Opinion
A4
Tuesday, May 31, 2022
OUR VIEW
Tell Elgin
residents real
cost for police
department
lgin city oﬃ cials must be sure they are on
the right track before they discard a con-
tract to provide law enforcement services
from the Union County Sheriﬀ ’s Oﬃ ce.
In short, Elgin’s elected leaders need to be sure
they have all their ducks in a row.
The Elgin City Council voted earlier this month
not to renew its contract with the Union County
Sheriﬀ ’s Oﬃ ce and to create its own police force.
Elgin disbanded its police department about 10
years ago.
Now, the city receives 420 hours of dedicated
service from the sheriﬀ ’s oﬃ ce every month. The
city also pays $343,000 per year to the sheriﬀ ’s
oﬃ ce for the coverage.
Union County Sheriﬀ Cody Bowen has oﬀ ered
a three-year deal to the city. Under that pact, Elgin
will pay about $348,000 in the 2022-2023 budget
year, $358,000 the next year and $368,000 the year
after that.
Clearly the costs from the sheriﬀ ’s oﬃ ce for law
enforcement coverage will go up at a steady pace.
That should be, if it wasn’t already, a crucial factor
to consider by Elgin oﬃ cials.
Yet, there are other questions Elgin taxpayers
should ask.
For example, what will be the cost for Elgin to
stand up its own police force? How much will the
initial start-up cost — the purchase of uniforms
and equipment — be? Over a ﬁ ve-year period, how
much would a separate, stand-alone Elgin police
force cost? Will the cost be more than the price of
coverage from the sheriﬀ ’s oﬃ ce?
Elgin city oﬃ cials pointed to what is — essen-
tially — a technical reason to move on to a separate
force. State regulations, oﬃ cials say, prevent the
sheriﬀ ’s oﬃ ce from enforcing city ordinances.
For example, a sheriﬀ ’s deputy, oﬃ cials say,
can’t enforce a city ordinance on such cases as the
use of motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles in town.
Bowen countered that assertion and said while
deputies can’t cite people on charges of violating
city ordinances, deputies do often enforce ordi-
nance violations indirectly as an individual vio-
lating a city ordinance is often also violating state
law.
Yet, taxpayers should be focused really on one
item — cost.
If the cost of standing up a new police depart-
ment and then ﬁ nancing it pencils out more than
what the sheriﬀ ’s oﬃ ce coverage costs, then the
decision for taxpayers — who foots the bill no
matter what — is an easy one.
Voters need to see those numbers and then give
feedback to their elected representatives.
E
EDITORIALS
Unsigned editorials are the
opinion of The Observer editorial
board. Other columns, letters and
cartoons on this page express the
opinions of the authors and not
necessarily that of The Observer.
LETTERS
• The Observer welcomes letters
to the editor. We edit letters for
brevity, grammar, taste and legal
reasons. We will not publish con-
sumer complaints against busi-
nesses, personal attacks against
private individuals or comments
that can incite violence. We also
discourage thank-you letters.
• Letters should be no longer than
350 words and must be signed and
carry the author’s name, address
and phone number (for veriﬁ -
cation only). We will not publish
anonymous letters.
• Letter writers are limited to one
letter every two weeks.
• Longer community comment
columns, such as Other Views,
must be no more than 700 words.
Writers must provide a recent
headshot and a one-sentence
biography. Like letters to the
editor, columns must refrain from
complaints against businesses or
personal attacks against private
individuals. Submissions must
carry the author’s name, address
and phone number.
• Submission does not guarantee
publication, which is at the discre-
tion of the editor.
SEND LETTERS TO:
letters@lagrandeobserver.com
or via mail to Editor, 911 Jeﬀ erson
Ave., La Grande, OR 97850
Race reveals lack of Republican cohesion
RANDY
STAPILUS
OTHER VIEWS
ith 19 distinctive — not to
say sometimes colorful —
candidates for governor,
Oregon Republicans should have
told us something about themselves
by their choices in the just-ended
primary election.
They did: They are split. Many
seem driven by abortion or other cul-
ture issues, some are powerfully drawn
by regional preferences, but a plurality
just want to win in November.
No single overriding motivation
appeared to apply overwhelmingly to
Oregon Republican voters.
Former legislator (and House
Republican caucus chair) Christine
Drazan was the clear winner from
early on, and she won a majority of
Oregon’s counties. She led (decisively)
in the three Portland metro counties,
and her four best counties (in order —
Wallowa, Curry, Klamath and Benton)
were widely scattered across the state.
Her win cannot be called narrow.
What drew Republican voters to her?
Likely not the media endorse-
ments (her website’s endorsement
page didn’t even link to them). But
she was endorsed by a slew of Repub-
lican elected oﬃ cials and a number of
GOP-leaning organizations. She had
an extensive county organization, and
it seems fair to say she was the closest
thing to an (informal) candidate of the
statewide Republican organization.
That helps a lot. And she was artic-
ulate and likable.
W
Careful messaging
She did not emphasize hard-edged
messages. Her website’s tag lines
called out “lower taxes, safer neighbor-
hoods, brighter future, better schools”
— something Democrat Tina Kotek
could use as easily (maybe with some
tweaking of the ﬁ rst one). She did oﬀ er
some speciﬁ c policy proposals, but she
was not among the candidates with
quotable lines on abortion, stolen elec-
tions and similar subjects.
Was this the candidate considered
by voters as best equipped to fare well
in November? Probably that was part
of it.
Remember though that she received
just 22.7% of the Republican primary
vote, a support level that looks better
only in the context of her 19-person
ﬁ eld. Her nearest competitor, former
state Republican Chair Bob Tiernan,
was not terribly far behind with 17.8%.
Seven candidates received more than
5% of the vote.
If there’s another contender who
might logically be called a Republican
establishment candidate — because
of service in elected oﬃ ce and as
chair of the state party — that would
be Tiernan, who won six counties —
Clatsop, Coos, Columbia, Douglas,
Lane, and Tillamook. His second-place
vote actually may owe to some of the
same factors as Drazan’s.
Candidates who lost past major
races, like Bud Pierce and Bill Size-
more, underperformed.
So, there’s a good chance elect-
ability was heavily on the minds of
close to half of the Republican elec-
torate, maybe reﬂ ecting both desire to
win and a sense that 2022 might not be
a good Democratic year.
But that still leaves a majority of the
Republican primary voters apparently
signaling other concerns.
What powered Sandy Mayor Stan
Pulliam to a third-place showing with
10.4% of the vote? There are a few
possibilities, but a good bet might
be abortion, high proﬁ le during the
voting period. Though not endorsed
by Oregon Right to Life, Pulliam got
attention for the edgiest abortion por-
tion stance in the campaign, criticizing
his competitors as being wimps on
SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
Subscription rates:
Monthly Autopay ...............................$10.75
13 weeks.................................................$37.00
26 weeks.................................................$71.00
52 weeks ..............................................$135.00
Anti-masker ﬁ zzles
That seems a little bigger than
the climate change and anti-masking
approach of Marc Thielman, the former
Alsea school superintendent who won
a straw poll at the Dorchester event. He
had backers statewide — he had more
than a few signs in Eastern Oregon —
but still managed just 7.8% of the vote.
If you’re looking for a candidate
testing the salience of rural and anti-
metro appeal, look at Baker City
Mayor Kerry McQuisten. She won
seven counties, more than anyone but
Drazen, carrying most of the land area
of Eastern Oregon with Baker, Grant,
Harney, Malheur, Sherman, Union and
Wheeler counties. No candidate got a
higher percentage in any single county
than McQuisten did in Grant (44.6%).
Of course, relatively few voters
live in those counties, and McQuisten
wound up just sixth in the results. But
she left a stronger marker of the east-
west and urban-rural gap in the state.
Some messages seemed not to catch
on. Nick Hess, who pressed for a tra-
ditional conservative style (and was
nearly alone in the ﬁ eld to do so), got
only 1.1% of the vote.
And if there had been more “elect-
able” candidates and fewer “message”
candidates? This primary could easily
have seen diﬀ erent results. The insta-
bility of the parties — Democrats too
but especially the Republicans, even in
a time of polarization — may be one
of the primary lessons of this year’s
Oregon primary.
█
Randy Stapilus has researched and written
about Northwest politics and issues since
1976 for a long list of newspapers and other
publications.
STAFF
SUBSCRIBEAND SAVE
NEWSSTAND PRICE: $1.50
You can save up to 55% oﬀ the single-copy
price with home delivery.
Call 800-781-3214 to subscribe.
the subject and saying without qualiﬁ -
cation he would as governor sign any
“pro-life piece of legislation.”
Votes for him may be a reasonable
measure of the abortion-driven seg-
ment of the Republican vote.
Anindependent newspaper foundedin1896
www.lagrandeobserver.com
Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, Oregon 97801
Published Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays
(except postal holidays) by EO Media Group,
911 Jeﬀerson Ave., La Grande, OR 97850
(USPS 299-260)
The Observer retains ownership and copyright
protection of all staﬀ-prepared news copy, advertising
copy, photos and news or ad illustrations. They may
not be reproduced without explicit prior approval.
COPYRIGHT © 2022
Phone:
541-963-3161
Regional publisher ....................... Karrine Brogoitti
Home delivery adviser.......... Amanda Turkington
Interim editor ....................................Andrew Cutler
Advertising representative ..................... Kelli Craft
News clerk ........................................Lisa Lester Kelly
Advertising representative .................... Amy Horn
Reporter....................................................Dick Mason
National accounts coordinator ...... Devi Mathson
Reporter...........................................Isabella Crowley
Graphic design .................................. Dorothy Kautz
Toll free (Oregon):
1-800-781-3214
Email:
news@lagrandeobserver.com
POSTMASTER
Send address changes to:
The Observer,
911 Jeﬀerson Ave.,
La Grande, OR 97850
A division of