ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
TuEsdAy, MAy 31, 2022
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Officials
working
to solve
homeless
issue
T
he news that a transitional hous-
ing project to help solve — at least
partially — the growing homeless-
ness problem is good news for the local
community.
A joint meeting of area appointed and
elected officials last week to develop a plan to
address the homeless issue also was a hope-
ful sign that instead of pushing the problem
away, or, worse, ignoring it, key area leaders
are on the road to finding a solution.
To some extent, they don’t have much of a
choice. A 2018 Ninth Circuit Court decision
— Martin v. Boise — mandated jurisdiction
to furnish a place for the homeless if they are
not allowed to camp and the Oregon Legisla-
ture made the court decision part of state law.
Local government have until July 1, 2023, to
create shelters in areas where the homeless
are not allowed to camp.
There were, of course, other ways area
municipalities could have addressed the
court and legislative decision. Officials could
have chosen to address the issue in the courts
and seek some type of injunction on the
matter.
That would have been a bad choice. For
one, it would have cost taxpayers plenty of
cash over an extended period of time, and,
most likely, not solved what is an endemic
problem.
No, the best way to address the issue is
with specific site for a shelter.
The Legislature also is providing some
funding assistance, and it appears area
elected leaders are taking the issue seriously
and want to find a solution fast.
That’s also good news.
The homeless situation isn’t one that will
go away any time soon. There are plenty of
different opinions regarding how to deal with
the homeless situation, but the best way to
handle it now is through a site set aside for
those facing housing challenges.
The broader problem — why so many
are homeless — is far outside the scope of a
single city or town or county.
Area officials who are working to solve
the problem should be lauded. We, as a
nation and state and county, face an array of
different challenges, so prioritizing which
challenge should be met and overcome is
important.
The work of elected and appointed lead-
ers to face the homeless challenge now also
shows a degree of foresight voters should
take solace in. Instead of allowing a problem
to fester and grow, area leaders want to find a
path to success.
That, too, is good news.
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Oregonian editorial board. Other columns,
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opinions of the authors and not necessarily that
of the East Oregonian.
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Republicans splintered vote for Oregon
governor with messages that didn’t catch
RANDY
STAPILUS
OTHER VIEWS
W
ith 19 distinctive — not to say
sometimes colorful — candi-
dates for governor, Oregon
Republicans should have told us some-
thing about themselves by their choices in
the just-ended primary election.
They did: They are split. Many seem
driven by abortion or other culture issues,
some are powerfully drawn by regional
preferences, but a plurality just want to
win in November.
No single overriding motivation
appeared to apply overwhelmingly to
Oregon Republican voters.
Former legislator (and House Repub-
lican caucus chair) Christine Drazan was
the clear winner from early on, and she
won a majority of Oregon’s counties. she
led (decisively) in the three Portland metro
counties, and her four best counties (in
order — Wallowa, Curry, Klamath and
Benton) were widely scattered across the
state. Her win cannot be called narrow.
What drew Republican voters to her?
Likely not the media endorsements (her
website’s endorsement page didn’t even
link to them). But she was endorsed by a
slew of Republican elected officials and
a number of GOP-leaning organizations.
She had an extensive county organization,
and it seems fair to say she was the clos-
est thing to an (informal) candidate of the
statewide Republican organization.
That helps a lot. And she was articulate
and likable.
Careful messaging
She did not emphasize hard-edged
messages. Her website’s tag lines called
out “lower taxes, safer neighborhoods,
brighter future, better schools” — some-
thing Democrat Tina Kotek could use
as easily (maybe with some tweaking of
the first one). She did offer some specific
policy proposals, but she was not among
the candidates with quotable lines on abor-
tion, stolen elections and similar subjects.
Was this the candidate considered by
voters as best equipped to fare well in
November? Probably that was part of it.
Remember, though, that she received
just 22.7% of the Republican primary vote,
a support level that looks better only in the
context of her 19-person field. Her nearest
competitor, former state Republican Chair
Bob Tiernan, was not terribly far behind
with 17.8%. seven candidates received
more than 5% of the vote.
If there’s another contender who might
logically be called a Republican estab-
lishment candidate — because of service
in elected office and as chair of the state
party — that would be Tiernan, who won
six counties — Clatsop, Coos, Colum-
bia, Douglas, Lane and Tillamook. His
second-place vote actually may owe to
some of the same factors as Drazan’s.
Candidates who lost past major races,
such as Bud Pierce and Bill Sizemore,
underperformed.
so, there’s a good chance electabil-
ity was heavily on the minds of close to
half of the Republican electorate, maybe
reflecting both desire to win and a sense
that 2022 might not be a good democratic
year.
But that still leaves a majority of the
Republican primary voters apparently
signaling other concerns.
What powered sandy Mayor stan Pull-
iam to a third-place showing with 10.4% of
the vote? There are a few possibilities, but
a good bet might be abortion, high profile
during the voting period. Though not
endorsed by Oregon Right to Life, Pull-
iam got attention for the edgiest abortion
portion stance in the campaign, criticiz-
ing his competitors as being wimps on the
subject and saying without qualification he
That seems a little bigger than the
climate change and anti-masking
approach of Marc Thielman, the former
Alsea school superintendent who won a
straw poll at the dorchester event. He had
backers statewide — with more than a
few signs in Eastern Oregon — but still
managed just 7.8% of the vote.
If you’re looking for a candidate testing
the salience of rural and anti-metro appeal,
look at Baker City Mayor Kerry McQuis-
ten. she won seven counties, more than
anyone but Drazen, carrying most of the
land area of Eastern Oregon with Baker,
Grant, Harney, Malheur, sherman, union
and Wheeler counties. No candidate got
a higher percentage in any single county
than McQuisten did in Grant (44.6%).
Of course, relatively few voters live
in those counties, and McQuisten wound
up just sixth in the results. But she left
a stronger marker of the east-west and
urban-rural gap in the state.
some messages seemed not to catch on.
Nick Hess, who pressed for a traditional
conservative style (and was nearly alone
in the field to do so), got only 1.1% of the
vote.
And if there had been more “electable”
candidates and fewer “message” candi-
dates? This primary could easily have
seen different results. The instability of
the parties — democrats, too, but espe-
cially the Republicans, even in a time of
polarization — may be one of the primary
lessons of this year’s Oregon primary.
———
Randy Stapilus has researched and writ-
ten about Northwest politics and issues
since 1976 for a long list of newspapers and
other publications.
spreading through children seeking this
series out.
This will happen when Blue Mountain
Community College focuses on making
students stress less, providing great
teachers, less secretary positions and less
locations if no programs.
Walter McCrae hired Charles Rosen-
quist, Oregon’s very first children’s
psychologist, who traveled the world.
Early on, Rosenquist shared with him
about touring this southern college
where the work study program was the
foundation and hoped to admiringly try
to replicate in ways at Blue Mountain
Community College.
The College of the Ozarks is where
jobs are provided that make the college
run and working students are left with
little debt at graduation. Future BMCC
students will seek out great programs
taught by great teachers. They will come
when affordable and safe housing is avail-
able. Better than a thousand days of dili-
gent study is one day with a great teacher.
Great admiration for the retired BMCC
teachers writing in support of keeping the
bar high.
BMCC don’t tell us about your great
programs, show us.
Sally Walden-Sundin
Walla Walla
would as governor sign any “pro-life piece
of legislation.”
Votes for him may be a reasonable
measure of the abortion-driven segment of
the Republican vote.
Anti-masker fizzles
YOUR VIEWS
Don’t tell us, show us
“I pay the schoolmaster, but it’s the
school boys that educate my son.” Even
Ralph Waldo Emerson witnessed the
same phenomenon the world witnesses.
A recent example would be with
the Harry Potter books. There were no
marketing positions nor communica-
tion positions in the beginning. Word of
mouth … American children skiing in
Europe heard from English, German and
French children skiing about this book
filled with delightful surprises about a
boy wizard. Vanity Fair ran an article
about this children’s books popularity