insider baseball
BY TONY CORCORAN
Fluoride,
Anyone?
Pondering the ballot on the
kitchen table
I
don’t buy the media analysis that Democrats are
suffering from voter “fatigue” this election cycle,
meaning the Republicans are going to win big. Sure,
there are progressives who wish Obama had negotiated
from a stronger position on health care, for example. Or
that the U.S. Senate should have called the Republicans’
bluff on fi libusters and bargained a better deal. But that
doesn’t mean Oregon Democrats are going to roll over
when you consider the implications of some of our races.
There is clearly a strong stench of anti-incumbency out
there, but Democrats haven’t forgotten who created the
collapse of Wall Street and our plummeting economy.
Dubya inherited a balanced federal budget from Clinton,
started two wars and drove the national defi cit up
rapidly. And Obama and the Democrats inherited this
mess.
Democrats understand how much is at stake this
election. And Republicans are just so damn cute; just
look at some of the tea-bagger wannabees they’ve
thrown to the wolves this election cycle.
Chris Dudley faces off with John Kitzhaber. John
is the former Oregon Senate president and two-term
governor who successfully implemented the Oregon
Health Plan and the Salmon Plan, despite a Republican
majority in both chambers of the Legislature the
entire time he was governor. Chris Dudley has never
voted and lived in Washington to avoid Oregon taxes
when he played in the NBA (shooting a record low 62
percent of his free throws). When he fi nally did move to
Oregon, he had his 4,500 sq. ft. house burned down for
a $350,000 tax break, then built a 9,000
sq. ft. house on top of it. His handlers
artfully limited his debates with
John to one, for obvious reasons —
Dudley simply regurgitates Bush
tax cuts and Tea Party values.
Then there’s Art Robinson.
The two astronauts who
endorsed him never reveal
what planet they found him
on. R-G reporter Susan Palmer
should win an award for best
understated neologism of this
political season for describing
Peter DeFazio’s opponent as
having “fairly nonmainstream
views.” No kidding!
Art believes we should sprinkle
radioactive wastewater into our
oceans and our local water supply
and that “no health or environmental
risks would ever occur.” And I thought the
fl uoride controversy was dicey! Where’s the John
Birch Society when we need them?
Art believes that oil company profi ts in 2005 of
$113 billion were “quite reasonable.” Really, Art? $113
billion?
Just 18 months ago, he said, “I think public schools
should be abolished.” Just 10 months ago, he said,
“Incarceration of a child in today’s American public
schools is — I’m sorry to say — child abuse.” Neither
of these quotes is taken out of context, and both are
consistent with a review of 15 years of Robinson’s view
of public education, both in writing and speaking.
I think Palmer, a relatively new political journalist,
could safely say Art’s views are “fairly nonmidstream”
without being accused of a left-wing liberal media
bias. In my 10 years in the Oregon Legislature and
my 30 years in Oregon politics, I have never heard of
such bizarre notions. Art’s ideas on race and religion,
specifi cally on blacks and Muslims, are
equally incredibly misinformed.
There’s a reason Peter DeFazio has
been our congressman since 1986:
He’s an honorable, intelligent,
hard-working man. He has been
a role model to a generation
of locally elected Democrats.
Robinson, on the other hand,
is sort of nonmainstream.
And
fi nally
there’s
Marilyn Kittelman, running
against Sen. Floyd Prozanski.
Even NW Republican, a
respected
conservative
Oregon
Republican
blog,
called Kittelman a “race-baiting
Republican” with strong ties to
One Nation United, an out-of-state
racist organization. She harassed
the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua
tribe so severely over their attempts to
place tribal lands into federal trust that members
of the Republican Party tried to have her recalled
from the Douglas County Commission. As a county
commissioner, Kittelman unilaterally tried to force the
county museum to get rid of a statue of Hebe, a Greek
goddess of youth, because Kittelman believed the
statue was anti-Christian. A subsequent lawsuit cost
the taxpayers of Douglas County nearly $700,000
in legal and investigative fees. The museum director
eventually won her lawsuit and a huge settlement.
So, Democrats and progressives: Just vote, dammit,
as my friend Dan Carol would say. Peter needs your
help, John needs your help. (I think Floyd’s fi ne.) God
save us from Art Robinson, Marilyn Kittelman and the
Dud!
Tony Corcoran is a member and co-founder of the Hot Air Society of South
Lane, Eugene, and Springfield (HASSLES). The views expressed herein are
those of a private citizen of Oregon.
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EUGENE WEEKLY OCTOBER 21, 2010
9