House District 23

 
General Election, November 8, 2016
 
Oregon House District 23
Dallas, Harrisburg, Jefferson, Sheridan, Willamina
 
 
There are 4 candidates in this race: 1) incumbent Mike Nearman, of Independence, the Republican Party candidate, 2) Jim Thompson, of Dallas, candidate of the Independent, Democratic and Working Families Parties, 3) Garrett Leeds, Libertarian Party, and 4) Alex Polikoff, Pacific Green Party.
 
 1.  Rep. Mike Nearman (Michael J. Nearman), Republican, was first elected to the Legislature in November 2014 and now seeks reelection. He is a strong opponent of illegal immigration.  He has served as a Board member of Oregonians for Immigration Reform for over 2 years.  He is currently a chief petitioner for these initiatives for the 2018 election year:  #5, Voters Must Prove Citizenship to Vote, and  #6, An initiative to repeal Oregon’s sanctuary law. 
 
Sanctuary laws make enforcement of federal immigration laws difficult or impossible.
 
Rep. Nearman’s campaign website is at http://nearmanfororegon.com/.   In the Issues section, there is this statement on immigration:
 
“IMMIGRATION -- Border security is so important for so many reasons. Current policies leave us vulnerable to national security threats, and present overwhelming costs to our social safety nets, schools, and healthcare systems. What’s really maddening is that not only are we failing to uphold the law, in many cases we openly flout the law through sanctuary cities and handouts to illegal aliens.”
 
He replied to the Oregon Abigail Adams Voter Education Questionnaire for candidates.  Here are the pertinent questions and answers:
 
19.  Do you support restricting the "emergency clause" in legislation as true emergencies? Yes.
22.  Do you support a constitutional amendment to require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in Oregon?      Yes. “Of course.  I'm chief petitioner on this initiative!”        
36.  Do you support requiring all Oregon employers to use the federal E-Verify system to determine the employee’s work eligibility status?    Yes. “Of course.  I'm chief petitioner on this initiative!”         
42.  How would you propose screening war refugees to prevent potential terrorists from entering Oregon with them?          “I don't think this is possible -- certainly not on a large scale. I think they need to be located elsewhere in the middle east.”
 
Mike Nearman can be contacted at: info@nearman4oregon.org
 
2.  Jim Thompson (James L. Thompson), candidate of the Independent Party, also nominated by the Democratic and Working Families Parties, was formerly a Republican.  As a Republican, he served in the Oregon House of Representatives for 3 terms, from 2009 through 2014, when he lost in the Republican Primary election of 2014 to Mike Nearman.
 
During his tenure in the Legislature, Thompson opposed instate tuition bills and in 2013 voted against SB 833 granting driver cards to illegal aliens.  In the 2008 election cycle, he replied to OFIR’s candidate questionnaire answering Yes to the questions, “Would you be willing to introduce or support a bill that would require all employers in Oregon to use the E-Verify program?” and “Would you be willing to introduce or support a bill to repeal ORS 181.850” [a law limiting cooperation between local and federal law enforcement agencies in immigration matters].  Also he answered Yes to the question “Would you be willing to introduce or support a bill that would require individuals registering to vote for first time to show proof of citizenship?”
 
Thompson did not reply to the 2016 Oregon Abigail Adams candidate questionnaire.
 
His campaign website is at: http://www.jimforhouse.com/.  It has an Issues section but there is no mention of immigration, indicating that he does not consider it an important subject for consideration.
 
Thompson’s campaign email address:  Jim@jimforhouse.com
 
3.  Garrett Leeds, candidate of the Libertarian Party, replied to the Oregon Abigail Adams Voter Education Project survey.  In answer to question 36, he replied that he opposes requiring all Oregon employers to use the federal E-Verify system to determine the employee’s work eligibility status.  See his replies to the other 3 immigration questions (nos. 19, 22, and 42) here.
 
4.  Alex Polikoff, candidate of the Pacific Green Party, did not reply to the OAAVEP survey.  His campaign website displays his positions on some issues, but there is no mention of immigration, indicating he does not view it as an important subject for consideration.