OREGON
Saturday, April 9, 2022
East Oregonian
A9
Knight’s million is opening gambit Oregon has
in the high stakes governor’s race distributed only
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — On April
Fool’s Day, Nike founder Phil
Knight gave $750,000 to a
2022 campaign for governor,
but this time the joke is on
Republicans and Democrats.
Knight’s contributions to
the insurgent campaign of
former Sen. Betsy Johnson
of Scappoose now total $1
million, seven months before
the Nov. 7 general election.
It’s a clear sign that Knight
sees Johnson’s unaffi liated
campaign as the best shot at
ending Democrats’ 35-year
hold on Oregon’s governor-
ship.
It’s a switch from 2018,
when Knight gave early and
often — and very big — to
former Rep. Knute Buehler,
R-Bend, who lost the general
election to incumbent Kate
Brown. His $2.5 million in
contributions primed the
GOP pump to compete with
Democrats in a race that cost
nearly $40 million for Brown
to win.
The Knight money will
require responses from
contributors to Democrats
and Republicans, especially
after the May 17 primary.
Spending
could set record
Thomas Wheatley, a
consultant for the gover-
nor’s campaign of former
House Speaker Tina Kotek,
D-Portland, said Democrats
are taking notice of the rising
level of spending in the state
and will stay competitive.
“Democrats in Oregon
and the national party under-
MORE INFORMATION
Other GOP candidates for governor candidates with more than
$10,000 in funds:
• Bend social media and marketing consultant Brandon Merritt
has $33,367 in the bank.
• Redmond businessman Bill Sizemore has $12,860 in the bank.
• Baker City Mayor Kerry McQuisten: $34,117 in the bank. Mc-
Quisten has raised and spent more than $100,000.
• Tigard businessman Nicholas Hess has raised and spent more
than $100,000 but has a negative account balance.
• Former school superintendent Marc Thielman, who lives in
Cottage Grove, has raised and spent more than $140,000 and
has $23,070.
stand the importance of strong Republican candidate
winning the state,” Wheat- who stands up for our values,
ley said. “Democrats have a the funding will turn to that
strong history of doing what candidate,” Post said.
For now, the fundraising
it takes.”
Republican consultant and gap looks large. Johnson has
former state lawmaker Bill more than $5.1 million in the
Post said Johnson is benefi t- bank.
ing for the moment
Only two candi-
from a lack of oppo-
dates among the 34
nents — the winners
in the May primary
of the primary will
have more than
defi ne the race.
$1 million in the
“T here is no
bank from wide-
Republican nomi-
spread fundraising
nee yet or any media
as of April 5: Kotek
attention yet on Betsy
Johnson
has $1.15 million,
Johnson’s extensive
while former House
record of voting with Tina Minority Leader Christine
Kotek,” Post said. “Betsy Drazan, R-Canby, has $1.18
was a Democrat three years million.
ago when she voted yes on
Lake Oswego consultant
the Corporate Activity Tax.” and attorney Bob Tiernan, a
Post said despite a long Republican, has $1,126,795,
drought in races for Oregon which includes $500,000
governor, he believes national contributions each from
Republicans know there is himself and Grants Pass
opportunity in Oregon this LLC, with which he is affi l-
year. Democratic resources iated.
are spread thin trying to
Treasurer Tobias Read has
defend dozens of political raised more than $1.3 million
hot spots.
in the past two years and has
“When it comes to the $888,895 on hand.
Johnson will need the
general election, with a
money since she won’t have
the massive pockets of the
two national and state parties
to depend on. She needs to
run a signature campaign to
qualify to submit just under
25,000 valid signatures to the
secretary of state by the end
of August to secure a spot on
the general election ballot.
A likely three-way race
between the Democratic and
Republican primary winners,
along with Johnson, could
eclipse the 2018 spending
record.
‘Red Tide’ swelling
In 2022, the winners of
the Democratic and Republi-
can primary will get an infu-
sion of national campaign
cash, especially Democrats
looking to push their winning
streak for governor to almost
four decades.
But times have changed
since four years ago. The
Democratic “Blue Wave”
has switched to a Republican
“Red Tide.”
This election, Democrats
are on the defense. Along
with any current political
issues, the Democrats are
fi ghting the course of polit-
ical history.
The party of new presi-
dents usually loses seats in
Congress in the fi rst midterm
election, an average of about
25 seats.
Democrats are hanging
on to majorities in the U.S.
Senate and U.S. House by
their fi ngernails. The House
majority is down to 221-209
with five vacancies, well
within the average midterm
margin of loss to give the
chamber back to Republicans.
Fire-detecting cameras to be installed across state
By ALEX BAUMHARDT
Oregon Capital Chronicle
SALEM — Oregon soon
will have nearly 60 cameras
across the state perched on
cellphone towers, old fire
towers and mountaintops,
watching for potential forest
fi res across the state.
The cameras, part of the
ALERTWildfire network,
help fire departments and
state agencies spot wildfi res
early, predict their move-
ments and slow their spread.
They also allow Oregonians
the opportunity to make evac-
uation decisions early, based
on their proximity to fi res.
The network is made up
of two dozen cameras now,
which will more than double
with new state money.
Legislators in February
appropriated $4.5 million
to the Oregon Hazards Lab
at the University of Oregon
to add at least 29 cameras
across the state over the
next year. Most of the two
dozen currently operating
are in Southeast and Western
Oregon. New cameras will
be concentrated in the Rogue
Valley and in the Bend, Rich-
mond and La Pine areas.
The video streams are
accessible online 24 hours
a day, seven days a week, to
the public and to emergency
response agencies and fi re-
fi ghters, who can also use a
time lapse feature to go back
and trace the origins of a fi re.
Additionally, artifi cial intelli-
gence software in the system
can detect smoke and alert
fi re agencies and emergency
responders.
Such a forest surveillance
system was fi rst implemented
around Lake Tahoe in 2014
ALERTWildfi re.org/Contributed Photo
This view came from a camera on Pine Mountain east of Bend
that’s part of the ALERTWildfi re network. The cameras help
fi refi ghters and the public spot wildfi res.
by the University of Nevada
Reno and has expanded to
Oregon, California, Washing-
ton and Idaho in partnership
with state and federal agen-
cies and public universities.
The Oregon expansion is
being spearheaded by Doug
Toomey, a geophysicist
and director of the Oregon
Hazards Lab, where scientists
study natural disasters in the
Pacifi c Northwest, and search
for ways to use technology to
monitor and mitigate them.
Toomey hope s t he
camera’s will be useful to
people living in areas prone
to wildfi re.
“You don’t have to sit and
wait to see if your home is
being evacuated. You can see
what things look like in real
time,” he said.
In California, the system
has allowed fi re agencies to
respond more strategically
to fi res when they begin to
move. During the Lilac Fire
in San Diego County in 2017,
several fire departments
collaborated to double the
size of their initial response
within the fi rst 10 minutes of
fl ames spreading. They could
see the size of the fi re from
the elevated cameras rather
than waiting to assess on the
ground, according to a CBS
news report.
LeeAnnOttosen@UmpquaBank.com
UmpquaBank.com/Lee-Ann-Ottosen
Toomey said the Hazards
Lab can program cameras
to gray out homes or busi-
nesses upon request for
privacy reasons. Toomey
said for the most part, people
living within view of the fi re
cameras have seen the bene-
fi ts outweigh their concerns.
The number of cameras
in Oregon are still small in
comparison to other states
that are part of the ALER-
TWildfi re collaborative. In
California, the network has
more than 1,000 cameras
positioned around the state
including dozens near its
border with Oregon.
half of emergency
rental help so far
By PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — The Oregon
Housing and Commu-
nity Services Department
said that as of Wednesday,
April 6, it has made $319.3
million in emergency
rental assistance payments
to landlords on behalf of
48,313 Oregon households
since the U.S. Treasury
made the fi rst federal funds
available in May 2021.
But it has received a total
of 105,082 applications.
Because of duplicate appli-
cations, the actual number
of households applying is
closer to 100,000, state offi -
cials say. A household can
get assistance only once.
State law shields tenants
from eviction proceedings
while their applications
for assistance are pend-
ing, if they show proof to
their landlords. The shield
ends when the application
is approved or denied. The
law also set Feb. 28 as the
deadline for payment of
past-due rent, going back to
the onset of the coronavirus
pandemic on April 1, 2020.
March 21 was the dead-
line, and it resulted in a fi nal
statewide surge of 13,592
applications for the month.
The program paused appli-
cations on Dec. 1, reopened
on Jan. 26, and was sched-
uled to close March 14. But
Oregon got a last-minute
allocation of $16 million
in federal funds that went
unspent in other states and
communities.
State offi cials still hope
for a greater share of the
additional $198 million
they requested from the
Treasury.
Five counties and the
city of Portland got federal
funds separately for their
own rental assistance
programs, and their totals
are not refl ected in the state
agency fi gures.
The Oregon Legislature
approved $200 million
from the state budget for
emergency rental assis-
tance in a special session
in December 2020, when
prospects for federal aid
appeared uncertain. That
$200 million was spent by
the close of the two-year
state budget cycle in June
2021.
Oregon got an initial
$289 million for emergency
rental assistance from the
U.S. Treasury, which allo-
cated money that Congress
approved as part of the 2021
American Rescue Plan
Act, President Joe Biden’s
pandemic recovery plan.
That $289 million has been
spent or committed.
The program has contin-
ued with $100 million
more that the Legislature
approved from the current
state budget in Decem-
ber, plus $16 million more
from the Treasury, and
$13 million that the state
housing agency shifted
from housing stabilization
programs. Oregon also got
$1.1 million from the Trea-
sury late last year.
Tenants can call Oregon
Law Center’s Eviction
Defense Project at 888-585-
9638 or evictiondefense@
oregonlawcenter.org.
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