2008 Woodie Awards
Senate hopeful Novick speaks in Forest Grove
Town Hall Series
Billy Gates
Issue date: 3/14/08 Section: News
Novick also feels that Senator Merkley is running a "cautious" campaign, citing an example in which Merkley failed to give an answer to "Willamette Week" about a letter sent to the Department of Interior. The letter, Novick said, was trying to change a 70-year-old law that prohibits carrying loaded and accessible guns through state parks, which Sen. Smith signed. When asked, Novick called the idea "silly," and also said Merkley wanted to talk to the other Democrats who signed the bill and ask them about it before he made a decision.
"I don't think the gun owners of Oregon are clamoring into Crater Lake National Park with guns at the ready," he said, drawing a laugh from the crowd. "This seems overly cautious to me, and I think people don't respond to tactics like that.
If people disagree with you, you can still get them to vote for you because you are standing up for what you believe in."
Questions about the "carbon footprint" were also raised, and Novick said it would take "a variety of different things to help alleviate it." He said strides in mass transit and fuel efficiency for cars need to be made, along with utilizing renewable sources of energy. "Thirty percent of carbon emissions come from transportation, 40 percent comes from buildings and the machines in them, and the other 30 percent comes from industrial activity," he said. "Congress needs to make much bigger steps in making cars more efficient and make it easier for people to not drive."
The tail end of the question and answer session dealt with the War in Iraq. When asked why it took him 15 minutes to even mention Iraq, Novick confessed that he doesn't like leading with that piece. "If Gordon Smith was as wildly pro-war as John McCain, then you could hammer away at it," he said. "But that's not the context of the war in this election."
Novick closed the Iraq discussion by saying that we need to get out of Iraq, but realized that U.S. troops leaving wouldn't solve the problem by itself. "Things won't be peaches and cream after we get out. We created this horrible situation in which a Sunni insurgency could flourish."
Note: John Frohnmayer, an independent candidate, kicked off the series on Feb. 12. Both candidates are challenging incumbent senator Rep. Gordon Smith for a seat in the U.S. Senate.
"I don't think the gun owners of Oregon are clamoring into Crater Lake National Park with guns at the ready," he said, drawing a laugh from the crowd. "This seems overly cautious to me, and I think people don't respond to tactics like that.
If people disagree with you, you can still get them to vote for you because you are standing up for what you believe in."
Questions about the "carbon footprint" were also raised, and Novick said it would take "a variety of different things to help alleviate it." He said strides in mass transit and fuel efficiency for cars need to be made, along with utilizing renewable sources of energy. "Thirty percent of carbon emissions come from transportation, 40 percent comes from buildings and the machines in them, and the other 30 percent comes from industrial activity," he said. "Congress needs to make much bigger steps in making cars more efficient and make it easier for people to not drive."
The tail end of the question and answer session dealt with the War in Iraq. When asked why it took him 15 minutes to even mention Iraq, Novick confessed that he doesn't like leading with that piece. "If Gordon Smith was as wildly pro-war as John McCain, then you could hammer away at it," he said. "But that's not the context of the war in this election."
Novick closed the Iraq discussion by saying that we need to get out of Iraq, but realized that U.S. troops leaving wouldn't solve the problem by itself. "Things won't be peaches and cream after we get out. We created this horrible situation in which a Sunni insurgency could flourish."
Note: John Frohnmayer, an independent candidate, kicked off the series on Feb. 12. Both candidates are challenging incumbent senator Rep. Gordon Smith for a seat in the U.S. Senate.
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