Rep. Bill Kennemer Launches Independent Expenditure Campaign in opposition to Governor Kate Brown
In siding with special interests, Kate Brown has made the mental health crisis in Oregon worse, Kennemer says
Salem, Ore. – State Representative Bill Kennemer this week launched an independent expenditure campaign in opposition to Governor Kate Brown. The campaign, which includes a one-minute TV commercial to be broadcast in the Portland media market and online, highlights Governor Brown’s failure to adequately address the mental health crisis in Oregon, including her inexplicable veto of legislation which would have helped psychologists provide better care to Oregonians.
Click here to view the ad online
“Governor Kate Brown claims to be an advocate for mental health, but her record paints a different picture,” stated Rep. Kennemer, a doctor and retired psychologist. “Under Kate Brown’s tenure as Governor, she failed to issue a certificate of need for a new veterans’ mental health hospital. She proposed shutting down the newly-built mental health hospital in Junction City. And worse, she vetoed key mental health legislation which would have empowered psychologists to help on the frontlines of this crisis by allowing them, with additional training, to prescribe mental health medications to their patients.”
Kennemer goes on to state in his ad that Oregon is in a state of mental health crisis, and that a lack of providers and services is driving healthcare costs, hospital visits, and fueling the increase of homelessness, particularly amongst our youth.
“As a father, a lawmaker, and as a retired psychologist, I cannot sit by idly while Governor Kate Brown claims she is working to address Oregon’s mental health system. Voters deserve to understand the truth about what’s really happening in our mental health system.”
Recent polling shows the gubernatorial race in a statistical dead heat. Kennemer’s ad, which launched on his Facebook page, will air on Portland televisions and on social media. He hopes to illustrate Governor Brown’s hollow record on mental health issues in Oregon, and encourage voters to choose a different candidate in the upcoming election.
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