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THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, JANuARy 8, 2022
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
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GUEST COLUMN
Where Kristof voted shouldn’t matter
I
am surprised that state election offi-
cials rejected former New York
Times columnist Nicholas Kristof’s
candidacy for Oregon governor largely
because he registered to vote in the state
where that newspaper is published.
I personally know that an Oregon
court already has ruled that where a can-
didate votes does not determine what
they consider home. I
don’t know that because
I covered some trial
as a reporter. I know it
because I testified as a
witness in support of the
winning candidate, my
friend and University of
JIM
Oregon classmate Bill
REDDEN
Wyatt, 47 years ago.
Kristof was raised
in Yamhill and owns his family’s farm
there. He filed for the 2022 gover-
nor’s race as a Democrat in Decem-
ber. The Oregon Constitution requires
that candidates for governor be a resi-
dent of the state for three years before
the election. Kristof maintains that he
has always considered Oregon his home,
even though he moved out of the state
for college and employment, and regis-
tered to vote in New York while work-
ing there. Kristof said that he has repeat-
edly returned to the farm over the years
and invested in it.
Kristof voted in New York during the
2020 election.
The Oregon Elections Division and
Secretary of State Shemia Fagan ruled
against Kristof’s candidacy on Thursday.
“The rules are the rules and they
apply equally to all candidates for office
in Oregon. I stand by the determination
of the experts in the Oregon Elections
Division that Mr. Kristof does not cur-
rently meet the constitutional require-
ments to run or serve as Oregon gover-
nor,” Fagan said in a news release. “As
Oregon’s chief elections official, it is
my responsibility to make sure all can-
didates on the statewide ballot are quali-
fied to serve if elected.”
During the follow-up press confer-
ence, Fagan repeatedly stressed the
importance of Kristof registering and
voting in New York. Kristof intends to
appeal.
But the question about voting and
residency was resolved a different way
in 1974 during a trial in the Marion
County Circuit Court.
Wyatt is best known as the former
director of the Port of Portland. But at
that time, he was an Oregon state repre-
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Big believer
I
’m a new subscriber, and I just love your
paper. I’m a big believer in the idea that
our decline in civility is directly connected
to our decline in newspapers.
I’m glad to see someone swimming
against the current. I think your journalism
is first-rate.
JAMES HEFFERNAN
Tillamook
Missing
H
aving conversations with friends,
many who work in the K-12 school
system, has given me clarity as to why our
country is going to hell in a handbasket:
Parenting, or should I say, the lack of it.
Being a parent is the most rewarding
endeavor humans can achieve. It’s also
the most difficult. All of our own charac-
ter traits, good and bad, are put on pub-
lic display. Our schools have become more
like a child watching and parenting service
than a place for education of the three R’s.
It’s almost a 180-degree reversal of how
the school system was just 30 years ago,
according to a few of my friends.
The charade of entitlement is now being
thrown in the faces of teachers and admin-
istrators alike by 7-year-old children. With
no way of implementing any form of dis-
cipline without fear of retribution, it’s no
wonder why most of these educators are
thinking of a career change.
Not too many years ago, I received
death threats against my family, not me,
after a few different local football games
as a referee. I thought sports were for fun?
So imagine how difficult it is to deal with
that mentality coming from parents to your
eighth grade English teacher, who gave
out extra homework on a holiday week-
end. Not to be mean, but to give the child
an opportunity to catch up on assignments
missed. That action is now taken as a per-
sonal insult by that child’s parent.
Is respect of any kind to be found?
TROY HASKELL
Astoria
State elections officials have ruled that Nicholas Kristof is ineligible to run in the
Democratic primary for governor.
sentative from House District 2 on the
North Coast. He had won the Democrat
primary nomination in the May primary
election and had been appointed to fill
the vacancy created when the incumbent
retired before the general election.
I have not yet tracked down the court
records and they may no longer exist.
But the case was documented at the
time in a series of articles in The Orego-
nian that I have obtained. They started
on Oct. 2 of that year with a report that
then-Attorney General Lee Johnson had
asked Wyatt to verify his residency in
the district. The request was made after
a resident filed a complaint that said
Wyatt had not lived in the district for
the year required of legislative candi-
dates because he has moved to Eugene
Commentary
A
ndrea
McDermed, the
owner of Gizmo’s
Arcade & Eatery on
Commercial Street,
submitted a cartoon
as commentary about
how she feels about
the downtown area
near her business.
to attend the U of O in 1971. The arti-
cle said Johnson’s office had determined
Wyatt registered to vote in Lane County
that year, had voted in Eugene in 1972,
and had not reregistered to vote in the
district until April 1973.
Wyatt did not dispute that he had reg-
istered to vote in Lane County, but said
he always considered his home to be in
the district. His family had maintained a
residence there while he was at college.
Johnson advised then-Secretary of State
Clay Myers to remove his name from
the ballot anyway. Wyatt quickly filed
suit in Marion County Circuit Court to
restore his name to the ballot.
At the time, I was working for the
state Senate Democrat Majority Office at
the Oregon Legislature. Because Wyatt
and I had been at the U of O at the same
time, someone asked me whether I’d
voted in Lane County and if I consid-
ered Eugene my home then. I said that,
although I voted in Eugene, I considered
Medford my home, because that’s where
I was raised, where my family lived and
where I returned during school breaks.
So since Wyatt and I agreed, I volun-
teered to testify in his support during his
trial.
I had no problem testifying that I
considered Medford my home, even
though I voted in Eugene. The deputy
Oregon attorney general representing the
state asked if I didn’t understand that, by
signing the voter registration card, I had
sworn an oath that I lived in Eugene.
I think I replied that I hadn’t read it,
which prompted laughter in the court-
room, much to my chagrin.
Despite my ignorance of the alleged
seriousness of voter registration cards,
Marion County Circuit Judge Jena
Schlegel ruled in Wyatt’s favor and
ordered his name restored to the ballot.
She determined the question of domi-
cile is largely one of intent, according to
an Oct. 26, 1974, Oregonian story on the
ruling.
“Continuous physical presence
(within the district) is not required, she
said. If it were, no one elected to Con-
gress could meet residency requirements
for the office,” the article reads.
Wyatt won the general election on
Nov. 5, 1974, and Johnson advised
Myers not to appeal the court ruling.
According to a Nov. 14 Oregonian arti-
cle, Johnson said the case was moot
because Wyatt had won the election. But
the bottom line is: The state chose not to
appeal the decision.
Wyatt went on to become Gov. John
Kitzhaber’s chief of staff, the director of
the Port of Portland, and, now, the direc-
tor of the Salt Lake City International
Airport, overseeing its multibillion-dol-
lar renovation.
There are undoubtedly differences
between legal requirements for the two
offices — governor vs. state represen-
tative — and lawyers can be paid good
money to quibble over them. History
likely will repeat itself and the question
of Kristof’s eligibility will be decided in
court. But everyone should know that a
similar case already was decided in the
candidate’s favor.
Jim Redden covers Portland for the
Portland Tribune. This guest column
is part of a collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin Media Group.