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143rd Year, No. 285
REGONIAN
ThURSDAY, NOveMBeR 21, 2019
WINNER OF THE 2019 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
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Politicians
get in line
for secretary
of state run
Democrats — no
Republican has filed
so far — are trying to
distinguish themselves
before primary
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Oregon Capital Bureau
EO file photo
A Pendleton resident drops a donation into a Salvation Army bell ringer’s donation bucket outside of the Bi-Mart in 2018. The
religious nonprofit, which describes itself as the “largest social services provider in the world,” has made headlines recently
as the fast-food restaurant chain Chick-fil-A announced it would be changing its charitable giving strategy. Salvation Army
and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which also has local chapters in Umatilla and Morrow counties, will no longer be
receiving funds from the restaurant’s charitable foundation.
Charitable controversy
Salvation Army, Fellowship of Christian Athletes
organizations caught up in giving controversy
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
MATILLA COUNTY — Bell
ringers with red kettles col-
lecting donations for The Sal-
vation Army are a classic sign that the
holidays have arrived, but for some, the
choice about whether to drop in a few
dollars has become as political as it is
personal.
The religious nonprofit, which
describes itself as the “largest social ser-
vices provider in the world,” has made
headlines recently as the fast-food
restaurant chain Chick-fil-A announced
it would be changing its charitable giv-
ing strategy. Salvation Army and the
Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which
also has local chapters in Umatilla and
Morrow counties, will no longer be
receiving funds from the restaurant’s
charitable foundation.
“Staying true to its mission of nour-
ishing the potential in every child, the
Chick-fil-A Foundation will deepen its
giving to a smaller number of organiza-
tions working exclusively in the areas
of education, homelessness and hun-
ger,” the restaurant said.
Many have speculated that The Sal-
vation Army and Fellowship of Chris-
tian Athletes were among those that
didn’t make the cut because both orga-
U
nizations have come under fire from
activists who say they discriminate
against members of the LGBTQ com-
munity. Chick-fil-A itself has also been
boycotted by LGBTQ groups for its
founder’s stance against gay marriage
and for donations to organizations con-
sidered anti-gay.
“WE SERVE EVERYONE
AND ANYONE WHO
COMES THROUGH
OUR DOORS”
— Alexa Morris
Pendleton Salvation Army staff
directed questions on the subject to
Alexa Morris, director of communi-
cations for the Cascades region of The
Salvation Army. She said the organiza-
tion does not turn away people in need
of services based on sexual orientation
or gender identity.
“We serve everyone and anyone
who comes through our doors,” she
said.
Posts that have circulated on social
media in recent years tell stories —
often anonymously — of discrimina-
tion at the hands of Salvation Army
employees and volunteers, claiming
they have made derogatory comments,
turned transgender people away from
shelters if they were not willing to sleep
in areas according to their assigned sex
at birth, or required homosexual cou-
ples to sleep in separate areas while
allowing heterosexual couples to stay
together.
In 2014, a transgender woman in
Texas named Jodielynn Wiley told
the media she had applied for a hous-
ing program through the Salvation
Army that would have involved shar-
ing a room and bathroom with other
women. Wiley said she was told by a
caseworker she wouldn’t be accepted
because she hadn’t had gender-reas-
signment surgery.
Critics also point to the Salva-
tion Army’s religious doctrine requir-
ing celibacy outside of marriage and
restricting the definition of marriage to
between a man and a woman. In 2015,
the magazine Queerty published inter-
nal documents from Salvation Army
directing officers to decline to perform
same-sex marriages.
Today, The Salvation Army’s web-
site has a section dedicated to dispelling
what it calls “myths” about its treatment
of LGBTQ people, stating that it does
not discriminate in hiring or providing
See Charity, Page A8
SALEM — The job of
Oregon secretary of state
may not bring fame or
fortune, but it’s an essen-
tial state post.
And politicians are
lining up to get it.
Hass
The race for secretary
of state will determine
who will manage over-
sight of state government
performance.
And the next secretary
will be responsible for
protecting the reliabil-
McLeod-
ity of the state’s elections
Skinner
as cyber threats grow by
the day and concerns of
foreign interference are
paramount.
While the most press-
ing thing on voters’
minds may be the ongo-
ing parade of public ser-
Smith
vants testifying on Capi-
tol Hill or the upcoming
Thanksgiving holiday,
prospective
secretar-
ies are busy fundrais-
ing and trumpeting their
platforms.
“I think the secretary
Williamson
of state’s seat is one of
the most overlooked and misunderstood
roles,” said Jamie McLeod-Skinner, a
natural resource attorney seeking the
office. “But it’s really the most import-
ant statewide office for making sure that
government functions well, and that also
helps to establish accountability and
really building that public trust.”
Democrats — no Republican has filed
so far — are trying to distinguish them-
selves as they head into a packed primary.
That primary next May has already
drawn state Rep. Jennifer William-
son of Portland, state Sen. Mark Hass
of Beaverton, Cameron Smith, recently
departed director of the state Department
of Consumer and Business Services,
and McLeod-Skinner, who mounted
an unsuccessful attempt to unseat Con-
gressman Greg Walden last year.
Topics like elections security and
access to the ballot are already common
themes.
And the candidates portray the race as
a high-stakes battle.
See Politicians, Page A8
Weston mayor shares battle with cancer
Jennifer McClure-Spurgeon fights isolation,
terminal illness by posting her journey on Facebook
By KATY NESBITT
For the East Oregonian
WESTON
—
Weston Mayor Jennifer
McClure-Spurgeon is bat-
tling cancer, again, and she’s
taking the battle to the inter-
net, sharing her deeply per-
sonal journey to tell a story
about what she calls an
insidious disease.
The daughter of longtime
Union County Commis-
sioner Steve McClure and an
Elgin native, McClure-Spur-
geon was diagnosed with
cervical cancer a month
after taking office as a
Weston City Council mem-
ber in 2013.
“Do you think that was
an omen?” McClure-Spur-
geon said.
A few months after her
diagnosis she had surgery
— and then another surgery
to address complications
from the first operation four
weeks later. McClure-Spur-
geon said she recovered
and had five years of good
health — serving on city
council, raising children
and working alongside her
husband in both their real
estate appraisal business and
as a leadership trainer and
consultant.
In late 2018, she started
having abdominal pain.
A colonoscopy revealed
another tumor.
Given the way the cancer
returned,
McClure-Spur-
geon said, it appears when
the original tumor was
removed, cells were released
into her abdominal cavity,
See Cancer, Page A8
Contributed photo
Weston Mayor Jennifer McClure-Spurgeon, a native of Elgin,
poses for a photo with her care team as she goes through her
cancer treatment.