FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: SOLOMON YUE
Solomon Yue <[email protected]> 
FRIDAY, October 6, 2000 503-370-7499 

SALEM, OREGON (October 6) - Immediately following the viewing of McCain's TV Spot in support of Measure 5, A Gun Registration Act, the Oregon Republican Party (ORP) Chairman Perry Atkinson issued the following statement: Senator McCain injecting himself in Oregon politics is filled with hypocrisies. 

Hypocrisy I 

Senator McCain' TV Spot in support of Measure 5 only highlighted his hypocrisy as the National Champion of the Campaign Finance Reform to ban soft money. According to the AP, Senator McCain took and spent $1 million in soft money from Billionaire marketing mogul Andrew J. McKelvey for the 30-second TV spot in Oregon and Colorado. 

Hypocrisy II 

Senator McCain is playing divisive politics with a local ballot measure in Oregon, where he is not even a resident. McCain did not even know that Kip Kinkel of Eugene did not buy his gun from a gun show. 

Hypocrisy III 

Senator McCain is trying to tell Oregonians what to do and how to vote on this issue, which he did not even study. As of yesterday, Senator McCain's Chief of Staff, Mark Salter requested for more information from the Oregon Republican Party on the issue. When he was asked if Senator McCain ever read the Measure before he cut this spot Salter said no he had not. 

Senator McCain was not aware that 1) the ORP passed a resolution unanimously in last February against Measure 5 and 2) Measure 5 has major flaws: 5 years record retention on buyers and sellers, allow the State check buyers' medical records, and no safeguard or penalty for any abuse of those personal records. 

Hypocrisy IV 

Senator McCain knowingly supports a flawed ballot measure which intrudes Oregonians' privacy and right to bear arms. When Mark Salter was asked that if the ORP can document to Senator McCain there are major flaws in Measure 5, would the Senator reconsider his support for Measure 5 or consider pulling his TV spot. The answer was NO. 

The above hypocrisies raised the issue of Senator McCain's sincerity and credibility when Senator McCain claims in his TV spot that Measure 5 is simply closing a loop hole at a gun show. The Oregon Republican Party will continue to work for the defeat of Measure 5, A Gun Registration Act.

Oregon gun owners are encouraged to contact Oregon Firearms Federation, a grassroots activist organization dedicated to NO COMPROMISE on liberty advocacy and the protection and restoration of our firearms freedoms in Oregon.