Head of
State
GOV. KATE BROWN SPENDS A DAY IN EUGENE
MEETING WITH STUDENTS, TEACHERS
AND REPORTERS
by Corinne Boyer
O
n a Tuesday morning, Jan. 16,
students, teachers and a few state
legislators mingled in Eugene’s
Winston Churchill High School
auditorium. A couple of cameras
lined the front rows, and soon
everyone began looking toward
the auditorium door.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown walked down the aisle
stopping to shake hands and say hello to the crowd. The
overhead lights faded as the Churchill High School band
— seated on stage — played the national anthem.
As Eugene Weekly’s legislative reporter, I was there to
cover Brown for the day and get a sense of the governor
and what she was thinking about heading into election
season. Brown was visiting Churchill High as part of her
State of the State tour. Later she would visit the University
of Oregon and we would sit down for a one-on-one
interview. Issues that Brown would address throughout the
day include immigration, homelessness, LGBTQ equality,
the rise of white nationalism and discrimination against
people of color and public records laws.
“Good morning, everyone,” Brown said when she took
the Churchill stage. “I was here a year ago.” She asked to
see the number of hands of students in technical education
programs, and began telling the story of her paternal
grandmother.
“My grams was a nurse,” Brown said, explaining that
her grandfather was a doctor who struggled with drug
addiction. “But my grams worked really hard. She taught
the boys that the key to a better life is education, education,
education.”
Her dad was one of four boys, she said, and he, along
with two of his brothers, became doctors. “Because my dad
worked hard,” Brown continued, “I never worried about
food or the heat being shut off.” Her parents taught her that
she could do anything. “Eighty-five years ago, my grams
put us on a path.”
Though she grew up in an economically stable household
in Minnesota, Brown said she understands that thousands
of Oregonians are struggling. “It was once thought that if
you played by the rules, you could get ahead,” she said.
It’s critical that every student graduates from high school,
she added, emphasizing that Oregon has one of the lowest
graduation rates in the country.
“One in four students doesn’t graduate,” she told the
crowd.
Brown wants the graduation rate to be at 90 percent
by 2025. “Will you help me with that goal?” she asked
enthusiastically of the assembled students.
Brown gave a nod to state Rep. Julie Fahey and Sen.
James Manning for helping secure Career and Technical
Education programs in public schools. “Do you enjoy
your hands-on learning opportunities?” Brown asked. The
high school students cheered and clapped. CTE programs
connect students directly to the workforce and provide
training for jobs in the IT and natural resources fields,
Brown explained.
“Now I want to hear from you about what you want and
what you need to succeed,” she said as she stepped down
from the stage and into the aisles.
Brown was impassioned when telling her family story.
I’ve reported on Brown when she has visited schools and
appeared at events in Eugene. She takes time to meet with
the press. She stops and shakes hands with people who
want to speak with her. She sits in classes with students.
She listens when people ask questions, even when her
staff is reminding her that her next scheduled event is
approaching.
With Brown’s appearance structured like a town hall
meeting, the Churchill High students came prepared and
began asking tough questions about the cost of college, the
environment and homelessness.
One student asked Brown about her plan for homeless
families. “I was homeless for three years,” the student said.
Brown thanked the student for sharing a personal story.
“We have 22,000 students who don’t have a place to call
home,” she said, adding that more can be done to provide
families with rental assistance and affordable housing.
“Every child should have a warm, dry place to call home.”
After the assembly, a circle of students congregated
around Brown, waiting to speak to her. The governor
listened as some asked questions about their safety as
LGBTQ students.
“I’m the only elected bisexual governor in the country,”
Brown said, reiterating the importance that LGBTQ
students feel safe.
Another student approached Brown and said, “I’m a
queer young woman who wants to run for office.” The
student told Brown that she is an inspiration to her, and
applauded her for all that she is doing as governor.
Kate Brown is the 38th governor of Oregon and the
second woman to hold the state’s highest elected office. As
the former secretary of state, Brown was appointed to the
office after former Gov. John Kitzhaber resigned in 2015.
She ran for a two-year term in 2016 and is running for a
full term in November.
Rep. Knute Buehler, a Republican representing Bend,
is running against Brown in the 2018 gubernatorial race.
BROWN SAID HER MULTI-APPOINTMENT DAY IS NOT
ATYPICAL . She loves meeting with people, especially
students and small business owners. She received an early
endorsement from the League of Conservation Voters, a
non-partisan group that tracks environmental legislation
and actions. They named Brown their 2017 “Environmental
Champion of the Year” recipient and endorsed her last year
for the 2018 election.
After lunch, I caught up with Brown and her
communications staff at the University of Oregon’s School
of Journalism and Communications. Brown attended
professor Brent Walth’s investigative reporting class.
Walth, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, was recently
appointed to the Oregon Sunshine Committee, a public
records review board. He outlined Brown’s 25-year career,
noting that the governor has made the biggest improvements
in transparency and public records law since 1973.
Brown was seated at the head of the table in a class of
more than a dozen students. She started by telling the class
that she went to law school because she wanted tools to
achieve justice.
But just after finishing law school, she said she
experienced “a wakeup call.” Brown said she discovered
she “was being paid less than a male coworker. I was in a
relationship with a woman at the time and scared I’d lose
my job.”
She became an advocate for Planned Parenthood in the
1991 legislative session — Brown called the organization
a radical women’s rights group and then joked that the
class should have corrected her knowing that Planned
Parenthood is not a radical activist group.
The first time she ran for the state Legislature in 1992,
Brown was outspent two to one.
Brown won that election by seven votes, and she said
people still approach her today saying they were one of
that seven. “For me, that was a life lesson — that every
single vote is a voice,” she said.
Brown said she’s worked on issues including child
support, women’s health and domestic violence issues, as
well as making sure that LGBTQ issues were being heard.
eugeneweekly.com • January 25, 2018
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