Oregon Follow-up

by Pedro Fernandez

INFORMATION AND PUN

When I sit down and pen a piece, I usually do so in a very good mood. So, at times I try to inject some humor, and on occassion it goes "way" over your head. Take for instance Monday's expose "Something's Rotten In Oregon."

First of all, I know that Sen. John McCain of Arizona was a Vietnam POW for six years, and that he has been at the forefront of more than just the reform of boxing and Zippergate.

In fact he is one of the few leading Republicans that are "Anti-Tobacco" and he certainly merits praise from this corner for that.

And his alliance with William Bruce Anderson, head of the Oregon Boxing and Wrestling Commission, isn't what I was attacking in the article. It was Mr. Anderson himself.

How dare this pompous bastard run a Criminal check on me because I made two inquiring phone calls about Oregon boxing. Don't you people see what is going on here? This guy truly has established a J. Edgar Hoover type of regime in Oregon.

If he has the audacity to run a Criminal check on a member of the news media who lives in another state, where in lies the limits of him abusing his power? If I was an Oregonian, I'd be shaking in my boots.

J. EDGAR IS SMILING

FBI founder J. Edgar Hoover Hoover was able to hold onto his job because he had dirt on every President. He too ran Criminal checks on anybody who dare question his authority. And we all know, everybody in Washington now admits that EDGAR-INA was guilty of a lot more than that.

So who does Anderson, a 70 year old man who runs the Oregon Boxing and Wrestling Commission from his house through the technology of "telephone call forwarding," who does he have dirty pictures of?

Yesterday, I called Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber. He flat out refused to answer "any questions on Mr. Anderson or on boxing in Oregon."

And after once again speaking with his secretary this morning, I found out why the Governor is ashamed to talk about William Bruce Anderson. It's because Anderson makes more money than Kitzhaber!

That's right! William Bruce Anderson makes $89 K a year as the head of a Boxing Commission that has had but one fight card in seven years, while Governor John Kitzhaber makes only $84 grand annually.

So, again I ask the question. What in the hell is going on In Oregon?

We have people who want to promote boxing in the Portland area, while at the same time time we have a bureaucrat in Anderson who according to many people is doing his best to make sure it won't happen.

In closing, elected officials need to be accessible to their constituents. Obviously, that type of thinking isn't the way things are done in Oregon. Long thought to be a state rich with both liberal and conservative political views, Oregon seems to have an "EDGAR-INA" mentality in the state house. That frightens me.

Thank God, I don't live there!

Pedro Fernandez

Note: If you would like to make Governor Kitshaber aware that you know his Boxing Commission head (who has worked one fight in seven years) makes more money than him, the Governor's number is 503-378-3111. Note: Pedro's web site: www.fighters.com E Mail: flash@inow.com Catch "Ring Talk" my syndicated talk show on boxing that airs Saturday and Sunday on the TALK AMERICA Radio Network(s) at 11:06 PM ET. The show is also carried LIVE on the Internet at www.talkamerica.com While the Saturday show is two hours and airs on TALK AMERICA 1, Ring Talk Sunday is an hour in duration and is heard on the TALK AMERICA 2 aka "The Deuce." BOTH TALK 1 and TALK 2 have separate live Internet audio channels at www.talkamerica.com

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