GOLD BEACH – Wayne Krieger says that to bring more jobs to Oregon, there must be changes in state laws.

“Every politician is talking about creation of jobs,” Krieger said. “But to create jobs, we need changes in environmental laws, land use laws. Without a change in land use laws, Oregon is not a place where people will come to start a business.”

Krieger, who will seek his seventh term in the Oregon House of Representatives in the 2012 election, said that the appeals process in Oregon is so complicated that anyone can hold up construction for years, appealing from a planning commission to a city council or board of supervisors, on up to the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) and then to the courts.

He said Oregon needs to abolish LUBA, with the final decision made locally by the County Board of Commissioners.

Krieger, a Gold Beach Republican, has filed papers with the Secretary of State’s Office to seek re-election as representative for District 1.

“I planned on running three times,” Krieger said Tuesday.

Then he talked it over with his wife, and ran again.

“Now, I’ve been elected six times, going for the seventh,” he said.

Krieger said as a member of the House with two-year terms, he is campaigning year-round. “I had my 75th parade last year. I guess I’ve walked 150 miles in parades.”

Krieger said he attends 200 to 250 events a year.

“What I’m doing is what I’ve always done. You try to understand people’s problems,” he said.

He said that he stops at coffee shops constantly, listening to what his constituents have to say, then work for their interests.

Krieger says nationally, members of Congress tend to follow the interests of their party, but that is not correct.

“It can’t be a special interest group or the Republican Party. You see where people are and vote their interests,” he said.

Krieger said he has been working for the establishment of the Southwest Oregon Community College (SWOCC) campus in Brookings for the past 11 years. Now that has been constructed with open house scheduled for Dec. 26 and 27.

“I’ll be there both days,” he said.

“That will be good for the whole county,” he said of the new campus. “It’s only 20 minutes out of Gold Beach.”

He said that in most locations, it takes that long to get to the local college campus.

Krieger notes he has served on the Judiciary Committee since he was first elected, serving as the chair of the committee twice, including this year as co-chair.

“In that committee, I have been able to protect children with the Meth Package that has become a national model on getting children out of Meth homes.”

He said he was able to get bipartisan support to reduce traffic fines that had become excessive and give discretion back in the court. 

Because of his background in natural resources, Krieger says he has been able to serve in the Natural Resource Committee six of the 11 years and this last session he was assigned to the Energy, Environment and Water Committee as co-vice chair. 

He has worked with Sens. Ted Ferrioli and Jeff Kruse to clarify and guide rules that governed the Department of Human Resources in Foster Care.  

“This gave more rights to the children and their families,” Krieger said.

Krieger said he has served on three Sensitive Review Committees looking into the process of DHS in finding facts in questionable placing of foster children in some cases and has asked to serve on a fourth Sensitive Review this month. Much of his time has been spent working with foster children issues.

He says his background with the Oregon State Police Game Enforcement Division has uniquely qualified him to deal with natural resource issues involving the commercial fish issues, forestry issues and farming and ranch communities.