SALEM
-- Kim Thatcher is discovering that the state representative she
said she would become is a hard role to live up to, given the
political waters in Salem.
The Republican from Keizer said she has resolved, however, to stay
true to those who got her there. Thatcher told voters leading up to
the November election that, if elected, she would work to curb
government spending and growth.
Nearly a month into the 2005 legislative session, the freshman has
found out that hers is not a popular opinion. Nearly everyone who
seeks to bend her ear, she said, is after the one thing the state
says it doesn’t have enough of – money. “It would be so easy to sit
here and promise the world to everyone,” she said, sitting in her
recently decorated office at the state capital. “It’s difficult to
have a different opinion.”
The Newberg Graphic caught up with Thatcher for part of an
afternoon last week to shadow the representative from District 25,
which covers Newberg, St. Paul and Keizer. She spoke of the
challenges of being the legislator that her constituents elected her
to be, one who says no to more government spending.
“You have to make a conscious effort to remember what got you
here,” she said. Because the message she said she gets from “99
percent” of the people who filter through her office — to spend more
money — is “diametrically opposed” to the message she got from
voters.
Her message was popular with voters. Thatcher, whose platform edged
out incumbent Rep. Vic Backlund (R-Keizer) in the primary, defeated
Democrat Roger Pike in the November general election, taking 77
percent of the vote.
She touted her business experience during her campaign. A 40-year-old
mother of four, Thatcher owns two Salem-based business — KT
Contracting Company and Highway Specialties. The former specializes
in directing traffic during highway construction projects; the
latter rents equipment to companies wanting to direct traffic
themselves.
Well funded during her campaign, Thatcher has brought in more money
after the election — $10,750, according to the Oregon Secretary of
State’s Office. The largest contribution, $10,000, was made by the
Oregon Victory Committee, a political action committee that supports
Republican candidates.
Her office, on the fourth floor of the House wing of the capitol
building, is planted in the middle of a hallway of offices, each of
which has a cubicle in front of it for her staff. Thatcher’s office
is orderly and decorated with, among other things, a certificate of
recognition from Citizens for a Sound Economy and a poster of the
Evergreen Air Museum in McMinnville.
At noon Thursday, Thatcher rushed to another of her many daily
meetings. This time it was a lunch-hour discussion with freshmen
legislators about the day-to-day operations of the legislature.
Between bites of food, the freshmen asked one another questions
about the mundane: “What should I have my staff do?” and “Do you
answer your own e-mails?” to the more exciting for a freshman
lawmaker, “What is the process of introducing a new bill?”
The freshmen were candid. They joked. They heard advise from seasoned
state Rep. Mitch Greenlick, a Democrat, about how to keep track of
all of the bills that go through the legislature in a session.
“I see on CNN what’s going on with the Oregon Legislature,”
Thatcher laughed, “and it’s like, ‘Oh.’”
It is the day-to-day tasks that consume much of the time for
freshmen representatives. Thatcher said that on the first day of the
2005 session “all I could think of was the paper tsunami.”
She has staff for help. Her husband, Karl, does double duty. He
helps keep her up to date with the happenings at her businesses; he
is also part of her legislative assistance staff, often meeting with
lobbyists. Also on Thatcher’s staff is her mother, Linda Heimdahl,
and a George Fox University student, Kenan Butler.
Thatcher is on three house committees, one of which was among her
top three choices. They are the judiciary committee (she’s on the
criminal subcommittee, as opposed to civil), the elections and rules
committee, and the transportation committee.
The telephone number to Thatcher’s office at the capital is
1-503-986-1425. |
