Walden visits with Sisters area men

U.S. Congressman Greg Walden took time out from his whirlwind schedule on Tuesday morning, February 16, for an intimate town meeting with a small group of senior veterans at Sisters Library.

Walden, a Republican, represents Oregon's massive Second Congressional District, spanning 20 counties in Eastern, Southern and Central Oregon. It is the second-largest district in the United States, covering more than 71,000 square miles.

The visit was initiated by Sisters' Ken Ehlers, who posted a long message on Walden's Web site two months ago, telling him about his veterans coffee shop group of "old guys" that meet a few times a week to try and solve the world's problems. The e-mail detailed some of their issues and their thoughts on what was going on in Washington, D.C.

Last month, Ehlers receiv-ed a response from an aide to Walden's chief of staff which relayed the Congressman's desire to meet with the group next time he was in Central Oregon to discuss job creation and economic development.

So, true to his promise, Walden and two of his staff members sat down with the group of five veterans and discussed the "state of affairs" and covered areas of concern including health care reform, property taxes, veterans affairs, and alternative energy choices.

"Jobs and the economy are what it's all about. Unrealistic hopes that the stimulus would buy us into prosperity just aren't true," said Walden.

Ehlers mentioned the fact that in order for veterans to get a simple hearing test, you needed to drive all the way to Portland. The test is not available at the local clinic in Bend. Walden expressed frustration with the situation and thought it was a problem that could easily be fixed and asked his staff member to follow up.

One of Walden's main topics was the state of Medicare and its precarious future.

"Medicare will go broke," he said. "It's upside down right now. I heard a study that revealed the interesting conclusion that if other states were run as efficiently as Oregon, Medicare would not run a deficit."

Chuck Marshall, retired Air Force, 1951-55, expressed to Walden his displeasure over the limited selection of doctors in the Medicare program. Oregon's reimbursement rates for physicians are based on a formula determined by higher charges in states like California and Florida. Due to the efficiency of Oregon doctors, they get less. This only serves to undermine and reduce the number of quality care providers.

Regarding the recent passing of the controversial Measures 66 and 67, which will raise the corporate minimum income tax, taxes on corporate profits in excess of $250,000, and the tax rate for singles on net personal income over $125,000, Walden remarked:

"I have talked to a number of business folks that are now actively looking to move, and you can measure with accuracy those that move and the jobs they take with them. What you can't measure is those that don't come to our state and develop businesses and affect economies elsewhere. These policies aren't built on economic reality. The fixes are temporary and very costly."

Jerry Mohler, retired USMC, 1958-1962, was worried about personal protection in a collapsing system.

"People are getting to the point of stocking up on ammunition. If it goes the way it's going, eventually this country will go back to a third-world country. We'll be okay right here, but those in Detroit and Miami won't. And it's not just me, but a lot of people think we won't survive this."

Walden has empathy for citizens fearful state of mind in the current financial crisis and recessionary environment. He emphasized that you can't spend your way out of severe problems.

"These people have never been in business, they don't understand the markets or the consequences of their decisions," Walden said. "These key policy changes are being contemplated in a vacuum that doesn't include reality."

Regarding the nation's energy policy and President Obama's push to seek and develop cleaner alternative energy sources, Walden feels it is imperative we be allowed to access our oil and natural gas reserves as we transfer into other sources and cleaner energy.

"There's something wrong when we have to turn to biofuel and other methods to create energy," he said. "We have 60 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves that are off limits."

Ehlers is upset that government is "stealing our savings" with inflation.

"It happened to my father, he thought he was in great shape in 1970, when he died he was dead broke and this is going to happen to us if we get this inflation fire," Ehlers said. "It's an entitlement, 'me first' mentality that permeates the Obama administration."

Walden brought up the fact that in the stimulus bill there was a "Buy American" stipulation that seems to undermine free enterprise and efficient market.

"I was up in Canada and they were not happy. There are certain parts and manufacturing partnerships that go back and forth between our countries. This starts a trade war and that's not the way to treat the taxpayer," he said.

The Congressman thanked the group for inviting him to Sisters and pledged he would be back through next time to talk to the rest of the veterans in the community.

"It kind of blew me away as you can guess," said Ehlers. "This is democracy in action, and we are excited this busy politician would take the time to want to talk personally with us."