Congressional District 2
October 9, 2014
In Congressional District 2, the incumbent Representative is GREG WALDEN (R), of Hood River, who is seeking reelection to his 9th term. His major party opponent is ADELEA CHRISTOFFERSON (D) of Bend.
Rep. Walden has been in Congress since 1999. He has a career grade of B+, based on his votes in Congress on immigration issues, as tabulated by NumbersUSA. This is the best grade of any member of Oregon’s Congressional delegation.
NumbersUSA organizes vote histories of members of Congress into several subjects, and assigns a grade to each. Here are Rep. Walden’s grades.
A+ on reducing illegal jobs and presence, reducing visa lottery, reducing illegal immigration at the borders, reducing anchor baby citizenship;
A on reducing amnesty entitlements and reducing illegal immigration rewards;
A- on reducing refugee and asylum fraud;
F- on reducing unnecessary work visas.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) issued on Oct. 6 their voting record for the U.S. House, 113th Congress (Jan. 2013 to Sept. 2014). This record is a pdf document linked from http://www.fairus.org/legislation/federal/voting-reports. It lists specific bills with amendments voted on, and gives legislators plus or minus marks for their votes according to agreement or non-agreement with FAIR’s recommendations. The record for Oregon shows that Rep. Walden received 8 plus marks. All the other Oregon Representatives received 8 minuses except Rep. Schrader who received one plus along with his 7 minuses. Rep. Blumenauer is reported as Not Voting on 2 of the 8 measures, leaving him with 6 minuses. FAIR explains the bills well and in detail.
Rep. Walden maintains a campaign website at: http://www.gregwalden.com/meet-greg/. It contains an Issues section but there is no mention of immigration. You can contact Rep. Walden through a webform on his campaign website at: http://www.gregwalden.com/contact/
ADELEA CHRISTOFFERSON is the candidate of the Democratic Party. Her campaign website at http://www.aeleaforcongress.com/ includes an Issues section, and under the heading “Supporting Citizenship” she reveals her position on immigration in this statement:
“Aelea became passionate about immigration reform when the Dream Act was first being debated. Her introduction to this issue was a young high school senior she tried to hire; a great student and athlete who wanted to be a special education teacher. The young woman wouldn’t take the job because she had come here when she was 2 years-old and was undocumented and didn’t want to cause trouble.
“When the Dream Act didn’t pass Aelea was shocked. “We are a nation built on moral decisions and not helping these young people go to college or enter the military is a waste of their talents and the investment of our tax dollars.”
“Aelea supports finding a long term plan for everyone who is working and law abiding. We can no longer leave families with an uncertain future.”
There is no indication that she sees immigration in any broader perspective than that of the illegal immigrant who wants to continue to live and work here. She appears oblivious to the effects of unlimited, uncontrolled immigration on citizens and this country.
Contact information for Ms. Christofferson:
Email: info@aeleaforcongress.com; Phone: 541-728-3141
Mail: Aelea Christofferson for Congress, PO Box 7042, Bend, OR 97708
Other candidate in District 2:
Sharon L. Durbin of La Pine, who is a retired attorney, is the candidate of the Libertarian Party. There is some information about her on The Oregonian’s Voter Guide, but her views on immigration are unknown. No website for her was found.
