do this work because i believe in getting things done. I believe in getting results in bringing people together to solve problems. My track record is very clear, i know how to get results. I have thought for frontline workers to have what they need, to increase the minimum wage, to make sure workers have paid sick leave and family leave. I delivered on new Education Funding so our schools could have resources they need to improve our graduation rates, fund Early Childhood education, and fully fund career and technical education, which was the promise and what voters wanted when they passed a measure 98. And when donald trump sought to outlaw abortion in our state and in the nation, a major we i made sure we were prepared for that by passing the strongest reproductive rights law in the country. And responding to the crisis around housing, doing everything i could as speaker of the house to make new investments in Affordable Housing at mixer we keep renters from being evicted. And making sure we had new options for types of houses types of housing being built. These are major challenges in our state. No matter what the other candidates say here today, there are no quick fixes. There are no miracle cures to take on these large challenges. Only hard work is going to allow us to ensure that every part of our state can thrive. So oregonians deserve a strong, effective leader who can get the work done and deliver results, and that is why i am running for governor to make sure we can bring people together, listen to each others concerns, craft those solutions and get them across the finish line. And i would be honored to have your support for governor. Thank you. Moderator thank you. Senator johnson. Besty thank you. We are losing the oregon we love. Rising crime, violence, a homeless crisis, schools failing to many kids, soaring costs of living, a housing supply and affordability crisis and wellfed federal government failing to show up when oregonians need them. If there was ever a clariion call for real change, it is right now. Oregonians are distrustful of the radical right and terrified of the progressive left. There is a thirst for common sense change. What could be more different and impactful than a governor with allegiance only to oregonians and not a party agenda or special interests. Oregonians want their oregon back, and i believe we can get there. But we are not going to do it without big, bold change in our politics and our leadership. I think that is either tina or christine, who are stuck with the vested interests that brought them here, the same political extremes that got us into this mess, if elected, will only make things worse. I am not running as a democrat or republican, i am running as an oregonian, and the tens of thousands of people who have signed petitions to put me on the November Ballot know that my loyalty resides with them, not any Political Party or special interest. As governor, i will lead with the best ideas from both parties and demand bipartisan support for legislation, budgets and appointments. No longer will one party run roughshod over the other. Verse four uses divers voices will Diverse Voices will have a place at the table and be heard no matter what their politics, no matter what their zip code the choice is very clear. You have leaders of the Republican Party in oregon on antidemocratic or party demo rub Publican Party in oregon and the Democratic Party in oregon on the stage today. I believe they have driven us into a ditch and i am here to pull us out. Christine is promising to veto prochoice policies. Tina wants to preserve tent cities and bring culture wars to your kids classrooms. She would have us all woke and broke. While these two key writing, i reject political extremes and lead oregon toward common ground. We need to recapture the maverick spirit, break free from the straitjacket of extremism in poly pop extremism in party politics. We need to put the people back in charge. Thank you. Moderator thank you. We are now moving to questions from our panel. The first will come from danielle at the lake county examiner. Speaker, senator, representative, thank you for taking our questions could the Timber Industry decline has taken a toll on the economies of many Rural Counties in recent decades, especially with the closure of nails which previously accounted for significant jobs in outlying communities closure of mi l;l closure of mills for significant jobs in outlying communities. When all parts of our state are successful, we are all successful. With chamber changes in the Timber Industry and Natural Resources economy, it has been challenging for rural oregon. As governor, i want to work directly with communities to figure out how best we move forward in a changing landscape when it comes to Natural Resources. One of the things that is important to me to support our Timber Industry it oregon is to make sure we are utilizing processes products for other purposes. One thing i supported as speaker of the house was to make sure we could utilize mass Timber Products to build new homes right away in communities that were impacted by the labor day wildfires. That is i that is a project i supported trying to leverage state and federal dollars to do that. That type of targeted work to mixer we utilize products from oregon for purposes for all oregonians is a good place to start. And my commitment to oregonians is to listen and learn and work collaboratively to solve these problems. Moderator representative drazan. Tina when i was growing up, my dad worked in a veneer plant. It went away. When political winds shift and that industry is no longer favored, than it is ok to allow entire regions and there is to struggle and figure out what comes next. No we decided we are going to build new infrastructure and support alternatives. They just walked away. We are grateful and thankful when the Tech Industry rose up in its place in oregon. If we want a united oregon, which i do, i am committed to serving all oregonians regardless of Political Party, regardless of geography, we have to recognize that Natural Resources have to be part of that equation, particularly the Timber Industry. They shouldnt part of our past, it has to be part of our present and which are. With the housing markets we are under, with the need to continue to provide housing, we have to look at these products as a critical piece of as a critical piece of how we move forward as a state. And i will do everything it cant increase production within mills and the amount of timber we can harvest. You can manage those forests faithfully or you can watch it burn. The better choice is to support rural oregonians and our state and actively manage those forests. Thank you. This is why i was in elgin, oregon, two weeks ago. I went with the men and women of the lg veneer plant elgin veneer plant. I will make sure the remaining Timber Companies are treated with respect, not try to put them out of business. I was involved try to get deq to not shut the mill down and the two hunted 30 direct mail direct mill jobs and all the vendors who work around the mill. We managed to get that stop. I was involved. The second thing is the value add. I was down at a mill watching products being put out. My grandmother butchered pigs and said we used everything but the oink. I came up in the timber burgers and the timber business and we burned the slash. We dont do that anymore. The most important thing we can do is manage the forest and not let the place burned down every year. That contributes to Global Warming and carbon emissions. We have to work with our federal partners to make sure they manage their forest effectively. We need to put the fires out. Then we need to get the opportunity to fully manage by thinning, prescriptive burning, managing trees so we dont have conflagration every year. Moderator next question is from Laura Gunderson of the oregonian and oregonian live. I got a little out of order, so direct this one speaker kotek. We regularly hear from leaders who feel homelessness across oregon has reached a military crisis. While this is a complicated issue typically addressed at the local level, what would you do to address homelessness as governor . Tina thank you. Our crisis of People Living in tents and rvs is a humanitarian crisis. I am the only person on the stage who has been working hard over the last five years to make sure as a legislator, i can do what i can. It is important that none of our neighbors are sleeping on the street. I have a plan on my website that starts about talking about the urgency of helping people move into permanent housing, and the key is to make sure that we have more organized street Response Teams that can work with people, develop relationships, help them move from a into permanency. But you have to have a place for those folks to be connected to clement that his shelter, and that is why i supported project turnkey when i was speaker, a project that has been incredibly effective. At the beginning of the pandemic, we had hotels and motels that werent being used. We said lets buy them, turned them into transitional shelters. And we did. In less than seven months, we increased shelter capacity in the state why more than 20 , creating more than 850 units across the state. That concrete innovation is what we need to do in urgency. My opponents, neither of them liked that project. It is working in communities and that is the type of work i will bring to solving our homeless crisis in every part of our state. Moderator senator johnson. Besty i reject the notion that tina is the only one working on homelessness. I am part of that helped repurpose an abandoned jail, built at a cost of 65 million and never used. I have been part of a group that reanimated the building and turned it into a place of recovery, reentry into society. It is now a place of healing and hope. My concern about project turnkey related to sustainability. These motels are being turned over to not for profits. I voted for it, but never saw a clear path that when state money ran out that there would in opportunity to continue to fund those facilities. Our homeless crisis is an absolute crisis and i am very concerned that when tina asserts she has been a leader in trying to solve the homelessness issue, we have tent cities all over portland. I would ask her, what has gotten better over the last nine years while you have been speaker that has alleviated this . We have pitched more tents than we have pulled permits, i would submit, for housing. We must never lose fact of the fact it is tied to the problem of drugs and belt itll illness drugs and mental illness. Tina passed a bill that makes it harder to move people off the streets. We have not infused a sense of urgency. As governor, i would convene Public Safety, social service, Mental Health experts, stop operating in these silos that have us fighting about the best methodology to end homelessness. Do something about it. Moderator representative drazan. Christine thank you. I think this is the theme to answer this question. As a legislator in salem, i was hyper focused on homeless response for youth. I represented a rural immunity in Clackamas County and was amazed to hear how many youth in my district were homeless. Couch surfing, sleeping in cars and still trying to go to school , well before covid impacts. I supported legislation which created supports for thoses putins called secondhome through ecumenical ministries that matches Homeless Youth with members of the community who have a spare bedroom. They are vented, it is safe, more than 90 of the students graduate high school through that program. I worked with the House Majority leader to expand the program and invest deeper and more thoroughly in that program and Wraparound Services for Homeless Youth. I have been deeply engaged in this issue for a long time. If we are going to result this challenge, it cannot be partisan politics. We need bold compassion and accountability. What we have been experiencing has enabled this problem to spiral and it would only get better if oregonians and the people leading in local governments and the state level are willing to look at these challenges and say that homelessness must be rare and temporary, not permanent and chronic. We can solve this challenge but we have to stop looking at it like it is an anonymous issue and a political foot all. Moderator laura, do you have a followup . Senator johnson, i heard you say you would like to convene groups that talk about the issue but you also say you support the wapato project. Is your solution more projects like wapato, or a different idea . Besty more like wapato would be a good thing. Ben is looking up following the whelp at toma model. We have gotten to interested in fighting about which model works best. Do you shelter first and identify the underlying problem . Do you identify the problem in that shelter . There is not one model. Wapato is working. We have a track record of success and the other helping hands facilities. It is not just one model. We have to stop fighting about the best model. Convening people in portland, there is not going to be a single model, but we need to be working together and stop fighting for funding and whose model is the best. Yes, wapato could be, whether a repurposed jail or other repurposed buildings, i think that wapato model could work. But it is based on accountability and personal responsibility. If people drink or use drugs in the facility, they are kicked out, they have to contribute to their own room and board by working. Moderator would either candidate liked a response to to respond to a followup . I was glad that my piece of legislation that streamlined permitting shelters helped get the project at wapato off the ground. That is something we worked on together. I agree with both of my colleagues this is complex and there is not one single way to solve it. You need to do all of it. It is a personal issue, making sure people who are hurting of the services they need. They can move into a place with a locked door and then get into her minute housing. Ed we need more housing. Nothing is more frustrating than saying, as an outreach worker, i am here to help you, and then i have no where place you in housing. We need more housing and Addiction Services and we are not delivering for oregonians. And this is one of the issues that i decided to run on because one of the issues i learned at organ bank is that the only way you get stable and how selfsufficiency is to have a roof over your head. Christine it is important to recognize that we have invested between 1. 5 billion and 2 billion in services adjacent are directly related to homelessness over covid. I do focus exclusively on housing has not resolved our challenges. It has to be part of the problem, it is not the sum total of solution. Project turnkey, the reason those hotels and motels were underused was covid chuck downs. And then they were no longer a viable revenue source. In my community, they wanted to purchase the only hotel in my rural district and do an out of sight, out of mind approach to the homeless of portland, shipping them out to nowhere in the problem itself. That is not a solution. This has to be Community Focused solutions on the ground in the communities experiencing at the most. It cannot be shuffled around to other parts of the state. Moderator next question will come from Andrew Cutler from the east oregonian and the grand observer and the order will be johnson, drazan and kotek. Oregonians are moving to idaho, how can you address those concerns . Besty when 13 counties are looking to abandon our beloved oregon, that is a call for government to do something. The government has been somewhat sanguine about the fact those counties want to leave the difference between portland and the rest of the state is not just based on geography. People that feel disrespected, disenfranchised, not part of the system, are really just off pissed off. They are angry. That is one reason of mike one reason for my candidacy for governor. This people feel shut out and that salem has told them how to run their lives. I will be a governor who knows there is oregon east of bend and oregon south of eugene and i could tell you i genuinely med they are mad they are. The government needs to be cautious about urban solutions dictated to rural organ at the governor needs to know the economies of those regions, whether you are making potato chips, wood chips, silicone chips, the governor needs to be involved in Economic Development that makes your regional differences are recognized that they are brought along in decisionmaking and economic opportunity. Imagine a governor who would not sign legislation or make appointments to boards and commissions without bipartisan support. That is the governor i am going to be as a nonaffiliated governor. Moderator representative drazan. Christine we have had for far too long singleparty control in oregon. My colleagues on the panel have been democrats in control of salem for 20 years. We did not get here overnight. The ruralurban divide took time to develop. People living in parts of the state that want to leave and go to idaho, their concerns are real. They deserve respect. They deserve local control. They cannot live under an oppressive, condescending expectation that if it works for portland, that they must live underneath those rules. A ghost of the response on climate, economic activity, labor, i could go along, housing, you name it, that part of the state is not respected enough to hear to have their voices are. They will drive six hours each way to salem to make comments, be patted on the head, have nothing change in the legislation, and drive home that is why they want to go to idaho. There is a lack of understanding from salem about what it means to live in the rural parts of the state. A lot of proposals rammed down their throats are not workable, not welcome, and nobody in salem has been accommodating enough to recognize we need to be unified. Speaker . Tina we definitely have divide in our state. We have large swabs of our state where people feel left behind and not listened to, and it is very important for the next governor to be a listener and spent a lot of time outside salem. I had the great pleasure traveling the state and listening to folks in the communities about their issues. I worked on a study that said the types of policies that come out of the state in salem dont was up rural oregonians. For example, asking them to do certain things under certain programs that just wasnt possible in these committees that is something i learned early on, the Public Policy is going to have different tube baxley different parts of the state as speaker of the house, when we raised the minimum wage, i knew it would have a different impact in rural oregon. I went out and visited and worked on that issue and we came up with the east end oregon border zone, a zone on the border with idaho where we could have different rules, resources, ways to help that part of our state for competitive with southwest idaho. I have heard that concerns coming out of the greater idaho movement. I hope we can come together as as oregonians to work on issues that are not partisan, housing, good schools, so we can have the communities we want. And i think we can do that as one oregon. Moderator the next question, mark miller. Excuse me, [inaudible] moderator i will allow each of you 30 seconds. Besty on tinas website is, not website, social media, is exacerbating the urban world divide. She is suggesting that because someone wasnt one of my rallies with a Confederate Flag bad rural oregonians are racist and you have to be racist to support my campaign. That is anything but the truth. That exacerbates the divide. I condemn racism in any form into it by racist attending my events drives home the point that urban organ doesnt understand rural oregon. Moderator ok. Speaker. Tina i am glad senator johnson reads our press releases. I am not saying people who attend rallies are racist, i am saying that when the Confederate Flag is he in public spaces, it keeps oregonians from feeling included in that conversation. I am glad to hear that you would say well, we will talk about it later. But the issue is making sure that when people go to work for people running for office that they feel included and a Confederate Flag is a racist symbol and is not inclusive. Moderator representative drazan , do you want to jump into this . Ok. We have flexibility for some backandforth, so choose your childs well. Choose your shots well. Mark, you didnt get to ask your question, the order is johnson kotek, drazan, johnson. The weather is hot. Heat waves and monsoons are becoming more common and extreme. Organ is not immune to that. At the same time or a con oregon is not immune to that. Oregonians are facing high gas prices, what would you do to address Climate Change while also addressing energy needs . Christine climate continues to impact our everyday lives. We have felt that with multiple years of drought in oregon. This is an important issue. Oregon continues to be a leader on climate. We have some of the Cleanest Energy sources in the nation. We have transitioned completely off of colo. Off coal. We have solar, wind, hydro, all these things exist in our state. The challenge the next governor will have is how to protect access to reliable, affordable energy, whether it is at the gas pump which we could do something about gas taxes and the Regulatory Environment when it comes to our energy, but also in protecting our dams. Right now, there is a conversation between governors and stakeholders about whether to remove dams. I want to be clear on this point. We need to protect access to no carbon hydropower. We are not talking about low carbon, we are talking about no carbon hydropower and it needs to be part of our mix in the state of oregon. I would support regulations we have related to Climate Action enteric the governors executive order on climate, which she chose to adopt after cap and trade california. If that had passed, we would see three dollars more at the gas pump today, we would see 30 higher cost to heat and cool your home today. That was the wrong idea. Moderator . Next, speaker. Tina Climate Change is real, or gone is feeling it oregon is feeling it and it is a top priority for voters this fall. As someone who believes come as a woman of faith, that we have to take care of this world, we have a lot of work to do. In addition to trying to keep the problem from getting worse, we have to mitigate issues and help keep our communities resilient because their art outside wildfires that are killing people. We have to do both, keep communities safe and address Climate Change. I worked hard last year to pass one hunter percent Clean Electricity by 2040. It is quick to take oversight to mixer we moved to offshore wind and more storage make sure we move to offshore wind and more storage. It is a transition and we are going to have to work hard. I did support as speaker a change at the Public Utility Commission so the Public Utility Commission could take into account rates and how they affect low income ratepayers. I am not sure my colleagues voted for that, but i certainly did because in this transition, we have to protect the most vulnerable communities and still make the transition. When it comes to executive orders, executive orders were put in place because leader drazan let her walk out for us to take a marketdriven approach to address this in our state. Besty Climate Change is real. Organ has to do more oregon has to do more to address our climate footprint. But i disagree that the burden should fall on hardworking oregonians. It is not the bluecollar guys responsibility to pay for how expensive the Progressive Agenda is to moderate Climate Change. The biggest thing we can do to mitigate Climate Change is not let the place burned down every year. The particulate 10 carbon in the air from conflagration the particulate and carbon in the air from conflagration is unacceptable. We have to manage our forests better. The other thing we need to be conscious of is in implementing alternative energy sources. I want to make sure offshore wind doesnt come at the expense of fishermen. I want to keep our hands off the dams. I agree with christine that clean, and noncarbon hydropower is a boon and to take out the dams would cost an enormous amount of money. Executive orders are a complete usurpation of the government process, what the government couldnt get through the peoples branch, the legislature, she imposed through rule writing at the outcome will be much higher costs. Moderator now, we are back to the start of the panel. Christine i am going to respond to senator coat check senator kotek. The cap entrained proposal pushed all of the costs, all the harm, all the pressure to respond to climate onto everyday working oregonians. People who drive further face a higher burden. The need to lead a republican effort to deny quorum on this was because of the intensity of singleparty majority control, their determination that they were going to pass this bill no matter what. The need to stand in the gap was critical and we used that because we had no options after making 100 Amendment Proposals that were rejected by the majority. Moderator mark, do you want to rephrase for a followup question and to give another 60 questions, asking specifically about what they are talking about now another 60 seconds, asking specifically about what we are talking about now. 60 seconds on the cap and trade proposal, sure, is that something candidates are could find a way to support, that is bipartisan . Christine the question about whether the cap end trade proposal which was bipartisan could deceive republican support, the answer could have been yes. Proposals out of the committee were rejected and not supported. The legislation got more onerous and became more and more an issue that was kicked off to rulemaking which created less certainty about the cost scum of the revenues and increase in government it would have been. It was a monstrosity as a bill, but there was opportunity for compromise. Moderator senator jensen. Besty i will agree with the premise that there wasnt less ability in offering amendments to that bell, but i point out that while christine was seen reno, poolside, i was standing up for my party fighting that bill. It is harder to be in the building fighting that it is to flee the building. That bill was a monstrosity and it would have crippled rural economies and hurt working people substantially. Moderator speaker . Tina im going to start with the positive. My opponents believe in Climate Change and know we need to do something. I am not hearing solutions. I am hearing that was terrible, we can do that, that doesnt work. There must be solutions on the table and as one who sat in, particularly with leader drazan, no solutions were laid on the table. It was just, we dont like it. And when you have a challenge as big as Climate Change and have gone two years to develop a piece of legislation that is marketdriven and would benefit verbal parts of our state to be part of the transition to renewable energy, that was just saying took oregonians, i am going to throw in the towel no matter how big the deal is big that was wrong a deal as. That was wrong. We need solutions. I am the only one up your who is going to make that happen. Moderator you will get a chance to ask each other questions after the Panel Questions are exhausted. That may be a topic you continue to discuss. Lets move back to danielle of lake county examiner. Your question will go to the speaker, the senator and the representative. Taking care of the Mental Health needs of oregon residence has been an ongoing challenge for the state. Most in need of Mental Health services have the hardest time accessing them, especially the homeless and those without health coverage. How would you improve outreach and access to those residents . Tina thank you. We all know someone who is ill with a Mental Health or addiction issue, particularly after two years of a global pandemic. These are human beings. These are our neighbors who need help. At we are living in a state where we are at the bottom of the list of providing services to those who need them. In the organize wand, when you are asking for help, you can find that help and afford that help. And that is whether you live on the streets or haveclass insurance. It is very difficult to get care right now. A priority for me as governor is that when voters say they want something to happen, we have to make it happen. We passed revenue tend that sent we are taking revenue from our cannabis system to put into treatment and recovery. The Oregon Health authority failed to move that money. There is more money potentially in the system now that i have seen, but people arent getting the help they need. It will be one of my Top Priorities as governor. My life is a social worker, we know oregonians arent getting the help they need. It is a workforce issue, management issue, funding issue and compassion issue. We have to make sure people have treatment wherever they live. We can make that happen. Moderator senator johnson. Besty this problem started way back when, when people left institutions with the promise they would get Mental Health care in their communities. At the state was a faithless partner in making sure that service was there. I agree with tina, we need a reservoir of services. But when one gets into rural laces, the paucity of housing exacerbates the fact that we cant get professionals to come there. We do not have the infrastructure to support mentally ill people in rural places. I touched on ballot measure 110 for just a moment, ballin measure 110 optional he legalized drives in this date and there is a nexus between mental and Behavioral Health problems and drugs. We have become like the a call about drugs in this state become lackadaisical about drugs in this state. We are exacerbating a Mental Health crisis. We are number 50 in the provision of Mental Health services the state needs to step up and fund rural places, there may have to be incentives to draw a workforce to rural places, but it is a disaster and we all lezz oregonians should be ashamed of the fact that our fabric of Mental Health services is as frayed as it is. We must do something. We need to measure what Mental Health damage we have done to our kids through two years of forced isolation away from their academic, social land collegial peers social and collegial peers in school. Moderator i am a mom of three. The impact of covert shutdowns on kids, we will not know for some time to come. In my family, it was brutal for my middle school are, my middle schooler, for my high schooler. When we talk about access to Mental Health, we are not just talking about the mentally ill who are struggling and slid into a place they hadnt expected. Youre talking about families and kids of people who are just struggling and we face right now in our state this issue that is solvable. We have to improve reimbursement rates, make it easier to be licensed in oregon to provide services, we have too high of barriers and not enough incentives for people to earn a living doing this work. It is ironic to constantly hear my opponents be obliterated by how horrible we are in this and the other and we are 50 in this and have to work on that, they have been in charge. We got here because of their choices. There are not to other people in the this is it. Theyre looking around saying everything is broken. If they could have fixed it, they would have done it. We need change. Moderator now we move to laura, and the order is senator johnson, the speaker. Senator johnson, do you support the current laws on abortion which leave it essentially unrestricted . If not, what restrictions would you support, and what would you do as governor to address outofstate errors seeking abortion to help them . That is a loaded question. Tina and i are in agreement. We voted for the bills that make origami a prochoice state. I am on apologetically prochoice. My record on choice is deep and long. On the other hand, she is antichoice. I do not believe for the first time in 40 years the state is going to elect and antichoice governor. I simply think her views are so outofstate out of sync. Without hesitation, i would be a prochoice governor and stand by the policies that are in place for the state. As to your question about funding, i believe oregon on tax money ought to be used to support oregonians. Planned parenthood has had a tradition of finding funds to support others. Thats not to say you turn away a pregnant child or young person , planned parenthood has sufficient resources. I have never shied away from my values. You cant have it both ways. Folks on the stage are saying two things. Both of those things cannot be true without legislative action. As i have stated previously, i will be a governor that follows the law and i will not bypass laws. I will enforce them uniformly. At the same time, i am not hiding from my own values. The approach to this issue is unique. Roe v. Wade did not expect or anticipate that. Oregon has some of the most extreme laws on the books related to this issue. Most oregonians do not believe taking a life in the third trimester would be viewed as preterm the data somehow a womans right. That is not accurate. I am a prolife woman. This issue is in the statute and i have been very clear i will abide by the law. Moderator thank you. Abortion is health care and abortion is legal in oregon on and we have made sure to provide the strongest protections in the country for activists access to Reproductive Health care. They believe government should stay out of these decisions. This is a critical moment. We thought it was coming when roe v. Wade was coming, it was a wakeup call. What is happening nationally can impact our lives can impact our governor who will be that defense to any changes. I hear what people are saying. As someone who knows how State Government has to work, things come up. Will you promote access to services . You can be proactive or a barrier. The Legislature Passed a package to help not only women in oregon on but other women who might have to come here. Were in too big of a moment in our country to say no to women who need access to care. Im the only person in this race who is a champion on this issue who believes in access to health care, that is why i am backed to plan parenthood. This is about being firm on what this means. Moderator thank you. We move on to andrew. Representative. What steps would you take to improve gun safety in oregon including the limitation of types of weapons that can be sold and who will purchase them . Christine i do not support additional restrictions right now. Here is the reason. I believe the Second Amendment is a constitutional right and the current laws in this particular category are doing a good job. We have universal background checks, we have a red flag law that was passed before i went into the legislature that allows people who live in the same home as someone to identify them to law enforcement. We have safeguards in oregon. What we dont need in oregon is this idea, just as an example, it assumes getting a permit is necessary to exercise Second Amendment rights. Think of other rights. Some of to go and protest and you had to sign up . What if they threw a brick at a window . What if at the end of that protest they committed a crime . Imagine if you had to get a list and sign up . What if they approach the other rights in the same way they are talking about our Second Amendment rights. This is a critical issue. We cannot abandon our concept of what freedoms mean. Moderator thank you. Tina the priority is to keep people and oregonians safe. I have supported gun safety legislation. My opponents are not in favor of those things. Background checks, red flag laws, things that we know work. In other states it has worked to reduce gun violence. Its not enough to just talk about gun safety as it relates to these types of things. Im going to be there every time. The role of the governor is to make sure people are safe. I am a responsible gun owner and collector, i have supported the Second Amendment straight along. We need to keep guns out of the wrong hands and i have proposed things. Raise the age on the purchase of certain weapons. We need more school resources. This is not a question of taking peoples guns away. You have to do it with the rest of oregon. Ip 17 is a this is wrong with partisan politics. 30 seconds. Im not interested in taking peoples guns away. After buffalo and uvalde people are worried and scared. They want to make sure were doing everything we can. That is the role of government my opponent voted twice against background checks. Im going to jump in. Its the role of government to safeguard our rights and operate within the constitution. There is nothing we can do to bubblewrap any of this. We have to do our best to balance the rights with the reality that some people in this world are bad people. There are criminals in the world. Hire more law enforcement. Have safer communities. When you call, you want to Police Officer to come. Its a long way. Even in portland. This whole discussion is part and parcel of the father left agenda that wants to release criminals and criminalize the police. We need much stronger presence of law enforcement, it is regrettable. This needs to be final question here. Hitec has become a critical part of the economic base both in traditionally whitecollar communities and in places like central and southern oregon. Oregons were surprised to hear intel is opening its next camp is not in oregon but in ohio. That means origami is missing out for thousands of jobs. To put it bluntly, what happened . Hitec is an important industry for the future growth of our state. Its important the next governor make sure we do everything we can to expand industries to all parts of our state and the critical part is making sure we have full broadband access. Thats going to be important. As it relates to intel, intel is committed to oregon. They have talked about research facilities. I would say as governor i would have a relationship with the ceo and make sure we can keep jobs here. Its very important to the state. We have to make sure the Education Program helps train people, make sure we maintain appropriate levels of incentives to help people stay there and oregon makes things. Its about the future of our state. I will work with intel and every other employer who wants to stay and grow here. Thank you. I know the answer to the question because i talked with intel executives. The answer was, answer the phone. Nobody in the Governors Office saw the Warning Signals or reached out to intel when the tallest tree is headed out the door to ohio. There were print plenty of warning signs. Because kate brown is not allowed, it allowed me to go unheard. Nobody asked the customer, what do you need . What they needed was expansion for industrial expansion around this Huge Investment they have made outside of hillsborough. I would be a governor bent on Economic Development, having phone numbers of ceos on speed dial, reaching out to them constantly saying what can the state due to partner better and anticipate your needs. Intel is the largest employer and they took part of their employer to ohio out of benign neglect by the oregon governor. Christine this was shocking news when it happens. There was a lot of fingerpointing. Can you blame them . We have one of the best Regulatory Environments and intel made this decision and ohio said listen, we want to be supportive of national security. We are going to work for you and they built the relationship, the larger question becomes how do we keep the next intel from moving. How do we continue to Grow Industries and sectors that are here. Maybe they are smaller. Maybe they want to expand. We need to recognize origami stronger when our business sector can in fact grow here. We will have the kind of economy will support our next generation of oregonians. We want people to stay and grow here. The business and Regulatory Environment indicates that oregon government expects to do everything for all people and somebody is going to pay the bill. We have in trying ahead of time to determine who would ask another question. Just to remind everybody. Senator johnson gets ask a question representative drazen gets ask a question of senator johnson and then the speaker gets to ask a question of representative. We will start. Senator johnson. What would you do in the first year to end 10 cities and why has it not happened already . Thank you for the question. Ending the homelessness crisis is a priority for me. Where we have to start on day one is making sure we have the workforce we need to bring more people onto the streets to work with individuals, build those relationships and get them to more shelters. That means continuing to work that the legislature does to fund shelters, streamline those places, every community, not just portland has to do their part. People have to stay in communities so they have more social capital. It means more Mental Health and Addiction Treatment services for folks on the streets right now. If you are living on the street you are ending up further traumatized and having further challenges. We had Mental Health and addiction, make sure the money in the system gets out there. What going wrong in portland is people are not talking to each other and we need to do that better. I have worked hard to get shelters funded and make sure people could move from tense and get services they need, and we need more of that. That is a day one priority for me and i have the relationships to make that happen. Moderator thank you. Christine senator johnson, you voted for the Corporate Activities tax, the commercial activities tax. Since that time, you have been public what i would like to know is did you not know at that moment to vote no . Why did you vote yes . Betsy we have not held government accountable. I dont think the legislature has demanded accountability in our investment in the Student Success act, i want government to work. It needs to show up when people need it. Otherwise, how do we build bridges, how do we fund schools . How do we pay for Public Safety . The corporate activity tax was debated behind closed doors in a building where it was it was rushed. There was not adequate opportunities for debate. We ended up with two little reform and too much corporate activity tax. We were being told repeatedly by business and education that we needed an educated workforce. There was all kinds of debate. My belief is we needed more money in education and it was substantiated by my vote. I believe the corporate activity tax needs to be reviewed, the compounding effect is to bigger burden on businesses in origami night here that everywhere i go. As governor i would work to modify that. Certainly would build in benchmarks and accountability to accompany spending on the education side. Moderator thank you. Speaker, you have the opportunity to ask a question. Tina you have been asked many times about the 2020 election and each time have pivoted. You never directly answer the question. You have never said donald trump lost the presidency. Not just in oregon, but nationally. Would you say the results of the National Election were legitimate and donald trump lost . Christine thank you for that question. I continue to focus on were gone. I try to bring it back to oregon, try to focus on the state. I am money for governor, i am not running for congress. That is why i come back to that issue. I stand with oregonians who want to ensure we do not have fraud in any category. Its important to me. As it relates to the 2020 election, there has never been an issue for that with me. Donald trump did not win. Joe biden did. He is our president. Moderator thank you for those questions and answers. We are now going to move to Closing Remarks. Again, based on the drawing before the debate, the order of Closing Remarks, you have three minutes, the order is the speaker and senator johnson. Tina i want to thank everyone for the opportunity to be her today to discuss ideas and speak directly to voters. I love origami and its potential. I moved here in 1987. I took a train from the east coast and ended up in eugene. I fell in love with the state. There was november, it was rainy. I went to the coast. I fell in love with the coast. That thanksgiving, i drove all the way to ontario to celebrate thanksgiving and i will never forget that first drive over the mountains and the high desert with the frost. I fell in love with this place. Its a state where everyone can be who they want to be. Where i could be my authentic self. I ended up going back to school. I never looked back. Because its his a state of possibility, that is why i am running for governor. I believe in oregon and what it can be for everybody. That is why im in Public Service. I want us to achieve that vision we have of our state where everyone can be successful. When i served in the legislature, trying to make things better and solve issues so we can have the type of life i listen to what going on in their lives. They were concerned about the future, family and children. What i hear is the government want oregonians to work better. If you hire me as your governor, im not going to spend time playing partisan games. My fight is for every oregonian to get the work done to take on challenges, because the challenges are real and tough. As your next governor. I will fight every day to end the crisis, to provide Mental Health and Addiction Treatment for everyone in the state. To make sure every child has a good public education. To take on Climate Change, not only to protect communities and build a cleaner Energy Future where every part of the state benefits. Being able to deliver results is what matters. There are three of us up here today, all of us have worked in the legislature. There is not a newbie up here. I am sure i know how to work with people and solve problems because i have the track record. Im dedicated to working for all oregonians. Christine this election comes down to one basic idea. Do we want more of the same or do we want change . There is no separation because they do not want any separation, they are aligned. Philosophically and leadership, and actions. Where we are today is a direct result of leaders on this stage in the democrat party. The thing i am surprised by and disappointed by the decision of senator johnson to talk about uniting people but doing it in no way that is perpetually divisive. I am tired of having someone yell at me. I do not want another leader be condescending and divisive. Its been going on for far too long. Senator johnson will look at you and say i will bring the best ideas together and then remind you why you hate those parties. That is why she is playing this game. She been a democrat for 20 years. With the gavel, in charge. Now, its expedience and convenience to shed that skin. Rewriting her own vote record. Rewriting her own service to pursue additional power. That is nothing to be proud of. The stakes could not be higher in this election cycle. I want a Better Future. I want people to stay here. I love oregon. I respect everyone regardless of differences of opinion, that is important to me. I respect people no matter what. I am tired of being disrespected for the benefit of the political agenda. Thats happening way too much on the stage. Im disappointed, surprised, and its not good enough. We have got to choose change. Homelessness will not change. Crimo not improve. Schools will not improve. We need real leadership and change to hold democrats to account, not just shed skin, change titles and do the same. Vote for change this year. I am asking for them to vote for me. Moderator thank you. Christine talk about divisive. I appreciate the opportunity to appear here. I have been disappointed. When christine and i talked periodically, she was always pleased to ci was poking at democrats and now suddenly her ads have changed substantially. The next governor has a long to do list. We touched on many of those items today, but she will not get very far beholden to the same narrow set of interests on either side. Simply trading one set of extremes for another is no change at all, i think it will make things worse. We need a government not owned by unions or right to life, we need a governor who is loyal only to the people of oregon regardless of the party. A governor who will demand bipartisan support for budgets and commissions so all oregonians, leading with Straight Talk and common sense. Independent of the parties is not the easy road but its the right road at the right time. As you have heard today we will hear i am too conservative and too liberal. Most oregonians can be found in between those two extremes. Oregonians will find an independent governor just right for their taste. You dont have to leave any Political Party or join a party to support me, you just want a better oregon. I dont care who you voted for. I want you to join me in forging a Better Future for the state we all love. As the world is coming apart at the seams, we have a chance to come together. At my age and with my background i may seem like an improbable leader to shakeup a broken system. That is exactly who i am and what i am. I hope you will consider me today and helping to rescue a state we all love. Thank you. Moderator i want to thank all of the candidates for being here. Lets give them a round of applause. [laughter] thank you to the journalists on the panel. [laughter] and to the sponsor. I want to say thanks once again to our partner, the Video Productions for making the livestream possible. Thanks again. [laughter] watch cspans live coverage of the cpac annual conference, today, at 4 45, Closing Remarks by donald trump. Watch the conference, live today on cspan, the free mobile video at or online at cspan. Org. A live look at the u. S. Capitol where the senate is holding a saturday session to work on the democrat tax policy, health care and Climate Change bill. As you can see, senators continue to debate the measure. Democrats only need a simple majority for passage. However, the same rules allow for an unlimited amendment vote as republicans believe will be a number of uncomfortable votes for democrats. If they can get through the amendment process, majority leader schumer hopes to pass the bill by the end of the weekend. You can watch all of the action on cspan two. Cspan is your unfiltered view of government. Speed, reliability, now more than ever, it starts with great internet. Wow supports cspan as a Public Service, giving you a frontrow seat to democracy. Joining us from las vegas and brooklyn, podcasters. Of the grio daily podcast and Christina Greer hosts the blackest questions podcast. First could either one of you tell us what the grio is exactly . Michael the grio is a