Ringo won’t run again, Avakian will

Oregon State Senate District 17 includes Cedar Mill

Our state senator Charlie Ringo announced in mid-January that he would not seek a third term, saying that he wanted to spend time with his family before his children grew up. What a concept!

On January 26, State Representative Brad Avakian announced his candidacy for the Oregon State Senate, District 17, which covers Northeast Washington County and West Multnomah County (see map).

As State Representative for the Bethany area, Avakian was involved in sponsoring and passing legislation which protects neighborhoods and businesses from forced annexations, increases the penalties for drunk driving, and requires insurance companies to provide coverage for certain conditions such as mental illness and procedures such as breast exams. He also preserved music, art, P.E., U.S. history, civics and foreign language as required subjects in our public schools.

About our area’s rapid growth, he says, “our area has grown so big so fast in the last decade, but the infrastructure of roads and schools has not kept up with this growth in many cases. One thing the State could do is help with capital construction costs for new schools.”

Brad Avakian

He doesn’t feel that an initiative effort to add school funding to the System Development Charges (SDCs, money that developers are required to pay for infrastructure when they put in new housing) will go forward. “Their proposal only raises $7 million for Beaverton schools, while the district is more than $2 billion in the hole when it comes to new school construction. I’d hate to see that political capital wasted on an effort that wouldn’t raise enough money to solve the problem.” He continues, “Mitch [Greenlick] and I sponsored a bill to add schools to the SDC’s during the last session, but it wasn’t even given a hearing. This is one of the votes that run along party lines and the situation will not change until a majority of folks value public education – but that’s not the situation now.”

Avakian, a civil rights attorney, was first elected to the House in 2002 and re-elected in 2004. He has lived in the Portland metropolitan area nearly all his life, attending Aloha High School, Portland State University, Oregon State University, and Lewis and Clark Law School. Brad and his wife Debbie have two children in Beaverton public schools and live in the Bethany area.

Sam Chase, another Democrat and political newcomer from Northwest Portland, with a background in affordable housing and education advocacy issues, has also filed for the May 16 primary. The filing deadline is March 7. So far no Republicans or others have filed for the seat in the district where Democrats have more than 6000 more registered voters.

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