Gold Beach Republican Rep. Wayne Krieger has begun his re-election campaign for the First District position.

Following what he describes as an effective and active second term, in this campaign, Krieger plans on tackling such issues as public school funding and legislation to monitor registered sex offenders.

Krieger said he believes he's done a good job representing his constituents.

“I think I've been effective as far as passing legislation that was important in our district,” Krieger said. “We were very effective in getting appropriations to the South Coast for (Southwestern Oregon Community College) and funding for the airport.”

After spending 28 years with the Oregon State Police, serving on the Oregon Board of Forestry, the Landslide Task Force, and the Forest Industries Council on Taxation in Washington, D.C., Krieger was elected to his first term as representative in 2000.

During the 2005 legislative session, Krieger served as chairman of the Judiciary Committee, which addressed all issues of law in Oregon; and chaired the State and Federal Affairs Committee, which oversees legislation throughout the Oregon House of Representatives. He also helped to craft the methamphetamine-legislation package of bills.

Krieger secured a donation from U.S. Borax of 10 acres for Southwestern's Brookings campus last term, and if elected, he said he plans to continue his work for higher education.

“We passed capital funding for community colleges last session, which was the first time in 27 years money has been appropriated to community colleges,” Krieger said.

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Funding schools to better meet the needs of students is one of Krieger's campaign issues. A system that demonstrates little in accountability or efficiency is in need of re-evaluation, he said.

“We need to give the schools the capacity to meet the goals we set,” he said.

In hopes of protecting women and children from sexual predators, Krieger has worked on a bipartisan group to look at legislation to track and monitor sex offenders in Oregon.

“By the time this is finished, I expect Oregon will have a tough - if not the toughest - law in the nation, to protect women and children,” he said.

Krieger also is passionate about protecting U.S. borders and deporting illegal immigrants from Mexico and South America.

“A disproportionate number of them are involved in crime,” Krieger said. “In fact, you could pretty much lay the meth problem at the feet of aliens.”

Krieger said he supports taking steps to deal with the ongoing challenge of illegal immigration.

“I have a reluctance to provide services to people who are breaking the law just by being in this country,” he said. “I don't pay taxes to take care of people who are illegally here.”

According to Krieger, the metriculas consulares cards, identification cards Mexican nationals can purchase from the Mexican embassy and are honored as valid ID in Oregon, allow illegal immigrants to receive services from the state and a driver's license from the Department of Motor Vehicles.

“You could go in and get a license, and yesterday still have your back wet, so to speak,” Krieger said. “We have to get this under control so we can provide these services to Oregonians, and legal immigrants.”

Krieger said it's important to conserve Oregon's natural resources while adding more jobs to the lumber and fishing industries.

“Nobody wants to deplete natural resources, but at the same time people need to eat, people need lumber, they need to fish, and that's an issue we need to deal with,” he said. “The timber industry is always going to be important to this area, but it's gone from 11 mills when I got here in 1964, to one.”

Krieger said he doesn't anticipate this campaign will differ much from the last one or from his general day-to-day activities.

“I'm very active throughout the year, whether I'm campaigning or not campaigning. I attend about 250 events during the year,” he added.

And he's confident of success.

“We have a very broad base of support in this area, and that's not just from Republicans,” he said.