Whose Woods These Are

He prides himself on being a political maverick in the mold of his hero, the late Senator Wayne Morse. But Democratic Congressman James Weaver, 53, has always kept in step with one part of his southwestern Oregon constituency: the liberal college town of Eugene (pop. 103,500). In three terms, he has built a reputation as a friend of the environment, having sponsored the 1978 Endangered American Wilderness Act, which increased the acreage of protected lands like the 168,000-acre Kalmiopsis area east of Eugene. He is a foe of nuclear power and of the use of herbicides in the Northwest's evergreen forests.

But what is laudable in Eugene is anathema to the lumbermen in the rest of the district. Says Weaver: "My problem is that my district's Establishment --it all revolves around the timber industry--opposes me." With help from lumber companies, utilities and the National Republican Congressional Committee, Mike Fitzgerald, 47, a garrulous, former public relations man from San Diego, has Weaver running like a Roosevelt elk, a species that he has fought to conserve. They agree only in their opposition to gun controls.

On other issues, the race is a clear-cut ideological confrontation. Fitzgerald has raised $250,000 so far (much of it from wood-products companies) to Weaver's $55,000 (largely from environmental groups).

Stocky, balding Fitzgerald, who owns a 1,100-acre sheep ranch, made his mark politically as a county commissioner when he fought state controls on land development and timber production. Says he: "Weaver is an environmental perfectionist. Environmental perfection is something we can't afford." Weaver, a former builder and developer, replies that his environmental policies are in the area's best interest. Says he: "We can't afford to cut our timber faster, because if we do, we won't have any left. My constituents strongly support land-use planning. They don't want to Californicate Oregon."

To fell Weaver, Fitzgerald has to cut at his base support among moderate voters in Eugene. So Fitzgerald has attacked Weaver for co-sponsoring proposed federal legislation in 1979 that would prohibit discrimination against homosexuals in jobs and housing. Voters in Eugene a year earlier vetoed a similar local ordinance 2 to 1. Fitzgerald also faults Weaver for having voted against most major defense appropriation bills during his six years in Congress. Former President Gerald Ford, his Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz and conservative retired Army Generals John Singlaub and Daniel Graham are making pilgrimages into the district on Fitzgerald's behalf. Polls show that Weaver still leads, but Fitzgerald has come out of the forest swinging and spending in a way that will ensure that the final outcome should be close. sb

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