Oregon State Rep. Dennis Richardson says the state is on the road to European-style socialism and its reliance on social programs is turning it into a dependent state.
The Central Point Republican candidate for governor told a crowd of guests at the Hermiston Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday that Oregon needs a plan to get back on the road to independency.
“I flew helicopters in Vietnam,” he said. “You needed a flight plan in order to survive. That’s the same in life – you need a plan. Without one, it’s chaos.”
Richardson, first elected to the Oregon Legislature in 2002, said when he first came to Salem, he assumed the state had a plan.
“But no – it’s about putting out a budget and getting out of Dodge,” he said. “That’s not the way it ought to be. We’ve gone from independence to dependency.”
Richardson puts much of the blame on the shoulders of Gov. John Kitzhaber. He said prior to the Kitzhaber years, Oregon had one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. For the past 16 years, he said, it’s been higher than the national average. He said the current leadership in the state wants greater dependency on government services such as food stamps and Medicaid – programs that are funded by the federal government and increase the national deficit.
“We don’t need that,” he said.
Richardson said the state needs policies that grow business.
“We need entrepreneurs to come to Oregon to create jobs,” he said. “Business creates wealth.”
The GOP candidate said current economic policies are forcing young people out of the state in order to find good-paying jobs.
“I don’t want to export kids,” he said. “I want to export wheat. We need a governor who serves all the state – not just the I-5 corridor. If I get 51 percent of the vote, I will represent 100 percent of the people.”
