Walker quits state Senate to chair parole board
State Sen. Vicki Walker By David Walker KVAL News and KVAL.com staffSALEM, Ore. -- After selling her business last year, Sen. Vicki Walker had been looking for a new job. A recent call from the governor's office asking if she'd be interested in being chair of the state parole board took her by surprise, she told KVAL News. "Well it's thrilling in many ways that the governor respects me enough and admires my abilities to appoint me to this position because it's a very difficult and challenging position," the Democrat from Eugene said. Walker was first elected to the legislature in 1998 and believes she would have easily been re-elected to the senate at the end of her current term. So who will replace her in the state Senate? "There are lots of Oregonians and there are two in my senate district in particular who are quite talented in and of themselves and it's time for them and maybe others to step up and take a whack at it and show that they can do something for oregon as well," Walker said. The two are both state representatives from Eugene: Nancy Nathanson and Chris Edwards. "Well I just found out about this today and so I've been thinking about it and I think I'm probably interested," Edwards said. In a statement released Thursday, Nathanson also says she is interested in the senate seat. The Democratic Party will nominate candidates to replace Walker. County commissioners in Lane and Douglas county, a portion of which falls in Walker's district, will vote to select her replacement. In her resignation letter to Senate President Peter Courtney, Walker reflects on her legislative style by quoting Susan B. Anthony: "Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can bring about a reform. Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation." |
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