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Yamhill County commissioner’s retreat from hard stand on Covid may reflect reality
Anti-masking and anti-vax forces have pushed their protests to extraordinary degrees. At one January rally in Washington speakers “compared U.S. vaccination policies to Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Doctors in white coats falsely claimed that vaccines are ‘not working’ and advocated for unproven treatments.” Oregon opponents of measures to combat the Covid-19 pandemic have […]
Tina Kotek is no longer Oregon speaker but is she Kate Brown’s shadow?
Kate Brown has been governor for just about seven years, and those years have been an extension of essentially similar – in governing approach – Democratic control of the top office reaching back more than a third of a century. Those facts underlie the candidacies for governor of Republicans and an independent, as candidates for […]
Oregon Supreme Court could clear up ‘residency’ for more than just Kristof’s campaign
The Oregon Supreme Court may issue a narrow ruling when it decides between gubernatorial candidate Nicholas Kristof and Secretary of State Shemia Fagan, but it would better serve the state to take a broader view. The narrow focus would review the details of Kristof’s immediate case and his request for the ballot status that Fagan’s […]
The Klamath Basin has two possible fates – a report explores where each takes the area
Here’s a recipe for concentrated depression. The embattled and seriously troubled Klamath Basin, a center of social and environmental pathologies for two decades and more, facing a future, three decades hence, where climate change could make conditions far worse. You could spin a dystopian novel from that. Or you could tell a more optimistic story. […]
In a highly political year in Oregon, several factors could influence campaigns, voter mood
In 2022 many of Oregon’s biggest stories will be political: A new governor, two new members of Congress and more. What those changes look like, whether simply of personality or of wholesale direction, may flow from some of the other developments we see in the months ahead. Where is Covid-19 headed, for example? The clock […]
The tale of Jordan Cove provides lessons in government regulation – and patience
Snap decisions, so often prized, are not always the best. Sometimes the inefficiencies of government and regulation can lead to the right result. Consider the recently defunct – after half a year of suspended animation, and a dozen years of regulatory limbo – the Jordan Cove Energy Project. Go back a generation or slightly more […]
Oregon’s new congressional district has a diversity that likely limits a lean too far one direction
When Stephen Colbert hosted his satiric political talk show some years back, he often profiled a congressional district somewhere around the country, describing its particular characteristics and enthusiastically declaring it the “Fighting 17th!” Or whatever it was. Built into the gag was the idea, often valid, that a given congressional district actually has specific and […]
With Oregon governor’s race fragmenting voter blocs, Betsy Johnson has a challenge
Most of the discussion around former state Senator Betsy Johnson’s independent entry into the 2022 Oregon governor’s race concerns whether she might be a spoiler for the Democrats or maybe herself a winner of the race. In evaluating that, the question to ask will be: How persuasive is she? Start with the prospect that the […]