Brown brings campaign to Kerby/Belt 9-12 group
From our weekly issue dated March 17, 2010
Jack Brown
Josephine County Commissioner candidate Jack Brown addressed members of the Cave Junction Chapter of the 9/12 Project on Wednesday evening, March 10.
Approximately 40 people attended the meeting in the RCC Kerby Belt Bldg.
Brown, who serves as chairman of the Constitution Party of Oregon, began by discussing his ties to the region?s natural resource industries. That included stints as a chain puller, at Rough & Ready Lumber Co. outside of Cave Junction, and as a saw filer for Spalding & Sons for nearly a decade.
?I helped to convert a lot of trees into lumber,? Brown stated.
But in the mid-1970s, Brown said, he realized there was a niche for road service auto repair. Many people can?t afford to have their cars towed to a mechanic shop, he said, so he started his business.
Being a small business owner, Brown said, has given him experience in such matters as performance audits and budgeting.
Most of Brown?s remarks involved the proper role of government.
He stated that when he was growing up in Grants Pass, Josephine County did not have a road department. That work, he said, was all done by private companies.
?They were busy all the time,? he said.
Once the county established its public works department, Brown said, it ?grew into something substantial.?
In the early 1970s, the state had an animal control officer assigned to the county. But now, animal control is an entire county department, he said.
Brown said that in 1957, his father paid around $8,000 to purchase a farm outside of Grants Pass. He has paid more than that in property taxes throughout the past few years for the same parcel, Brown said.
Attempts by the government to spur economic development are akin to giving someone an ?advantage,? the candidate believes.
?Government should not get involved in job creation,? he said. ?Government should get out of it.?
There used to be many small lumber mills in Josephine County, Brown said. But because of the state?s various land-use and zoning restrictions, ?you couldn?t do that today.?
Brown, 61, pressed the need for more timber harvests on federal land and not let people in Washington, D.C. dictate how local resources are used. He decried how Americans? freedoms have been gradually eroded through executive orders and administrative rules.
If elected commissioner, Brown pledged to approve any variance requested by citizens. The candidate said that if the state Land Use Board of Appeals remands any of those decisions, he still will approve them.
?It?s your property,? Brown said. ?You plan it.?
Brown said that his ?number-one priority? is law enforcement, and that he would ask the sheriff?s office to emphasize the protection of private property and defend citizens against federal and state agents. He also promised to return unfunded mandates to the state.
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