Walking into the Curtright hanger, the floor-to-ceiling U.S. Flag takes your breath away. It covers the entire airplane door. The other three sides are glassed out with floor to ceiling windows that outlines crosses, which Ames Curtright was passionate about. Fog hung in the valley below, and we were all thankful it wasn’t smoke after a week of wildfires. About 150 people gathered to be educated on issues and encouraged to be active in the upcoming election. One attendee said it went beyond sharing knowledge, it created ‘understanding.’

After the Invocation by Rev. Matthew Price, Oregon Gospel Ministries, the event started with John Tamny, Freedomworks D.C. and editor of RealClear Markets, speaking on how the coronavirus didn’t cause a crisis, but it was politicians who caused a panic. He pointed out that we need free people doing business to learn how the virus spreads. Instead they use numbers, which is dangerous because the next time they will just use different numbers.

The first featured speaker was Trevor Loudon, author on U.S. politics and featured in his documentary “Enemy Within.” With his distinguished accent, he made points on national security, or lack thereof when it comes to politicians, for which he said that Oregon’s delegation couldn’t pass a background check. He covered key points from his Documentary making the country ungovernable to take it down, and how President Trump is realigning the U.S. economy.

The underlying thread was aimed at getting out the vote, which was capitalized on by Richard Burke, Western Liberty Network and Jeff Kropf, Oregon Capital Watch Foundation, tag-teaming on developing a personal campaign. They emphasized helping people that were burned out of their homes to find a place to vote. Kropf said a poll he was involve with shows that Democrat women are the most moved by the early release of criminals, stressing that defunding police is part of the security issue.

The afternoon started with the Ames Curtright Stand Your Ground Award presented to Mike Pihl representing Timber Unity.

Federal and State Panels each responded to the most urgent question of forest management and controlling fires. Alek Skarlatos, running against Peter DeFazio contrasted his stance of harvesting forest salvage to DeFazio’s recent vote against salvage in forests. Jo Rae Perkins, running against Jeff Merkley, wants to get back to the full authority of the Constitution giving ownership of lands to the states, except for what is specific in the Constitution a clear contrast to Merkley.

On the State Panel, Kim Thatcher running for Secretary of State, and Jeff Gudman running for Treasurer, both had similar strategies for forest management as the Treasurer and Secretary of State serve two positions with the Governor on the Oregon Land Board.

Anna Kasachev and Amelia Salvador, running for representatives, were quizzed on how to reach minority voters and how to reach the younger generations. Kasachev explained that her community was new to the political scene so as the adults learn they are including the youth. Salvador said economy is her field and believed more should be done for businesses, especially small business owner.

The event was capped off with Jessie Jane Duff, Retired Marine Gunnery Sergeant and Trump Campaign spokes person for Women and Veterans, led us in some modified gunnery drills. She made it clear that Trump was interested in Oregon because it shows the best contrast with Trump’s policies.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2020-09-21 14:30:06

Last Update: 2020-09-21 14:37:13