A4 BAKER CITY HERALD • SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2022
BAKER CITY
Opinion
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Saturday, November 12, 2022 • Baker City, Oregon
EDITORIAL
Exploring
Oregon’s great
electoral divide
T
he following is not a complaint. The purpose, rather,
is to put into perspective the political realities that
Oregon’s heavily concentrated electorate creates,
as well as to illustrate the dramatic differences between the
perspectives of voters in different regions.
Neither is a revelation, of course, to anyone with even a
passing interest in Oregon politics over the past 40 years or so.
Indeed the state’s political divide, which is approximately
consistent with the geographic divide of the Cascade Moun-
tains, is so familiar that it’s become cliché.
But we just had an election.
And that election offers some especially stark examples of
how much electoral muscle the comparatively puny parts of
the state, in size rather than population, can flex.
This contrast played out, in quite similar ways, in both the
gubernatorial race and in the most significant of the statewide
ballot measures.
In the former contest, Democrat Tina Kotek narrowly beat
Republican Christine Drazan, ensuring that the Democratic
Party’s winning streak in the governor’s race, which started in
1986, would continue.
Kotek won about 47.1% of the votes, Drazan about 43.4%.
(These are preliminary numbers; thousands of ballots have
yet to be counted in some counties, including Multnomah.)
Kotek won in seven of Oregon’s 36 counties, including the
most populous — Multnomah, which includes Portland and
has 19% of the state’s registered voters — and the second most
populous, Washington County, which has 13% of voters.
Every county that Kotek carried is west of the Cascades. The
five others are Benton, Clatsop, Hood River, Lane and Lincoln.
But it’s Multnomah that matters most.
Kotek received 72% of the votes in that county — a total of
258,344 as of Friday, Nov. 11.
That’s well more than double the votes that Drazan won
in 14 counties, including Baker, that are east of the Cascades.
The others are Crook, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Klamath, Lake,
Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Union, Umatilla, Wallowa and
Wheeler. In nine of those 14 counties, voters supported Dra-
zan at even higher rates than Kotek enjoyed in Multnomah.
Baker County is one of those nine. Here, voters’ preference for
Drazan — 72.4% — was almost identical to Kotek’s level of
support in Multnomah.
The situation is similar — albeit even more starkly differ-
ent — with Measure 114, which imposes some of the more
restrictive requirements on people who want to buy a gun in
Oregon. Opponents have deemed it — and not without plau-
sibility — as a de facto ban on gun sales.
Measure 114 passed with a margin even tidier than Kotek’s
victory — 51% in favor, 49% opposed.
The measure passed in seven counties, but not quite the
same seven as Kotek won. The one difference is Kotek won
Clatsop County, where voters were slightly (51.9%) opposed to
Measure 114, while Measure 114 was supported, with 51%, in
Clackamas County, where Drazan won narrowly.
As with the gubernatorial race, Multnomah was key. Mea-
sure 114 had the highest level of support there, at 74%. A to-
tal of 259,522 voters in Multnomah County supported the
measure (within 1,000 of the total votes cast for Kotek in the
county).
As for those 14 counties east of the Cascades, all were
strongly opposed to Measure 114, with 11 of the 14 rejecting
the measure at a higher rate than Multnomah County voters
favored it. Baker County was in the group, with 81.3% of vot-
ers opposed.
The total “no” votes among those 14 counties, though, was
just 93,163 — barely more than one-third the “yes” votes from
Multnomah.
There is nothing nefarious about any of these numbers.
Or unfair.
We decide statewide elections based on how many voters
prefer a candidate or a measure, not on the number of coun-
ties (no Electoral College in this case).
But it happens that in Oregon, not only does Multnomah
County have the lion’s share of the voters, but those voters, to a
large extent, feel quite differently about matters of public pol-
icy than their counterparts in Baker County and much of the
rest of the state.
We ought to encourage people to vote, of course — ballots
contain local issues as well as statewide ones.
But to many voters in Baker City and Burns and John Day
and Lakeview and dozens of other towns, the quaint platitude
that “all votes matter” might, in the aftermath of some state-
wide races in the Nov. 8 election, seem a bit hollow, and even
patronizing.
Because when it comes to not insignificant issues such as
who Oregon’s top elected official ought to be, and how we
should treat law-abiding citizens who only want to buy a rifle
or a pistol, voters in the remote hinterlands might today be
feeling lonely indeed.
— Jayson Jacoby, Baker City Herald editor
YOUR VIEWS
Some growth would
benefit Baker City residents
Baker City and county revenue: As a re-
tired former radio broadcaster, I have had
the unique experience of seeing it happen.
Small cities, no money. No vision for future
growth, housing, employment, an economy
that sustains all the people.
In 1900 the population of Baker City was
6,663, and in 1940 it was 9,342. In 2022 the
population is around 10,000 people. Agri-
culture, ranching, mining, have all shared
the benefits thru the decades, ignoring the
growth of a possible hub for the eastern part
of Oregon. A river thru town, a major in-
terstate I-84, and yet little growth in over a
hundred years. Change happens, expand
and attract retail and tech, manufacturing,
music, festivals, dirt bike circuits, choice to
stay stagnant or have an economically sus-
tainable future.
Revenue and city budgets rely on popu-
lation and business, at present, it seems mo-
nopoly rules, one corporation owns three
major stores, one corporation owns four
motels and the land is owner landlocked,
good luck. Baker City deserves a shot at in-
vesting in the future. ... growth. Some resist
the change, some are for change. No growth,
and landlocked, good for some, not for all.
Martin Settle
Haines
COLUMN
Book brings reader back to Baker’s big game
I
spent some time recently in the winter of
1971-72, moving between several high
school gymnasiums, and I’m grateful to
my tour guide, Andrew Kaza.
I felt at times that I could almost smell the
popcorn, could hear the squeak of Converse
sneakers on hardwood, could experience
an era when the players’ shorts never came
close to their knees.
Kaza is the author of “High Contrast,” a
book that chronicles a single 32-minute bas-
ketball game played more than half a cen-
tury ago.
But Kaza, who owns a movie theater in
Sisters and grew up in Beaverton, has ac-
complished quite a lot more than describing
one game.
What a game it was, though.
The event that serves as the climax for
“High Contrast” — the reason the book ex-
ists, in fact — is the 1972 Oregon AAA state
basketball championship game. On the Sat-
urday night of March 25, 1972, the Baker
Bulldogs played the Jefferson Democrats, of
Portland, for the title in Portland’s Memorial
Coliseum.
In those days, long before the current
six-level system for Oregon high schools in
which the large-enrollment schools, primar-
ily west of the Cascades, compete against
each other, Baker was in the top category.
The Bulldogs, and other regional teams
including Ontario, La Grande and Pendle-
ton, were in the same group as the big city
schools, including Jefferson.
The 1972 championship game was a classic
mismatch, with Baker the decided underdog.
The Bulldogs had six losses, the Democrats
only one.
The consensus, among sportswriters and
other prognosticators, was that Baker, deploy-
ing the deliberate offensive style that longtime
coach Gary Hammond (who was, it turned
out, coaching his final game) insisted on,
would struggle to keep up with the fastbreak-
ing Democrats.
As you might have guessed, considering
this half-century-old high school basketball
game inspired a book, the contest turned out
quite differently.
Baker was ahead most of the game.
Jefferson rallied in the final four minutes to
win, 59-53.
That scenario alone, of course, would
hardly justify Kaza, or any other author, de-
voting a couple years to researching and writ-
ing a 260-page book.
The 1972 championship game wasn’t
was, after all, high school basketball.
But I don’t think any reader will feel, after
reading “High Contrast,” that Kaza has over-
sold this story.
The most compelling aspect of this book,
unique in having a team from a smaller
it seems to me, isn’t the game itself, or the
school nearly pull off a stunning upset.
contrasts between the teams.
Sometimes the underdog even wins.
(Although I’ll concede my assessment is
But it’s the subtitle of Kaza’s book that ex-
influenced by having some familiarity with
plains why he undertook such a daunting
the events with the events from previous re-
project.
porting on the topic.)
Rather, I found myself repeatedly amazed,
“A Story of Basketball, Race and Politics in
as I turned the pages, by how prominent
Oregon 1972.”
high school basketball was then.
Although Kaza describes the champion-
The obvious measurement is attendance.
ship game in great detail, those 32 minutes
The 1972 Baker-Jefferson championship
inside the Memorial Coliseum serve as the
fulcrum for the author’s wide-ranging explo- game brought 13,395 spectators to the Me-
morial Coliseum. No game before, or since,
ration of Oregon in that distant year.
attracted as many.
Kaza extends his analysis
But Kaza doesn’t rely solely
far beyond the superficial
Although Kaza
on statistics to illustrate to
contrasts between Baker and
readers how much more the
Jefferson — the Baker play-
describes the
sport meant then compared
ers’ crewcuts and the Dem-
championship game to now.
ocrats’ Afros, the small town
He writes about the exten-
Eastern Oregon “farm boys”
in great detail, those
sive coverage newspapers,
(although the Bulldogs didn’t
32 minutes inside the including the state’s largest,
all milk cows and wrangle
cattle) versus the big city res-
Memorial Coliseum The Oregonian, devoted not
only to the state tournament,
idents, the Jefferson roster
serve as the fulcrum but to the entire basketball
made up of all Black players,
the all-white Baker squad.
for the author’s wide- season.
He describes the influx of
Kaza examines each of
ranging exploration of Baker residents to Portland,
those themes both at the fine
the gyms, from East-
level — quotes from players
Oregon in that distant and
ern Oregon to Portland, that
and coaches — and in the
year.
were crammed with specta-
much wider context of race
tors for regular season games.
relations in Oregon and na-
The situation he describes is both famil-
tionwide.
iar — even today the student section in the
Yet for all Kaza’s trenchant commentary
Baker gym can generate a lot of decibels
and thorough historical study, for me his
greatest accomplishment is his ability to rec- — but also strange, in the reality that high
reate that distant winter, to bring readers into school basketball once was a major cultural
event across Oregon.
those hot, loud gyms on winter nights from
This was, of course, an era before the In-
one end of Oregon — Ontario — to the
ternet.
other — Astoria.
But it was also before cable TV.
I was alive on those nights.
I’ll not indulge in that misleading cliché
But I was scarcely more than a year old
and contend that it was a simpler era.
— I was born Sept. 22, 1970 — so I have no
There was nothing simple about America
recollection of any of the events Kaza writes
in 1971-72. American troops were dying in
about.
Yet I always find historical accounts more Vietnam. Richard Nixon was seeking his sec-
ond term as president.
intriguing when I know I was around at the
But it surely was a different era.
time, even if my only concerns were the next
And thanks to Andrew Kaza, we can un-
feeding or diaper change.
derstand, in a way that wasn’t possible be-
For readers who, like me, have no per-
fore, how high school basketball contributed
sonal memory of the events, Kaza has cre-
to making it so.
ated vivid scenes, the drama palpable.
Jayson Jacoby is editor of the Baker City Herald.
That might seem a bit overwrought. It
Jayson
Jacoby
█
CONTACT YOUR PUBLIC OFFICIALS
President Joe Biden: The White House, 1600
Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D.C. 20500; 202-456-
1111; to send comments, go to www.whitehouse.gov.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley: D.C. office: 313 Hart Senate
Office Building, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C., 20510;
202-224-3753; fax 202-228-3997. Portland office: One
World Trade Center, 121 S.W. Salmon St. Suite 1250,
Portland, OR 97204; 503-326-3386; fax 503-326-2900.
Baker City office, 1705 Main St., Suite 504, 541-278-
1129; merkley.senate.gov.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden: D.C. office: 221 Dirksen Senate
Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20510; 202-224-5244;
fax 202-228-2717. La Grande office: 105 Fir St., No. 210,
La Grande, OR 97850; 541-962-7691; fax, 541-963-0885;
wyden.senate.gov.
U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz (2nd District): D.C. office: 1239
Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C.,
20515, 202-225-6730; fax 202-225-5774. Medford
office: 14 N. Central Avenue Suite 112, Medford, OR
97850; Phone: 541-776-4646; fax: 541-779-0204;
Ontario office: 2430 S.W. Fourth Ave., No. 2, Ontario, OR
97914; Phone: 541-709-2040. bentz.house.gov.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown: 254 State Capitol, Salem,
OR 97310; 503-378-3111; www.governor.oregon.gov.
Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read: oregon.
treasurer@ost.state.or.us; 350 Winter St. NE, Suite 100,
Salem OR 97301-3896; 503-378-4000.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen F. Rosenblum:
Justice Building, Salem, OR 97301-4096; 503-378-4400.
Oregon Legislature: Legislative documents and
information are available online at www.leg.state.or.us.
State Sen. Lynn Findley (R-Ontario): Salem office:
900 Court St. N.E., S-403, Salem, OR 97301; 503-986-
1730. Email: Sen.LynnFindley@oregonlegislature.gov
State Rep. Mark Owens (R-Crane): Salem office: 900
Court St. N.E., H-475, Salem, OR 97301; 503-986-1460.
Email: Rep.MarkOwens@oregonlegislature.gov
Baker City Hall: 1655 First Street, P.O. Box 650, Baker
City, OR 97814; 541-523-6541; fax 541-524-2049. City
Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 7 p.m.
in Council Chambers. Councilors Jason Spriet, Kerry
McQuisten, Shane Alderson, Joanna Dixon, Kenyon
Damschen, Johnny Waggoner Sr. and Dean Guyer.
Baker City administration: 541-523-6541. Jonathan
Cannon, city manager; Ty Duby, police chief; Sean Lee,
fire chief; Michelle Owen, public works director.
Baker County Commission: Baker County Courthouse
1995 3rd St., Baker City, OR 97814; 541-523-8200.
Meets the first and third Wednesdays at 9 a.m.; Bill
Harvey (chair), Mark Bennett, Bruce Nichols.
Baker County departments: 541-523-8200. Travis
Ash, sheriff; Noodle Perkins, roadmaster; Greg Baxter,
district attorney; Alice Durflinger, county treasurer;
Stefanie Kirby, county clerk; Kerry Savage, county
assessor.
Baker School District: 2090 4th Street, Baker
City, OR 97814; 541-524-2260; fax 541-524-2564.
Superintendent: Mark Witty. Board meets the third
Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m. Council Chambers,
Baker City Hall,1655 First St.; Chris Hawkins, Andrew
Bryan, Travis Cook, Jessica Dougherty, Julie Huntington.