Congressional District 5

 
Oregon Primary Election – May 17, 2016
U.S. House of Representatives Candidates – Congressional District 5
 
There are 6 candidates in this race, 4 Republicans and 2 Democrats.
 
The Republican candidates are Colm Willis, Seth Allan, Earl D. Rainey, and Ben West.  The Democrats in the race are the incumbent Representative, Kurt Schrader, and Dave McTeague.
 
REPUBLICAN PARTY CANDIDATES
 
Colm Willis, of Stayton, is an attorney and owner of Willis Law LLC.  He holds a bachelor’s degree from Boston College and doctoral degree from Willamette University College of Law.  He has served on the staff of the U.S. Senate Joint Economic Committee.  His website, at https://colmwillis.com/, in the Issues section, contains this statement:  “Immigration -- Our nation’s immigration system is broken. For years the federal government has failed to live up to its responsibility to protect our borders. In Congress, I will stand up against the irresponsible politicians who are undermining our legal immigration system. I will work to strengthen a sustainable process that is fair to both new immigrants and current U.S. citizens.”
        A webform for email is available at: https://colmwillis.com/contact-us/
 
Seth Allan, of Canby, is a “Qualified Mental Health Associate” with occupational background as a psychiatric technician, according to his filing paper with the Secretary of State.  He is a graduate of University of Oregon where he studied psychology.  He returned answers to the Oregon Abigail Adams candidate questionnaire:  22.  Do you support requiring all employers to verify employee eligibility to work in the United States?  Yes.   23.  Do you support securing the borders before any form of amnesty?   Yes.   24.  Do you support spending public funds to benefit illegal immigrants?   No.    25.  Do you support automatic citizenship to children born in the U.S. when both parents are not legal residents?   No.    42.  How would you propose screening war refugees to prevent potential terrorists from entering the country with them?   “I would only support admitting orphaned refugees who are too young to have been radicalized. Twelve and younger would probably be a good age demographic to consider. But we need to address our own citizens needs first. Veterans, homeless etc.” 
 
Website:  http://www.sethallan.com/.  Email available through webform at http://www.sethallan.com/contact/.  His website contains a statement on immigration in the Issues section:  “Immigration - Build a wall, increase border security, ban sanctuary cities, round up the criminal element, and cut off the welfare incentives. We need to be able to track visa overstays which account for half of those here illegally and stop those from returning who continue to abuse the visa system. None of this works unless we actually enforce our current immigration laws. Congress and the White House need to start leading on this issue.”  
  
Earl D. Rainey, of Rickreall, is a driver for Water Truck Services and has been a wildland firefighter also.  He attended Clackamas and Portland Community Colleges.  No website was found for him and his positions on immigration are unknown.  His filing paper gave email address: earldrainey@gmail.com.
 
Ben West, of Wilsonville, gives his personal and occupational background on the homepage of his website, at http://www.benwestfororegon.com/.  He holds an Associate’s degree from Portland Community College.  He has also studied theology at Portland Bible College.  His website has a statement on national security pointing out the dangers we face and calling for greater attention to this though it does not specifically mention immigration.
        Email: Ben@BenWestforOregon.com.
 
DEMOCRATIC PARTY CANDIDATES
 
The incumbent Representative, Kurt Schrader, is seeking reelection.  He has been in Congress since 2009; his Career grade there, covering 2009-2016, is D, as measured by NumbersUSA based on his votes on immigration issues.  He is rated F- on reducing chain migration, F on reducing unnecessary worker visas, C- on reducing refugee and asylum fraud, C on reducing illegal jobs & presence, F- on reducing illegal immigration at borders, F- on reducing amnesty enticements, and F- on reducing illegal immigration rewards.
 
In 2015, he voted on immigration bills as follows:
Voted against the FY2016 Omnibus Spending bill to increase foreign guest workers.
Voted to grant the President authority to expand immigration levels without Congress' consent via Trade Promotion Authority.
Voted against the FY2016 Omnibus Spending bill to increase refugee resettlement.
Voted against Brooks amendment to remove military amnesty from National Defense Authorization Act.
Voted in FAVOR OF funding Executive Amnesties by opposing clean DHS Appropriations bill, H.R. 240. 
Voted against Blackburn Amendment to H.R. 240 to defund Pres. Obama's DACA amnesty. 
Voted against Aderholt Amendment to H.R. 240 to defund Pres. Obama's Nov. 2014 amnesty. 
 
Rep. Schrader’s campaign website is at http://www.kurtschrader.com/; it gives this email contact: info@kurtschrader.com.  There is no Issues section on his website and no statement on immigration.
 
The only Democrat opposing Rep. Schrader is Dave McTeague of Milwaukie.  His website at http://mcteagueforcongress.com/home  shows that he is much more tolerant of illegal immigration than Rep. Schrader is.  McTeague faults Rep. Schrader for voting in 2010 against the Dream Act in the U.S. House.  That Act giving amnesty to illegal alien minors failed to pass Congress and then President Obama granted the amnesty on his own through directives to the DHS.  McTeague also accuses Schrader of “voting with the Republicans against the Syrian refugees.”  The accusation apparently refers to Schrader’s vote against the FY2016 Omnibus Spending bill which increased refugee resettlement. In a list of brief Issue statements McTeague says:  “Immigration:  Dave McTeague supports the Dream Act, humane treatment of all people and keeping families together. Also he favors improved relations with Mexico and Central America to curtail human trafficking.”  
         McTeague’s campaign email address is:  McTeagueForCongress@comcast.net.