Press Release

Ashland and Gold Beach Resident Announces Candidacy for U.S. Senate

Gold Beach and Ashland real estate investor Brent Thompson announced his candidacy for the May Democratic primary election for the U.S Senate, a seat currently held by Ron Wyden.  Thompson, who is a former Ashland City Councilor, says that Ron Wyden’s pro growth positions exacerbate global warming and environmental degradation.  

Thompson says “Wyden favors growth and that position doesn’t meet the needs of Oregonians nor Americans, and therefore he should withdraw from the Senate race.”

Thompson says that since Wyden was sent to Washington, DC in 1981, the US grew by 100 million people and Oregon by 1.6 million.  The larger numbers failed to improve anything.

“Wyden would attempt to label himself an environmental Senator, but that is impossible with his record favoring US population growth.  Wyden fails to comprehend that growth renders combating water shortages, climate change and environmental degradation futile.  Portland’s degeneration, loss of “community”, and explosion into a riot torn city is a direct result of the alienation fueled by the growth policies favored by Wyden.  In short Wyden betrayed the trust placed in him to keep Oregon, Oregon.  His policies “Californicated” Oregon.”

Thompson is a “hands on” building renovator and real estate investor with properties in Jackson, Curry, and Coos counties.  He has 40 years of city and county government experience in a variety of positions both paid and unpaid.  

Thompson is a 38 year resident of Ashland and a 21 year resident of Gold Beach where he moved his official residence shortly after buying his home there in 2000.   

While involved in municipal government in Ashland and Gold Beach Thompson wrote more than 100 editorials, columns, and letters on what is necessary to build “community” and the planning needed to foster aesthetic, walkable, environmentally sound, comfortable communities in the face of growth.  As an Ashland City Counselor Thompson successfully led a campaign to accommodate growth within the existing Ashland City limit.  Thompson has a website called alternativestogrowth.com featuring a selection of his columns and editorials.

Thompson’s strength is his depth and range of experience in encouraging what he calls ”community”. He sees the 300 mile Oregon Coast as a scenic gem and will do everything possible as Senator to protect its beauty and economic viability through proper resource and growth management. 

Thompson says Ron Wyden fails to think ahead regarding the detrimental effects of further U.S population growth. “Wyden favors large numbers of “economic opportunity immigrants”, lax enforcement of immigration laws, sanctuary cities and states, and amnesties.  Because of Wyden’s thinking and other similar thinking leaders, the U.S is perceived as no longer having enforceable borders. The US also has become crowded as Americans increasingly lost their ability to move about freely due to teeming roads, highways, and national parks plus impersonal airports burdened beyond their capacity.” 

Thompson graduated from the University of California in Santa Barbara with a degree in Hispanic Civilization.  While there he also briefly attended the University of the Americas in Mexico City.  Thompson attended graduate school at San Francisco State University in management and accounting, and took post graduate courses in business, journalism, and languages at Southern Oregon University.  

He traveled more than 70 times outside the US visiting 55 countries and territories.  While in college Thompson hitch hiked and rode buses through Central and South  America and went down the Amazon River from Columbia to Manaus, Brazil. 

He visited 49 states, many while hitch hiking four times across the country.

As a building renovator Thompson received two civic improvement awards for work on centrally located historic buildings.  

Thompson says his background in human services will enable him to provide the constituent services and responsibilities a Senator deals with.  He favors national health care and fair drug prices. He sees dealing with the disenfranchisement of our growing homeless population and the alienation and despondency of our youth from what they perceive as environmental hopelessness as crucial national social issues.  To combat this Brent Thompson encourages people to make time to support local environmental causes and religious and community organizations to help build “community”.

Thompson says Wyden and too many other Democrats abandoned the terms sustainability, carrying capacity, optimum population and the Native American concept of planning for Seven Generations in favor of sanctuary cities and states, “open borders”, amnesties, and unlimited “economic opportunity immigration” to the detriment of all Americans and particularly Native Americans, African Americans, and Hispanic citizens.  Thompson says that people must discern between the stances  “anti-immigration” and “anti immigrant”; they are not the same.  To arrest the decline in our livability and our contribution to Global Warming we must greatly reduce  “economic opportunity immigration”.

Thompson also ran for the U.S Senate while an Ashland City Councilor.  He accepted the balanced budget oriented Reform Party’s nomination in Oregon’s 1996 Senatorial race to replace retiring Senator Mark Hatfield. 

His candidacy is an opportunity for the 36 percent of unaffiliated and often alienated voters to register Democrat in this primary election to back a business, community, and intimacy oriented, non “nanny state”, non pro-growth, non open borders, grounded Democrat.  

Thompson’s ties to the Oregon Coast date from 1911 when his Swedish Finn grandfather moved to the Coos Bay Area at a time when the US had 90 million people and seemingly unlimited resources.  

“Ron Wyden should admit he can’t endure the shame he brought on himself with such a blighted record in preserving Oregon’s livability.  Therefore, he should withdraw as a candidate.”

Brent Thompson’s campaign is based on Native American wisdom:
Send Brent Thompson to the U.S. Senate:  He is thinking——SEVEN GENERATIONS ahead.

Ron Wyden is stuck on continuing the Californication of Oregon.

Brent Thompson For U.S. Senate
P.O. Box 1383
Gold Beach, OR 97444   

Phone  541 297-5947
brentthom2000@gmail.com