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East Oregonian
State Democrats seek to expand their reach
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SUNRIVER, Ore. — In
their first summit since the
election, President Donald J.
Trump and his administration
still loomed large over Oregon
Democrats who met in this
Central Oregon resort town
over the weekend for their
biennial gathering.
Trump appears to be moti-
vating Oregon Democrats
to action. Attorney General
Ellen Rosenblum told summit
attendees Saturday that her
office has filed suit against the
Trump administration seven
times.
But many elected officials
and others spoke of looking
forward to 2018, when they
hope to maintain Democrats’
grip on Oregon offices and
expand the reach of the
Democratic Party.
Oregon’s approximately
971,000 registered Democrats
outnumber Republicans by
about 264,000, but there’s
also 795,000 nonaffiliated
voters.
Oregon Democrats say
that they have an opportunity
with the upcoming election to
recruit more rural and minority
voters to their cause, despite
the substantial ideological gap
between the state’s cities and
its more rural areas east of the
Cascade mountains.
Most state legislative
districts on the east side have
generally voted Republican in
recent decades.
Democratic party registra-
tions exceed Republicans in
two House Districts currently
represented by Republicans
who are expected to vacate
office.
One of the districts spans
Multnomah, Clackamas and
Hood River counties, where
incumbent Mark Johnson will
soon leave office to run a busi-
ness association. Another seat
in Deschutes County will be
vacated by GOP gubernatorial
candidate Knute Buehler.
Gov. Kate Brown, in
remarks at a reception Friday
night, argued that the state
could remain a Democratic
stronghold, blasting people
who think they “can turn
Oregon red.”
“We know better,” Brown,
who is running for reelection
next year, said. “We aren’t
going to let that happen, are
we?”
But others warned that it
will take work.
“We are not taking
anything for granted in
Oregon,” said U.S. Rep.
Suzanne Bonamici, who
noted that in her Northwestern
Oregon district, Columbia
and Yamhill counties voted
for Trump.
Just as the national election
prompted
soul-searching
in the Democratic Party
nationally, the 2016 election
created divisions among
Democrats in Oregon — and
not just along the lines of
those who supported Demo-
cratic Socialist Sen. Bernie
Sanders, I-Vt., and those who
supported former Secretary
of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton.
Brad Avakian, the state’s
labor commissioner, who is
serving his last term, hinted
at divisions within the state’s
Democrats that emerged in
the 2016 race for secretary of
state.
The primary pitted three
Democrats — Avakian,
former state representative
and House Majority Leader
Val Hoyle, and State Sen.
Richard Devlin, D-Tualatin
— against each other before
Avakian clinched the nomi-
nation. He lost the general
election to Republican Dennis
Richardson.
“After you elected me
in that primary, it was my
responsibility to win that
race,” Avakian said. “...
Regardless of the obstacles
we faced, I didn’t.”
While, Avakian said, the
episode “tested (his) notions
of friendship and forgive-
ness,” he called on Democrats
to work together to achieve
their state policy goals, and
received a standing ovation in
response.
Before the 2018 primary
season, though, the next big
political battle on the home
front will likely be over
health care. Oregon voters
will weigh in on how the state
funds its Medicaid program in
a special election Jan. 23.
Ballot Measure 101 asks
voters to either affirm or
partially repeal the state’s
plan to fund the Oregon
Health Plan — the state’s
Medicaid program — through
assessments on health care
providers and insurers.
Democrats and a slew of
progressive political organi-
zations support affirming the
current plan.
RUN: Students compete in five meets through the season
HERMISTON: ‘I don’t
think they’re making this up’
Continued from 1A
Mayor David Drotzmann
expressed concern that
March would not be enough
time to finish, the council
voted unanimously to
extend the deal even further,
to June. Ranch & Home will
also have until Oct. 1, 2019
to recruit a grocery store.
Assistant city manager
Mark Morgan said staff
recommended an extension
on the agreement because
the “major intent” of the
money was to get Dress
to begin construction on
the development, and the
January deadline was put
in place to avoid having
an open-ended deal. The
city recently had to delay
a project putting traffic
signals on NW 11th Street
because it received no bids
from electrical contractors,
he said, so “the city can
certainly commiserate” with
having projects thrown off
schedule due to a shortage
of electricians in the area.
He also said there didn’t
seem to be a downside to
extending the part of the
agreement about the grocery
store, because either no
grocery store would come
in and the city would not
have to pay the road costs,
or the city would get a new
grocery store.
“The city can continue
to recruit, but it just doesn’t
carry the same weight as
another business owner
saying
‘I’ve
invested
millions of dollars here,’”
he said.
Drotzmann said he
agreed that the real intent
of the incentives were to get
the ball rolling on construc-
tion of the store, and there
didn’t seem to be any reason
why Ranch & Home would
want to delay opening if
they had a choice.
“I don’t think they’re
making this up,” he said. “I
don’t think they’re trying to
stall by any means.”
Councilor John Kirwan
agreed, noting that the
company he works for,
Union Pacific Railroad, has
problems finding electrical
contractors. He also agreed
with Drotzmann that March
may not be enough time, and
made the motion to extend
the incentives through June.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
CAPITOL: Door to Kruse’s
office to be removed this week
Continued from 1A
waiting to head out to the
field. They’re bouncing off
the walls, and when their
coaches finally lead them
outside, they tear across the
field for their warm-up lap.
They then meet up on the
blacktop for some dynamic
stretching, including high-
knees, toe touches and
lunges.
“The cool thing about
these stretches is that not
all these kids will go on to
run cross country, but may
play another sport,” Garcia
said. “These are common
stretches.”
The team had their
last meet of the season on
Friday in Pendleton, and it
was a remarkable season.
At Umatilla’s “Footrace to
Valhalla” race in Umatilla,
six of the top 10 runners
were from Umatilla. And at
Hermiston’s Bulldog Cross
Country Festival, both teams
took first place. One of the
team’s youngest students,
a second-grade girl, placed
fifth at a meet in Helix.
Garcia said the team
has won most of the meets
they’ve attended. Some, he
said, keep more detailed
scores than others.
“The girls have taken first
through fifth at all the races,”
he said. “Easily, the top 10
kids are most of ours.”
Some of the students
enjoy running for recreation,
but many are eager to race.
“My favorite race was
Pendleton,” said R.J. Estrada,
a fifth-grader in his second
year of the program. “It was
fun, and I got a prize.”
Claudia Castro, a fifth-
grader who has been running
with the program for three
years, said she feels like she
has improved through the
program, and plans to keep
running in middle school.
The team is coached by
Garcia and Potts, a substitute
teacher in the Hermiston and
Umatilla school districts.
The students compete
in five meets throughout
the season, in Hermiston,
Helix, Pendleton, Stanfield
and Umatilla. They get to
experience different types of
terrain — hills and pastures,
streets and trails.
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Continued from 1A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Coach Francisco Garcia talks to his kids about their season this year during practice
for the McNary USA running team on Monday in Umatilla.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Fourth-grader Benito Soto leads the pack during war-
mups at practice for the McNary USA running team on
Monday in Umatilla.
“The one in Stanfield had
a big hill,” Garcia said. “The
kids knew that would affect
the outcome of their race.”
On Monday, after their
final meet the previous week,
the students ran just one mile
around the school field before
enjoying some recess and
free time. They take off at a
fast clip, with some slowing
down as they complete the
last laps.
Potts has tried to teach the
runners about pacing them-
selves, which looks different
for each person.
“That’s one of the biggest
things the kids realize on their
own after their first race,”
Garcia said. “For some of
them, pacing themselves just
means doing the whole thing
without walking.”
Though Umatilla has a
youth track program, also
coached by Garcia, the cross
country program is relatively
new.
“(P.E. teacher Brandt
Lind) and our principal three
years ago took kids to a meet
in Pendleton,” said Garcia.
“The kids loved it, and so
they pitched it as an idea to
(Superintendent Heidi Sipe).
She wanted to make it part of
the after-school program.”
Garcia said many of the
students who join the program
are in his homeroom and are
excited about running, but
not everyone is enthusiastic
at first.
“We have kids who totally
hated running before,” he
said. “But they end up real-
izing running is not that bad.”
Many students from the
cross country team have been
inspired to join track, as well,
and 120 registered last spring.
The students also learn
something many don’t asso-
ciate with running — that it
is, in fact, a team sport. They
learn how cross country is
scored. The top five runners
on each team competing earn
a score, and each score is in
relation to the order in which
the runner finishes. The first
place runner gets one point,
second place gets two points,
and so on.
And,
Garcia
said,
they learn about the most
important aspect of being a
teammate.
“The kids love to cheer
each other on,” he said.
“They’re not worried about
what they placed, but how
their teammates did.”
In an interview Monday
with
The
Oregonian/
OregonLive, Gelser iden-
tified Republican Sen. Jeff
Kruse as the colleague she
had previously complained
about. She alleged that
inappropriate touching had
occurred for years.
The newspaper also
quoted Senate Majority
Leader Ginny Burdick as
saying she saw Kruse wrap
his arms around Gelser at
her desk on the Oregon
Senate floor and step
inappropriately close to her
during a debate.
“I said, ‘Get your hands
off Sen. Gelser,’” Burdick
recalled telling Kruse.
Kruse, whose committee
assignments were removed
Friday by Senate President
Peter Courtney as punish-
ment, says he hasn’t been
informed what he’s accused
of. He earlier denied any
inappropriate behavior.
“Because I am being
denied access to any of the
specifics of the allegations
and actually I am being
denied due process in this
whole thing there is very
little I can say because
I don’t know what the
allegations are,” Kruse,
who represents the southern
town of Roseburg, said in
an email to The Associated
Press. Kruse served on the
health care, education and
judiciary committees.
Asked if Kruse had not
been given the opportunity
to respond to the allegations,
Courtney’s
spokesman
said the senator knew his
behavior needed to change.
“There are on-going
work-place issues which
Senator Kruse has failed
to resolve. As a result, the
Senate President took the
action Friday to remove
Senator Kruse from his
committees,” spokesman
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Robin Maxey said in an
email.
Gelser said she was
voicing the harassment issue
on behalf of other women,
and she doesn’t want atten-
tion on her own situation.
“I think as an elected
leader in the Legislature, I
have a responsibility to the
many, many young women
that work in the building,
and older women too, as
staffers and as lobbyists who
are encountering these prob-
lems on a regular basis,” she
said.
Maxey also said the
door to Kruse’s office in the
capitol would be removed
this week, because he has
continued smoking in there
despite a smoking ban in the
building.
Oregon is not alone in
seeing sexual harassment
accusations emerge recently.
The California Senate
announced Monday that it
has hired a law firm to inves-
tigate sexual harassment
after numerous women
working in and around the
Capitol described a culture
of sexual intimidation.
No male lawmakers have
been accused by name. But
female lobbyists, lawmakers
and legislative staffers
have described accounts of
men making inappropriate
comments, touching them
and asking them to perform
sex acts.
In Arizona, a legislator
has joined a growing chorus
of women going public
about sexual harassment
they encountered from
men in the workplace.
Republican Rep. Michelle
Ugenti-Rita of Scottsdale
said she encountered harass-
ment soon after taking office
in early 2011, including
“unwanted sexual advances
and lewd and suggestive
comments regarding my
body and appearance from
male colleagues.”