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East Oregonian
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Saturday, October 27, 2018
Brown in a tight race with Buehler for governor
ernor has not been elected
to office in more than 35
years. Democrats have won
29 out of the last 32 state-
wide races here, but the
Cook Political Report, a
nonpartisan organization
that tracks gubernatorial
races, just labeled this elec-
tion a “tossup.”
“I’m shocked that this is
even close. This is a race I
thought we weren’t going
to need to work on — and it
turns out this is the one I’m
spending the most time on,”
said Ali King, co-founder of
a Democratic activist group
called Nasty Women Get
(Expletive) Done. “I didn’t
think it was going to be a
battle like this.”
Oregonians have had
their ballots in hand since
last week, making the final
push for Brown’s campaign
even more critical.
Those who follow Ore-
gon politics closely point
out that Brown’s race with
Rep. Knute Buehler isn’t
much tighter than previous
ones and that outside of the
biggest cities and college
towns, the state has plenty
of GOP voters.
But in such a partisan
moment nationwide, Dem-
ocratic poll-watchers are
feeling a sense of urgency
about Oregon.
A recent nonpartisan sur-
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
PORTLAND — On
a warm fall day, Oregon
Gov. Kate Brown stood
in a public square known
as Portland’s living room,
surrounded by excited chil-
dren on their way back
from a field trip to a local
courthouse.
Brown used the pronoun
“she” as she explained what
a governor does — until
one child reminded her that
a boy can be governor too.
“Or ‘him,’ yes. Well ... right
now, it’s a ‘her,’” Brown
said, moving on quickly to
the next question.
It was an unscripted
moment in a closely fought
gubernatorial campaign, but
it was also a telling one.
Brown, an incumbent
and one of just two female
Democratic
governors
nationwide, has struggled
to create distance between
herself and her GOP rival,
a state lawmaker who has
fashioned himself as a
moderate Republican who
appeals to independents and
centrist Democrats alike
with his anti-Trump and
pro-choice platform.
The tight contest has
drawn national attention to
this unabashedly blue state
where a Republican gov-
AP Photo/Don Ryan
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown shares an unexpected light
moment with a group of schoolchildren after a rally in
Portland on Oct. 17.
vey put the number of unde-
cided voters at 17 percent.
Many of those voters are
independents or moderate
Democrats who could be
swayed by Buehler’s GOP
lite strategy.
Brown said in a recent
interview her polling num-
bers are consistent with
other Oregon gubernatorial
races and she’s confident a
large Democratic turnout
will lead her to victory. For-
mer Gov. John Kitzhaber,
who resigned in 2015, won
re-election by less than 2
percent in 2010.
“I’ve been watching
these governor’s races for
a couple of decades now,”
Brown said, adding that
“horrible attack ads” over
the summer took a toll.
“There’s a lot of money
being spent to try and defeat
me. That money is being
spent specifically because
I have been successful in
leading on a progressive
policy agenda.”
The eldest of four,
Brown trained as a lawyer
before being appointed to
the Oregon House in 1991,
and then staying in state
politics for almost 30 years.
She was elevated to Ore-
gon’s first female Senate
Majority Leader before run-
ning successfully for Secre-
tary of State in 2008.
When
Gov.
John
Kitzhaber resigned amid
scandal in 2015, she auto-
matically filled the top job
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
SUNDAY
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Pleasant with sun
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Mostly cloudy with
a little rain
Partly sunny with a
shower
Rain and drizzle in
the p.m.
Rain
61° 50°
60° 44°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
56° 43°
55° 44°
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HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
63° 49°
63° 44°
60° 45°
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OREGON FORECAST
62° 44°
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Olympia
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Kennewick Walla Walla
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Lewiston
59/50
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Astoria
59/50
Pullman
Yakima 59/45
55/49
64/51
Portland
Hermiston
62/53
The Dalles 63/49
Salem
Corvallis
62/47
Yesterday
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La Grande
61/48
PRECIPITATION
John Day
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Albany
62/50
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1.39"
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through 3 p.m. yest.
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Pendleton 59/47
63/51
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
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HERMISTON
Enterprise
61/50
60/46
65°
48°
59°
37°
82° (1986) 14° (1911)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
57/49
Aberdeen
55/46
54/42
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
58/50
Today
Medford
73/49
Sun.
NE 4-8
ENE 4-8
Boardman
Pendleton
WSW 8-16
WSW 8-16
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
68/44
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Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
Last
7:28 a.m.
5:50 p.m.
8:15 p.m.
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New
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GRANTS PASS (AP) — A judge has dis-
missed a lawsuit by an Oregon county that
targeted the state over legalized marijuana.
U.S. District Judge Michael McShane
signed a formal order dismissing Josephine
County’s lawsuit earlier this week, saying a
city or county doesn’t have standing to sue
a state in federal court, The Daily Courier
reported Thursday.
The lawsuit was filed in April and con-
tended that federal law banning marijuana
pre-empts Oregon’s law legalizing marijuana
for commercial sales.
County legal counsel Wally Hicks says
he and the county Board of Commission-
ers accept the ruling. He told the newspaper
that county leaders have not yet discussed
whether to appeal.
The lawsuit was the latest battle between
Josephine County and the state over pot.
After commercial marijuana grows became
legal in Oregon in 2016, the county tried ret-
roactively to place limits on them by banning
pot grows in areas zoned rural residential.
Oct 31
Nov 7
Nov 15
Marijuana growers appealed and the
state’s Land Use Board of Appeals ulti-
mately froze the county’s regulations, saying
it hadn’t provided proper notice of its new
rule. That set the stage for the federal lawsuit.
The judge found that the state hadn’t “sub-
stantively” prevented the county from enact-
ing its own local rules.
The county in southwest Oregon is just
miles from the California border, in an excel-
lent region for growing marijuana, and has
struggled with a boom in marijuana grows
since state legalization.
The county Board of Commissioners
recently unveiled a new attempt at restric-
tions on marijuana farming in rural residen-
tial zones. The new proposal would allow
legal commercial farms to continue but ban
new ones.
A hearing has been set for Nov. 7 on the
latest proposal.
To satisfy the notification requirement,
the county added flyers to property tax bills
that were sent out earlier this month.
Rash of cougar sightings in downtown Ashland cause alarm
ASHLAND (AP) — A rash of cougar
sightings in Ashland is causing alarm, but
state wildlife officials say that because the
big cats have all been spotted at night and
haven’t attacked anyone, it’s not a public
safety concern.
The Daily Tidings reports Friday that
there have been about six cougar sightings
in the past week, including by a grocery
DANKE
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
Nov 22
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
the erosion of environmen-
tal protections under Presi-
dent Donald Trump.
Brown, who is the only
openly bisexual gover-
nor, is also pro-choice — a
key quality for Democrats
because Oregonians are
also voting on a ballot mea-
sure to ban state funding for
abortions.
But some feel Brown has
fallen short on two other
issues that plague Oregon,
secondary education and
the pension system. The
state’s pension system has
an unfunded liability of $22
billion, while the state’s
graduation rate is third-
worst in the nation and stu-
dent absenteeism is a big
problem.
Under Brown, educa-
tion funding has increased
and graduation rates ticked
upward last year, but many
voters aren’t able to list
Brown’s accomplishments
in these areas, said John
Horvick, vice president and
political director of the non-
partisan polling firm DHM
Research.
“When you talk to insid-
ers, they’ll talk a lot about
her leadership and her lead-
ership style. I don’t hear
voters say that about her,
directly, but I do hear that
there are problems in the
state,” Horvick said.
Judge tosses Oregon county’s
marijuana lawsuit against state
NATIONAL EXTREMES
High 98° in Thermal, Calif. Low 14° in Bodie State Park, Calif.
under Oregon’s constitu-
tion. Brown then easily won
a special election in 2016,
trouncing the Republican
candidate by 8 percentage
points.
As governor, Brown
tends to work quietly behind
the scenes and is fond of
saying she’s GSD — “Get-
ting Stuff Done” — rather
than engaging in flashy pol-
itics. She is skilled at “retail
politics” and often accom-
plishes her goals without
burning bridges, said Chris
Shortell, an associate pro-
fessor of political science at
Portland State University.
That style resulted in
several victories for Brown,
first as secretary of state,
and then as governor.
In 2015, Brown signed
into law Oregon’s so-called
“motor voter” law that she
helped craft as secretary
of state. The law requires
the state to register to vote
anyone who applies for or
renews a driver’s license or
ID card and it has boosted
the rolls of eligible voters
by roughly 15 percent.
Brown also worked
across the aisle to pass the
largest transportation bill
in state history, oversaw
the expansion of health
care coverage (94 percent
of Oregonians are insured)
and has pushed back against
Prost! to all the fun havers who came out and
enjoyed Oktoberfest Pendleton. This year
we are able to donate over $26,000 back
to our community. In four years’ time, the
Oktoberfest Pendleton Committee will have
given $65,000 back to Pendleton non-profit
organizations. It’s all because of you and our
wonderful sponsors. DANKE!
store, by a library, by a fire station and near
a shopping complex.
Steve Niemela, district wildlife biologist
with Oregon Department of Fish and Wild-
life, says all the sightings except one have
involved a cougar feeding on a deer at night.
Niemela says it would take many sight-
ings of cougars during the day to trigger a
public safety concern.
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