OREGON
A8 — THE OBSERVER
STATE BRIEFS
Oregon agriculture
director nominated
to serve in USDA
SALEM — Alexis
Taylor, Oregon’s Agricul-
ture Department director,
has been nominated by the
Biden White House to serve
in the U.S. Department of
Agriculture.
An announcement by the
White House of nine nom-
inees said Taylor had been
appointed to serve as under
secretary for trade and for-
eign agricultural aff airs in
the department.
Since 2016, Taylor had
led Oregon’s Agriculture
Department, a job that
includes promoting the
state’s wide array of food
and nursery products and
regulating the $50 billion
industry. The state pro-
duces more than 220 agri-
cultural products, spanning
cattle, grass seed, cherries,
hazelnuts and wine, and has
37,000 farms across 16 mil-
lion acres.
The department declined
to provide her age or com-
ment on the appointment.
It said she makes about
$15,000 a month.
The Oregon Farm
Bureau congratulated
Taylor as well, saying it was
thrilled she won such a crit-
ical position in the USDA.
“Her decades of trade
experience, strong lead-
ership and steady hand
will be an asset to the
Biden administration as
they attempt to improve
domestic food security and
prevent food shortages,”
Dave Dillon, executive vice
president, said in a state-
ment. “We know she will
bring her knowledge and
love of Oregon agriculture
with her in this new role,
and we can’t wait to see
what she can accomplish.”
Taylor will have to be
confi rmed by the Senate.
Federal prison
escapee arrested
PORTLAND — A
38-year-old fugitive who
escaped an Oregon federal
prison camp in April has
been captured in Nevada,
according to U.S. Marshals.
Andrew Cain Kris-
tovich had been staying
in a tent in Carson City,
Nevada, where offi cials also
found a semi-automatic
rifl e, KOIN-TV reported on
Friday, May 13.
Authorities said Kris-
tovich escaped from the
Federal Correctional Institu-
tion, Sheridan, on April 25
after hiding in bushes and
crawling through a prison
fence where he was picked
up by his ex-girlfriend.
According to court doc-
uments, Kristovich was
originally arrested by fed-
eral agents in 2018 on gun
charges and a conspiracy
to distribute fentanyl-laced
imitation oxycodone pills.
Remains found
in missing man’s
submerged car
PORTLAND — Nearly
a year after the former
mayor of Cornelius went
missing, authorities say the
man’s car has been found at
the bottom of a river with
human remains inside.
The vehicle belonging to
77-year-old Ralph Brown
was found Friday, May
13, by a dive crew 40 feet
below the surface of the
Willamette River in New-
berg, according to the
Washington County Sher-
iff ’s Offi ce. The human
remains in the car have not
yet been identifi ed.
Brown was last seen
leaving his Cornelius home
in a Blue Nissan Sentra on
May 16, 2021. Cellphone
records indicated that he
drove in circles for four hours
within a 30-mile radius from
home before he disappeared,
KOIN-TV reported.
One of Brown’s adult
children was able to reach
him on the phone the night
he went missing but said he
sounded confused and was
unable to describe where he
was. Brown was diagnosed
with Alzheimer’s a year
before he went missing.
— Oregon Capital Chronicle and
The Associated Press
TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2022
GOP looks to end 35-year losing streak
By SARA CLINE
Associated Press/
Report for America
SALEM — It’s been
35 years since there
was a GOP governor
in Oregon, but political
experts say this year the
party has a rare opportu-
nity to possibly win the
state’s highest elected
position.
Oregonians are frus-
trated with the state of
the state under Demo-
cratic leadership, and
there’s the possibility of
a split in votes among
the majority party as
unaffi liated candidate
Betsy Johnson makes
a gubernatorial run
and the absence of an
incumbent this election
as Gov. Kate Brown is
term-limited.
“I think this is the
best shot they’ve had
in quite a few years,”
Christopher McKnight
Nichols, an associate
professor of history at
Oregon State University,
said of the GOP party’s
chances. “The clear logic
is that if you’ve got a
strong independent, and
if they can pull enough
Democrats, and you can
hold enough Republi-
cans in an election that
requires a plurality,
you may well be able to
squeak it out.”
In a time when many
Oregonians are crit-
ical of the handling of
the pandemic, homeless
crisis, lack of aff ordable
housing, increasing gun
Craig Mitchelldyer/The Associated Press, File
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown talks with media after announcing the end
of the state’s COVID-19 restrictions in Portland on Wednesday, June
30, 2021. Brown has historically low approval ratings, which could
play a factor in the 2022 gubernatorial race.
violence and growing urban
and rural divide, Repub-
lican candidates say Dem-
ocrats — who control the
House, Senate and gover-
nor’s seat — are to blame.
“Oregon cannot sur-
vive another four years
of this,” Republican can-
didate Christine Drazan
said during her gubernato-
rial run announcement in
January.
Brown has historically
low approval ratings, which
could play a factor in this
gubernatorial race. Nichols
believes if Democratic
front runners — former
Oregon House Speaker Tina
Kotek and state Treasurer
Tobias Read — are linked
to Brown, it could result in
a scenario “where there’s
just enough chipping away
at the strongest Democrat
in the race to make it quite
competitive.”
While Oregon is recog-
nized as a blue state, known
for the liberal city of Port-
land, some political experts trenches,” Drazan said in
say there is also a purple
January. “My experience
makes me uniquely qualifi ed
hue — with conservative
to stand up for you and bring
rural swaths and unaffi li-
change to our state.”
ated voters.
Bob Tiernan, a
The GOP front-
lawyer and corpo-
runner among 19
rate consultant who
candidates in the
served in the Legisla-
party primary is
ture in the 1990s and
former Oregon
chaired the Oregon
House Republican
Republican Party,
Drazan
leader Drazan. The
has also stood out
Canby lawmaker
among other can-
was fi rst elected in
didates. The Lake
2018 and became
Oswego resident has
the minority leader
touted his experi-
the following year.
ence in both govern-
Drazan has received
ment and the private
support from her
sector.
Tiernan
former colleagues,
“Being governor
with more than three-
requires being the Chief
fourths of Oregon’s Repub-
Executive over multi-bil-
lican state representatives
lion-dollar bureaucracies
endorsing her.
with tens of thousands of
Drazan has leaned on
employees,” Tiernan said,
her experience in the Leg-
as he kicked off his cam-
islature, noting that she
paign in February.
has faced off against Gov.
“My professional back-
Brown and 2022 Demo-
ground includes man-
cratic candidate for gov-
aging large multi-billion-
ernor Tina Kotek, at times
dollar and million-dollar
leading GOP walkouts to
retailers with thousands of
block progressive bills.
employees.”
“I have been in the
Charles & Eileen
Stewart
10304 A 1st St.
Island City, OR
cstewartpc@gmail.com
541.910.5435
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