LETTER: Barreto listens, stays positive

End of story? Not at all. A few days later, Mr. Barreto actually called me to discuss my concerns. Called me! We talked for awhile, and I was most impressed by his willingness to listen, to consider another’s point of view, and to clearly state why he said what he said. Most of all, I was impressed that a man as busy as Greg Barreto would be interested in a single voter’s concerns.

In the weeks since, I have studied Mr. Barreto’s positions, his background, his worthiness to serve as my representative (District 58, Oregon). He is conservative, which I like, but more than that, he lives out his conservative beliefs. One of his beliefs is to remain positive — in his campaign, in his business and in his attitude that this state and this country are still beacons of freedom, that economic growth is still possible, that the American Dream is alive and well in Oregon.

I like positive. Negative campaigns might be effective, but the negativity then gets sent to Salem, or Washington, where it grows into the cancer of bickering and fighting and stalemate. Nothing good comes out of negative.

Greg Barreto knows what he believes in. He knows how to run a business, how to put people to work, put money in their pockets. He knows that every tax dollar spent is a dollar taken from someone who had to earn it, and that as a state representative, it will be his sacred duty to not take more than is needed.

I like that. I like it a lot.