To the Editor:

I recently read a letter to the editor regarding District 10 House Rep. David Gomberg. With Philomath being in District 10 this year with the redistricting, I can’t help but respond.

Rep. David Gomberg did serve as chair on the committee that oversees the Veterans Affairs budget. He did state that the committee voted out a $28 million commitment for the Oregon Veterans Affairs. This did indeed bring a cheer. However, the House of Representatives only passed a $21.4 million budget for the Veterans Affairs. Much less than the $28 million commitment and much less that the voters who overwhelmingly (84%) passed Measure 96 expected.

I have looked at Rep. David Gomberg’s voting record, among others. HB4133 stands out to me as it, in my opinion, undermines the integrity of our elections by allowing voter registration without Oregon State ID.

I have also had the opportunity to speak with David Gomberg. When I asked him why he voted to allow illegal undocumented immigrants to get drivers licenses when he knows that Oregon voters had overwhelmingly voted not to, he answered with ” Don’t you think it is better that they have insurance?”

Please vote! Take the time to be an informed voter and vote for who you think is best.

Joan Weaver
Lincoln County

4 replies on “Letter: A closer look at Rep. Gomberg’s voting record”

  1. Thank you for your comments on the Veterans budget passed by the legislature in 2017 in response to Measure 96, approved by Oregon voters,
    which anticipated $28 million in veteran spending.

    Respectfully, you have your numbers wrong.

    • The budget included $18.7 million in lottery funds to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs
    • The budget also included $7.5 million to the Department in general funds
    • In a separate budget item to ODHCS, we allocated $2.5 million to support to veteran homes
    • And finally, we committed $2.5 million for veteran mental health through OHA

    That’s a total of $31.2 million. We actually spent more on veterans than voters approved, and certainly not less.

    You can watch the committee final approval at https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/mediaplayer/?clientID=4879615486&eventID=2017061154 starting at 46.00
    You can watch the entire floor debate https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/mediaplayer/?clientID=4879615486&eventID=2017061053 starting at 47.30.

    Thank you for this opportunity to clear up your confusion.

    HB 4133 allows people registering to vote online to use a valid Social Security number. This is a relatively simple tweak that will allow people who don’t have state-issued IDs like driver’s licenses to register to vote online. Using invalid identification to register to vote in Oregon remains a crime. Read more at https://www.opb.org/article/2022/02/25/oregon-democrats-pass-bill-ease-voter-registration/

    Thank you.

    David Gomberg
    State Representative

  2. Rep. Gomberg, thank you for your response.
    Your broad statement that “$31.2 million was actually more than the voters approved” fails to address the issue and could be construed as misleading.
    Measure 96 was voted in to give 1.5% of lottery money to our Veterans in addition to money already in the budget. This was a projected $18.7 million. In reading the approved 2017-2019 budget presented by you, $12,868,322 is listed as Lottery Funds in the approved budget. Where did the additional monies go, to the ‘Other Funds Not Limited’ or ‘ Other Funds Dept Service Nonlimited?’ Those are the only funding that increased from the previous budget of 2015-2017. Voters voted for 18.9 additional lottery funding, it should show in the budget numbers, not be moved into a different fund where it in essence disappears.
    https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2017R1/Downloads/MeasureAnalysisDocument/39414
    Joan Weaver

  3. Dear Joan,

    Money spent on Veteran housing, health, mental health, and suicide prevention through agencies other than the DVA have not “disappeared”.

    In the budget document you linked to, if you read down further, it says, “Total lottery revenue dedicated to veterans’ services is projected to be $18.7 million for the 2017-19 biennium.” This is a report from Legislative Fiscal and not from my office.

    The 1.5% of lottery money to our Veterans is mandated in the Constitution now. The legislature cannot change that.

    What our Committee did is add back general fund dollars on top of new lottery funds to better support those who have served.

    David Gomberg
    State Representative

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