Bob Niemeyer in 2016 OR Governor's race

On Budget & Economy: Cut the size of government and jobs will follow

Niemeyer: Cut the size of government and jobs will follow. Stop government activities that are not government responsibilities and jobs will follow. End regulations that are not based on law enforcement and jobs will follow. Businesses exist for the purpose of making money. Making money is why we work. Making money for your employer really is the only way to be able to get health care, housing, or even food. You want jobs, get rid of the minimum wage, lower taxes on businesses if not eliminate them, and stop to over regulation of every aspect of business. The people need to relearn that their value to business is based on how much money your employer can make with their help. Stop giving away money that belongs to our ancestors. Unemployment benefits stop at 13 weeks. No more Federal money. Rebuild Oregon's educational system so our children will have a higher value in the job market.

On Education: Charter schools are the answer; throw out Common Core

Niemeyer: Charter schools are the answer at this point in time. Charter schools would allow for the creation of different kinds of schools that can use different teaching techniques to get through to children so that when they graduate and move out into the real world, they will have the skills necessary to be a productive member of society. The teachers of Oregon need to have all of the teaching techniques available for use on all of the students along with a place to send like-minded students to different charter schools. Teaching needs to be elevated back to a Profession instead of babysitting. And as a Profession, Teachers are more valuable than administrators. There has never been a such thing as a "Common Core" in teaching. Only "Common Goals". Common Core must be thrown out of our schools.

On Crime: Death penalty is less cruel to families of victims

For me, there is no real difference, other than YOUR definition of "Cruelty".
• It is 'Cruelty' to put someone in a box and then feed, clothe, and provide health care for that person until they die of old age.
• It is 'Cruelty' to risk the people's lives should some day, for some reason, that person is put on the street and kills again.
• It is 'Cruelty' to the loved ones of the victims to force them to live with waiting for the person who took the life of their loved one to finally be punished for what they did.
• It is 'Cruelty' to everyone to use 'Fear' that the Government will require the release of prisoners due to budget cuts as a way to increase taxes".

On Education: Common Core creates a putrid educational system

In my opinion, Governor Kitzhaber's effort in 2014 to take the educational system out of the hands of school boards across this state was based on Common Core political contributions. As an engineer, that scenario is the only one that makes sense for why such a putrid educational system was ever considered.

So, what I really think about Common Core: The people that make up books that are sold to schools across the Nation have run out of ways to change the way children are educated that can be turned into money in their pockets.

On Government Reform: Go back to voting in person, with verified photo ID

My vision for a voter system is:
• Use the DMV to create the voter rolls. (WITH PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP). The DMV has the know how to make photo ID's and print them.
• Use Facial Recognition systems to make sure that people do not have more than one voter ID.
• A person that does not have their photo ID could present some other form of ID that would bring their picture up for a visual verification check and facial recognition check.
• We could use scanning technology that already exist for counting the ballots. The same scanning technology used in our schools to grade tests. The ballots would be counted after the close of voting.

On Principles & Values: Separating church & state doesn't pull God out of government

[In government], the highest to lowest authority is Independence, Constitution, Government, the Elected, the Political Parties, and finally the People. Six levels of authority that have been around since the founding of this Nation.

The Separation of Church and State has nothing to with pulling God out of government or preventing religion from being part of Government. The Separation is nothing more than two separate sets of authority to believe in. There is no difference between what your faith believes to be true and what U.S. citizens believe to be Independence. The only difference between God's Word and Independence is that Independence gives you the freedom to believe in what you believe to be the truth.