Rep. Peter Buckley oposition to veterans boosts opponent

[Oregon War Veterans Association Release]
OWVA Endorses Independent – Pete Belcastro for HD05

SALEM– Oregon War Veterans Association (OWVA) has chosen Independent Candidate, Pete Belcastro for State Representative over Peter Buckley (D) for Southern Oregon’s House District 5, which includes Ashland and surrounding communities. Belcastro, an Ashland radio personality, a past Southern Oregon University professor, and father of an Iraqi War Veteran is a much better candidate for OWVA’s legislative agenda. During the 2007 legislative session, Peter Buckley, who serves as the Chair of the House Education Committee refused to hear the education bills written by OWVA and other veteran’s groups.

“We have never seen such obstinacies toward our issues, as we saw by many of the committee chairs, including Buckley,” OWVA’s Director, Greg Warnock said to Belcastro, in a meeting today, in Salem. “OWVA wrote 12 bills to help the troops, their families and veterans. All of our bills passed through he Veteran’s Affairs Committee, but most of them were killed in the secondary committees, including all of our bills that were forwarded to Buckley’s committee on Education. We definitely need a change in HD5.”

Two of OWVA’s bills (HB 3199 and 3200) proposed funding for the Oregon Youth Challenge Program (OYCP). OYCP is the most successful at-risk educational program in the State of Oregon, but they do not have the facilities to meet the needs of all available applicants.

HB 3200 added funding for an additional 30 female students to enter the program. Currently, each class is made up of 60 boys and 30 girls, who spend 6 months in a residential facility near Bend. OWVA wanted to equalize the proportion of girls and boys who attend the school.

Buckley wouldn’t give the bills a hearing, so they died in his committee.

For more information about OWVA visit www.OWVA.org