By: Bethany Monroe
Published: 9/8/2010 10:11:35 AM
Rep. Vic Gilliam (District 18 - Molalla, Silverton) will look to retain his seat in the Oregon House of Representatives in November’s election.
Gilliam, a Silverton resident since 1998 and an Oregonian since 1966, has served in the House since being appointed after the late Rep. Mac Sumner resigned his seat due to a battle with cancer in 2006. After serving Sumner’s term, Gilliam was elected by voters in 2008.
“Dismal” was the word Gilliam, a Republican, used to describe Oregon’s past legislative session.
“While I am proud of my voting record, I am not proud of the legislature and that is largely due to our inability to stop spending,” Gilliam said. “This session was about jobs and we failed miserably.”
When the state economist announced the budget forecast last month, Gilliam said the news of a shortage came as no surprise.
“I knew we were in trouble and when you’re in trouble, you stop spending. And we haven’t done that,” Gilliam said. “We don’t have a revenue problem, we have a jobs problem — let’s get to work on it together.”
From his view, Gilliam said he sees a lot of “rubber-stamping” going on in Salem, especially when it came to accepting the governor’s proposed budget. Gilliam said he earned the reputation of being a “no” voter.
“I have some great colleagues on the Democratic side who honestly believe the only way out of this recession is taxing and I disagree,” Gilliam said.
He said the atmosphere at the state capitol would change dramatically if the House returned to a 30-30 split between Republicans and Democrats, rather than the current Democrat majority.
“I’m about balance and we don’t have it. We need conservatives and we need liberals,” Gilliam said. “I would like to be there for a change. It would be fun to not vote no all the time … I would like to be part of a group that’s effective.”
One place Gilliam said the state could make cuts is in health benefits for state employees.
“We’re the only state in the nation where public employees don’t pay anything on their health premiums,” he said.
While he admitted the “Cadillac plan” was nice — as a member of the legislature, he’s one of the beneficiaries — he said he can’t rationalize continuing it when he knows many constituents in his district cannot afford healthcare.
Gilliam supported a bill to have all state employees begin paying a small portion for their healthcare, but said it never received a hearing.
As an alternative, he encouraged at least the members of the Oregon House and Senate take on a portion of their healthcare expenses, but again, it was not accepted.
Gilliam said that while his fellow legislators were willing to work with him on most issues, when it came to money and budget talk, he feels Republicans in the House were marginalized and their ideas left unheard.
Government spending is one of the biggest complaints Gilliam hears from constituents. He said one constituent — a Democrat employed by the state — gave him multiple examples of bloated bureaucracy.
As he watches jobs in the private sector drop, Gilliam said it is unsustainable to have public employee jobs continue to increase.
Not everything that went on in the past legislative session was negative from Gilliam’s viewpoint. He said one bright spot was that a proclamation he presented for looking at hydrogen hubs as a potential alternative energy source for Oregon passed unanimously in the House.
While he’s not looking to use state money to fund hydrogen energy projects, Gilliam said the state can take steps to make such development more feasible for the private sector.
Ever since his first political job working as a constituent liaison for Senator Mark O. Hatfield, Gilliam said communicating with members of his district and working as their advocate has been one of his favorite parts of being a politician.
“I’m excited to go back if people want me,” he said.
Gilliam said that he and his Democrat opponent, Dr. Rodney Orr, know each other well and even attend the same church.
“He really wants to keep this clean and so do I,” Gilliam said.
