3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2016
Port puts off talk of leaving CREST
Task force has
come under
fire over dam
removal project
By EDWARD
STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Pamplin Media Group
Secretary of State candidate Dennis Richardson. Accord-
ing to the latest DHM poll, Richardson leads Avakian by a
margin of 32 percent to 27 percent.
Poll: Measure 97
losing support,
Richardson gaining
Corporate sales
tax slipping
By JIM REDDEN
Capital Bureau
A corporate sales tax mea-
sure is continuing to lose sup-
port as Tuesday’s election
approaches, according to a
new poll commissioned by
FOX-12.
The poll also shows Kate
Brown is on track to be elected
Oregon governor, so the likely
defeat of the Measure 97 cor-
porate tax increase means
she’ll face a big state budget
deficit next year.
The poll, conducted by
Portland’s DHM Research,
shows that 53 percent of voters
oppose Measure 97, while just
40 percent now support it. The
level of support had been as
high as 60 percent in a DHM
poll conducted in September,
but it had declined to 45 per-
cent by early October.
Measure 97 would impose
a 2.5 percent tax on corpora-
tions with more than $25 mil-
lion a year in Oregon sales.
It would raise $6 billion per
biennial budget cycle. Oregon
is facing a $1.4 billion deficit
in the next two-year budget.
The fight over the corporate
sale tax measure already has
broken state campaign spend-
ing records. With a week to go
before Election Day, support-
ers had reported raising over
$13 million this year, mostly
from public employee unions.
Opponents had raised over $25
million, primarily from corpo-
rations. The fundraising record
was previously set during the
fight over GMO labeling in
2014, when opponents and
proponents raised a combined
$29 million.
In another closely watched
race, the poll shows Repub-
lican Dennis Richardson has
an opportunity to break the
streak of Democratic domi-
nance in statewide elections
dating back to 2002 by defeat-
ing Brad Avakian for secretary
of state.
According to the poll,
Richardson leads Avakian by a
margin of 32 percent to 27 per-
cent. Richardson is favored by
nonaffiliated voters by a mar-
gin of 30 percent to 22 per-
cent. He also has slightly more
support from Democrats than
Avakian has from Republicans
— 12 percent to 9 percent.
More than 40 percent of voters
are still undecided, however,
meaning the final vote could
go either way.
In a more predictable result,
the poll shows Brown, a Dem-
ocrat, with a 9-point lead over
Republican Bud Pierce in the
governor’s race. No Republi-
can has been elected governor
in Oregon since Vic Atiyeh in
1982.
The winner will serve out
the remaining two years of
former Gov. John Kitzhaber’s
term. He resigned amid an
ethics scandal in February
2015, and Brown, who was
then secretary of state, suc-
ceeded him.
Likewise, the poll shows
Democrat Hillary Clinton in
a strong position to defeat
Republican Donald Trump
in Oregon. In the presiden-
tial race, Clinton is leading
Trump by a margin of 41 per-
cent to 34 percent, the poll
found. Clinton’s 7-point lead is
smaller than President Barack
Obama’s 12-point victory in
2012 and 16-point victory in
2008.
The poll found 72 percent
of Democrats plan to vote for
Clinton, compared with 65 per-
cent of Republicans who plan
to vote for Trump. Eleven per-
cent of voters are undecided
and 3 percent may skip the race.
The poll of 504 Oregon
voters was conducted from
Oct. 25 through Saturday. It
has a margin of error of plus or
minus 4.4 percentage points.
To see more detailed find-
ings, visit http://tinyurl.com/
hfc3kl3.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
The Port of Astoria Com-
mission voted unanimously
on Tuesday to table discus-
sion on the agency’s mem-
bership in the Columbia
River Estuary Study Task-
force — after commission-
ers had opined on the group.
Commissioner
Bill
Hunsinger, who had called
for the discussion Tues-
day, said not all commis-
sioners had a chance to
review materials handed
out by Warrenton business-
man Pat O’Grady at the last
meeting.
O’Grady, who has railed
against CREST at Port and
Warrenton City Commis-
sion meetings, handed out
materials regarding CREST,
including a report into the
recently scrapped Eighth
Street Dam removal project.
The report, requested by the
Warrenton City Commis-
sion and performed by Port-
land attorney Akin Blitz,
was critical of the plan by
CREST and the Skipanon
Water Control District to
remove the dam as obsolete.
Hunsinger also accused
Jim Knight, the Port’s exec-
utive director, of campaign-
ing on behalf of CREST,
because of recent com-
ments Knight made in The
Daily Astorian. Knight said
CREST is rarely used by the
Port, but has provided qual-
ity work.
CREST has come under
heat from commission-
ers Hunsinger and Stephen
Fulton for perceived issues
with the group’s work on
habitat restoration projects
at the Astoria Regional Air-
port and in Warrenton. Ful-
ton has served on CREST’s
board and works for War-
renton Fiber, a vocal oppo-
nent of the dam removal
project on the Skipanon
River. He has been removed
from CREST’s board and
accused by its chairman
— Scott Lee, who is also
the chairman of the Clat-
sop County Board of Com-
missioners — of serving the
interests of his employer in
a campaign against the task
force.
Before voting unani-
mously to table discussion
on the Port’s membership
in CREST, Port commis-
sioners spoke about its per-
ceived issues.
“It would seem to me
that we have an agency run-
ning on real loose reins,”
said Commissioner James
Campbell.
Campbell said an organi-
zation with a $5 million bud-
get should have a board that
meets more than four times
a year and is more involved
in directing the organiza-
tion. He said the organiza-
tion seems to do some good,
providing technical assis-
tance the Port doesn’t have
the staff to cover.
Fulton said he agrees
with Campbell that four
‘It would seem to me that
we have an agency running
on real loose reins.’
James Campbell
Port commissioner
board meetings a year are not
enough, and with Hunsinger
that all Port commissioners
should read O’Grady’s mate-
rials. Fulton said the Port
needs to let the facts come out
before making any decision.
“I don’t support CREST
any more than anyone else,”
said Port Commission Chair-
man Robert Mushen, the
agency’s representative on the
CREST board. “But I think
resigning from CREST is the
wrong way to solve it.”
Mushen agreed with
Campbell, saying the Port,
as a member of the CREST
board, needs to help hold the
organization’s feet to the fire
on transparency.
In other news from Tues-
day’s meeting:
• The Port Commission
approved a license agreement
to allow the U.S. Coast Guard
to repair the taxiway its heli-
copters use at the airport. The
Coast Guard, which leases
space for Air Station Asto-
ria from the Port, needed a
license agreement in order to
spend federal money improv-
ing Port property.
• The Port Commis-
sion approved a contract for
pre-dredging sediment analy-
sis at the West End Mooring
Basin. The marina has long
faced shoaling, with some
boats bottoming out and tip-
ping over during low tides.
When asked by Hunsinger
what CREST has done for the
Port, Knight said the group
prepared the sediment anal-
ysis plan in preparation to
award a contract for sampling.
CREST was going to oversee
sampling, Knight said, but the
Port saved $5,000 by going
with Advanced Remediation
Technologies, Inc., out of
Canby.
HEALING OREGON with
KINDNESS and COMPASSION
STATE REPRESENTATIVE
• Enhance education
• Create jobs
• Increase
government
accountability
• Improve healthcare
“I am running for
House District
32 to bring new
ideas to the state
and bring forth
the kindness and
compassion my
constituents feel
is needed to solve
problems.”
- Dr. Bobek
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