Democrat Runs with Republican Support to Fight Poverty

“Josephine County a model for what the left has done to the entire country,” says Just. “We’re an impoverished county sitting on spectacular natural resource wealth. That’s just wrong.”

Just wants to fight land-use and environmental regulations to help overcome local poverty and long-term dependence on government, problems shared by many rural counties. The plight of families in Grants Pass/Josephine County mirrors a nationwide trend towards dependence on government. Just believes this dependence is unsustainable. Nineteen percent of his county lives in poverty, and almost 30 percent receive food stamps. Sound familiar?A self-described Reagan, Tea Party Democrat , Just believes in order to keep government limited, the private sector has to step up in every way possible. This is not a recent revelation for him. 18 years ago Just organized the mobile neighborhood watch group “Concerned Fathers Against Crime” to help patrol the community after the sheriff’s budget was cut.As a candidate, Just is aware of the troubled label of “community organizer” and rejects the thought. “Barack Obama organized people to ask for more from government. I want to organize people to ask for less.”

For many years, a timber contract with the federal government dating back to the 1930s helped fuel Josephine County’s economy and fund its government — but about two decades ago the government reneged on the contract due to the Endangered Species Act. “For a while the feds made up for our loss with subsidies, but now they’ve got their own financial problems so we’re left in a desperate situation all thanks to the environmental left.”

So, if elected, Just plans to work for financial independence by organizing the private sector to “fight regulations that limit the free market and individual liberty, even if that means going to court, which I think is inevitable.”