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NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Redistricting
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week to stop Fagan from draw-
ing her own maps.
Fagan wants the Legislature
to draw districts using alter-
native data to the U.S. Cen-
sus. The Oregon Constitu-
tion doesn’t explicitly demand
redistricting be done with the
census numbers.
But it always has used the
census, lawmakers say. Doing
things diff erently than how it’s
been done for more than a cen-
tury would be a surefi re way to
tangle with federal courts want-
ing to ensure Oregon was fol-
lowing civil rights and voting
rights laws.
While the court sifts through
the paperwork, the Legislature
is planning/hoping/praying the
Oregon Supreme Court will
pick its solution. A way to move
things along in advance would
be to hold the 10 required hear-
ings — two in each of the cur-
rent fi ve congressional districts.
Which brings things back
to COVID-19. The usual “road
trip” of lawmakers to districts
to hear from voters aren’t hap-
pening this year because of
COVID-19. All 10 redistricting
hearings will be virtual.
Wednesday’s hearing was
Congressional District 2, a
nearly
70,000-square-mile
expanse that share borders with
California, Nevada, Idaho and
Washington. Anyone living east
of the Cascades, plus a chunk of
the southwest part of the state,
lives in the 2nd District.
All four of the other con-
gressional districts are repre-
sented by Democrats. The 2nd
is solidly Republican, with
freshman U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz,
R-Ontario, in the seat.
The hearing Wednesday
would require something of a
technical miracle. Video testi-
mony expected from Wallowa
County, Bend, Medford, Klam-
ath Falls and several other spots
in the district taxed the Leg-
islature’s internet capabilities.
Balky phone lines, echoing
microphones, stuck mute but-
tons and more led to frequent
silent spots. Many of the people
who signed up to testify either
couldn’t get through or gave up
prior to their turn in the queue.
Two who signed up discov-
ered they lived in other con-
gressional districts.
One caller wanted to know
why Wallowa County had been
left off a map of Greater Idaho.
Some of the panel members
squinted “what?”
Rep. Daniel Bonham,
R-Dallas, fi nally piped up to
explain the caller’s query was
about a theoretical secession
of much of Eastern Oregon to
form “Greater Idaho” with the
neighboring state to the east.
Bonham even helpfully
added that maps circulating for
the mythical “Greater Idaho”
state did not include Wallowa
County, though he wasn’t sure
why. With the mystery aside,
the discussion could return to
Oregon.
For over an hour, the com-
mittee heard three main themes:
The district was much too large.
It included diff erent communi-
ties with diff erent identities, and
in the case of Malheur County,
a completely diff erent time
zone (Rocky Mountain Time).
Finally, the desires of peo-
ple in the district were too often
ignored in the capitals of Wash-
ington and Salem. How they
were ignored depended on each
testimonial.
In a written statement, Uma-
tilla County Commissioner
George Murdock struck a note
between hope and resignation
over the likely outcome of the
process.
“My greatest concern is that
our district could be gerryman-
dered in order to further dimin-
ish representation for a portion
of Oregon that refl ects ideol-
ogy, values, and interests much
diff erent than the remainder of
Oregon,” Murdock said.
New districts should “geo-
graphically make sense” to
retain an Eastern Oregon voice
in Washington and Salem.
“If Oregon gets a new seat,
we are not naive enough to
expect more representation for
Eastern Oregon but we would
like to retain what we have,”
Murdock said.
Nathan Soltz, chairman of
the Democratic Party of Ore-
gon’s 2nd Congressional Dis-
trict Committee, said the sparse
population and vast land-
scape made it diffi cult for com-
munities to feel any mutual
connection.
“You can drive from Med-
ford to Enterprise — about 10
hours — and never leave CD2,”
he said.
Ann Snyder of Ashwood in
Jeff erson County agreed that
the current boundaries created
an oversized area with too many
acres and not enough people.
“District 2 is geographically
too big for one person to accu-
rately represent,” Snyder said
in written testimony. “Trying to
cover an area from Medford to
Hood River and the Cascades to
the Idaho border is too much,
and the people are too diverse.”
Brad Bennington of Jackson
County said lawmakers needed
to listen more to rural voters.
“There is more to the state
than just Portland and Salem,”
he said. “There are a lot of peo-
ple who feel they haven’t been
heard.”
Bennington said he would
give the legislators the “benefi t
of the doubt” in drawing politi-
cal maps.
“Democrats can keep them-
selves in the supermajority until
the day the sun doesn’t come
up,” he said.
But Barbara Klein of Ash-
land said she experienced the
opposite feeling. She wanted
congressional and state districts
that would have more in com-
mon with the arts town at the
foot of the Siskiyou Mountains.
“Don’t separate us from
Bend, Deschutes County,” she
said. “Communities that have
shared values, a bit more left
leaning.”
Todd Nash of Enterprise
said it would be diffi cult to
draw political maps with so lit-
tle population to pool into a
district.
“We have about 320 acres
per person,” he said.
Craig Martell of Baker City
said proximity and highway
connections should guide the
grouping of communities in
districts.
“Baker City and La Grande,
only 44 miles apart on Interstate
84, belong in the same district,”
he wrote. “As lines are cur-
rently drawn, Senate District 30
is a grotesque gerrymandered
monstrosity.”
Mimi Alkire of Deschutes
County represented the League
of Women Voters, which sup-
ports the creation of an inde-
pendent redistricting commit-
tee to draw the lines instead of
lawmakers.
“Redistricting has been used
to restrict and dilute voters,”
she said. “Voters should choose
their representatives, not have
representatives choosing their
voters.”
Resolutions have been
introduced in the Legislature
to move to a commission like
those already used in Califor-
nia and several other states.
Several speakers endorsed such
a plan. But even if approved
by the House and Senate, the
change to the state constitution
would need voter approval. Any
change wouldn’t occur until the
2031 redistricting.
Joanne Mina, volunteer
coordinator for the Latino Com-
munity Association, based in
Bend, said it was important for
lawmakers to make sure that the
census numbers were a com-
plete count.
“The Latinx population
has grown from a few thou-
sands in the 90s to over 20,000
strong across all of Central Ore-
gon — our region is united by
commerce, culture and values,”
she said. “Central Oregon is
not what it used to be, we are
more vibrant, enriched and bold
because of all the people that
make up our community.”
At the end of the evening,
Salinas, chair of the House
committee, said the gather-
ing of so many people from so
many places had been time well
spent.
“A robust debate,” she said.
The video ended. The com-
mittee will hold a second hear-
ing on Saturday, March 20, at
1 p.m.
Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Eagle fi le photo
Grant County Commissioner Sam Palmer during a March session of County Court.
Lawsuit
Continued from Page A1
set up to help Black-owned businesses.
Under the terms of the settlement
agreement, Great Northern would receive
$45,000, plus up to $186,000 in fees for
its attorneys.
The settlement proposal noted that
$25,000 of the logging company’s payout
would be for COVID-19-related expenses
listed on its grant application, while the
additional $20,000 would be its service
award as the lead plaintiff of the class-ac-
tion lawsuit.
Applications that were submitted on
time by business owners who are not
Black will be automatically considered
for funding through the grant program
unless they opt out of the class action set-
tlement, according to the settlement.
Houpt declined to comment Friday,
and Palmer did not immediately respond
to the Eagle as of Friday. Palmer told
the Eagle in December that he was not
involved in the lawsuit.
In a Friday press release, the Oregon
Cares Fund said, amid mounting legal
challenges, the fund off ered to deposit
with the court the remaining $8.8 million
it had not distributed, after distributing
$49.5 million to nearly 15,600 Black peo-
ple, their families and their businesses.
If the court approves the settlement,
$5.3 million of the funds deposited with
the court will be immediately released,
and can be dispersed to eligible appli-
cants who have been waiting for grants.
The remaining $3.5 million will continue
to be held.
Great Northern — the original plain-
tiff s in the case — joined with Salem elec-
trical contractor Dynamic Service Fire
and Security and sought class-action sta-
tus for the suit, according to a complaint
fi led Dec. 6.
The state, per the settlement, agreed to
use a diff erent pot of money to pay grants
to up to 1,252 non-Black applicants that
sought funding through the program
before Dec. 8, 2020.
An independent third party will deter-
mine how much money those newly eligi-
ble will receive.
According to the agreement, the appli-
cants must meet the fund’s race-neutral
criteria and adequately demonstrate fi nan-
cial loss related to the coronavirus.
According to the settlement agree-
ment, the independent party issuing the
funds would apply the same criteria —
except for racial self-identifi cation —
the Oregon Cares Fund had in awarding
claims.
Not all claims will qualify for an
award, according to the court document.
By agreeing to the settlement, the court
document said, neither side is admitting
guilt. The state is settling to avoid “com-
plex, costly and time-consuming litiga-
tion and the likelihood of success on the
action’s merit.”
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COVID-19
Continued from Page A1
“Younger groups gener-
ally have less to be concerned
about,” Lindsay said. “But
for the older population, par-
ticularly residents of the care
center, it’s their home. They
have no other place they
can go.”
In its press release last
week, the care center said
the infected residents would
require written approval from
the Oregon Health Authority
before they can be allowed
back to the facility.
Although some of the
recent cases have been linked
to gatherings, Lindsay said
they are not the “end all,
be all” in terms of what has
caused the community spread.
Nonetheless, she said, the
jump in infections at the care
center and, more broadly, the
county highlight the need to
be “extremely thoughtful.”
She said she could not
get into specifi cs regard-
ing the cause of the spread
of the virus. She said Blue
Mountain Hospital District
management had taken all
appropriate precautions with
its staff .
She said someone close to
her is a resident at a care cen-
ter elsewhere, and she can
empathize with people who
want to visit their loved ones
at the care center.
On one hand, she said
she does not want to spread
“fear and paranoia,” but on
the other, she said she is con-
cerned about the impact of
community spread.