John Kroger’s goal: to clean up Oregon

The May 20 Oregon primaries are expected to be significant, particularly for democrats.

Not only will the Democratic presidential nominee be decided, but the Oregon Attorney General should be chosen as well, as there is no Republican Party member running for the position.

John Kroger is one of the candidates running for state attorney general, and wants to bring what he sees as a heavy-handed approach to some of Oregon’s largest “problem areas.” Kroger is running against Oregon Representative Greg Macpherson. Whoever wins will replace incumbent Hardy Myers.

His two biggest concerns are methamphetamine abuse and environmental degradation. The meth epidemic needs to be a key focus in Oregon, Kroger said, because of the correlation he has found between the drug and property crimes and child abuse.

“The methamphetamine problem is at the top of people’s list everywhere in the state,” Kroger said.

Kroger said he sees tackling the drug problem as a way to solve many issues through a kind of cascade effect–as methamphetamines disappear, the results will yield less crime and more state resources will be freed up to take care of other issues.

To do this, he wants to beef up drug treatment programs so that people can kick the substance, therefore reducing the demand for it, he said.

“Every dollar you put into drug treatment,” Kroger said, “you save almost seven dollars in other parts of the state budget. Because you have lower prison costs, you have lower health care costs, you have lower law enforcement costs.”

The up-front funding, he said, is ultimately cost effective in the long run.

Kroger said he is quite familiar with the PSU campus due to the fact that his fiancée is Interim Dean of Students Michele Toppe.

“Me and Michele are huge Vikings fans,” he said.

Kroger, who is currently a law professor at Lewis & Clark College, said increased enforcement is key to many of the state’s problems.

Formerly a federal prosecutor, Kroger has tried cases against mafia members and Enron executives, among others. He is confident that his previous experience as a federal prosecutor will ensure that he can successfully mesh the appropriate agencies to prevent the drug from entering the state.

He also intends to fight environmental damage in the state. In order to combat the problem, he would create two full-time positions for environmental crimes prosecutors.

Kroger does not think that there are necessarily inadequate laws concerning pollution and other environmentally damaging acts. The problem, he said, is a lack of enforcement that is leading to the current problems.

Kroger cited an Oct. 3, 2007 Business Week article that listed Portland as the third most toxic city in the United States as an example of poor enforcement in the realm of environmental crimes.