Oregon Senate District 25

 
General Election, November 8, 2016
 
Oregon Senate District 25 – Fairview, Gresham, Troutdale, Wood Village
 
 
There are 3 candidates in this race, one Democrat/Independent/Working Families, one Republican and one Libertarian.
 
1.  The Republican Party candidate is Tamie Tlustos-Arnold, of Fairview.  She is a registered nurse and small business owner, with previous work in healthcare and fitness occupations.
 
The biography on her website says that she has lived in East County for over 20 years.  She “earned her Associate Degree at Mount Hood Community College, where she served as student body president, before earning a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Walla Walla College School of Nursing. First elected to the Fairview City Council in 2012, she also serves as Vice President of the West Columbia Gorge Chamber and is a former member of the Reynolds School District Budget Committee. Recently elected to the Mount Hood Community College Board, Tamie is focused on finding local solutions to reduce tuition and make higher education more affordable for students.”
 
An announcement of her candidacy in the Portland Tribune contains some additional information.
 
She did not reply to the OAAVEP survey, but it is likely she will support the 2016 Oregon Republican Party platform which includes strong immigration policy positions stated in the section on “Immigration and the Rule of Law,” pages 25 and 26 of the document here.
 
Website:  http://www.tamieforeastcounty.com/.  There is a webform for contacting her.
 
2.  The Democratic Party candidate is Laurie Monnes Anderson (D), of Gresham, incumbent. She also is the write-in candidate of the Independent Party and the candidate of the Working Families Party.  She has been in the Legislature since 2001, first serving 2 terms in the House before being elected to the Senate in 2004.
 
On immigration issues, she has a long record of 15 years in the Legislature, following the Democratic Party leadership in supporting benefits for illegal aliens and loose voting rules. Most recently, in 2015, she voted for SB 932, which gave Oregon “Opportunity Grants” to illegal aliens.  American citizens will now have to compete against illegal aliens for the limited Oregon State Opportunity Grants for college tuition assistance.  In 2015 she also voted for House Bill 2177, which requires mandatory voter registration. Because of the passage of this bill, the state will use drivers’ license data to automatically register voters, making it much more likely that illegal aliens will be voting. Earlier, in 2013, she voted for SB 833, driver cards for illegal aliens, and HB 2787, instate tuition for illegal aliens.
 
3.  The Libertarian Party candidate is Jeffrey L. Ricks, of Gresham.  He attended Brooklyn College studying computer science and philosophy.  His filing paper with the Secretary of State says he is self-employed in retail.  
 
Campaign website:  http://jeffricksfororegon.com/.  It contains a section, “Solutions” with brief statements on “Homelessness and Mental Health,” “Jobs and the Economy,” and “Community.”
 
He did not reply to the OAAVEP questionnaire.  No information on his views about immigration was found. As a Libertarian, presumably he supports the party’s platform which includes this statement on immigration:  3.4 Free Trade and Migration -- “... Economic freedom demands the unrestricted movement of human as well as financial capital across national borders. …”