One of these days perhaps there will be a Republican in Oregon who earns my vote. This guy ain't it.

Gary Coe is the Republican candidate for Senate District 14 (a seat currently held by Democrat Mark Hass). Coe is also the owner of Retriever Towing, a business that at least in part, makes its profits through predatory towing practices. In other words, his towing drivers troll around to various parking lots and tow legally parked cars--and then come up with a lame reason to charge the owner an exorbitant fee for the car's release.

Case in point: Ashley Holmquist. Ms Holmquist's Jeep was legally parked in her space at her apartment complex. One of Coe's drivers seized her car anyway. When the apartment complex and Holmquist contacted Coe's company, they were told it didn't matter that she was parked legally. They couldn't see the expiration date on the pass.

Jenny Hansson, KOIN TV:

"When I showed the guy the parking pass, he said since he couldn't see an expiration, that it was invalid, and he confirmed it was his parking pass," Holmquist said. So Holmquist had to pay $347 to get back her Jeep. She says this is money that would normally have gone toward rent. Holmquist has a 6-month-old daughter, and she says she'll likely have to return her Christmas presents. "I had just went and spent every last dime on her first Christmas, because I have a 6-month-old," Holmquist said. "And now it's to the point where I pay my rent or I have a Christmas. So I'm probably going tomorrow to return everything because I don't have money to pay my rent because of it." Gary Coe, the owner of Retriever Towing, initially told KOIN he was just the "owner" of the business, but had no part in the day-to-day operations. However, in the same sentence, he alleged people like Ashley, "live in an era when people lack acceptance of personal responsibility.”

I don't think "personal responsibility" means what Coe thinks it means. Otherwise he'd have taken "personal responsibility" for the fact that his driver was towing a legally parked vehicle and given her money back with an apology.

Interestingly, Coe's LinkedIn profile states that he's spent his "entire career working to improve the image of the towing industry". His quote on the Senate Republicans press release announcing his campaign says, "Oregon should be a place where families can thrive and prosper".

Apparently he's not actually interested in the real success of either of those platitudes.