A13 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
EASTERN OREGON ECONOMIC SUMMIT
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2022
At the Pheasant, a candidate meets supporters
the Port of Morrow and other
activity in Eastern Oregon.
The Eastern Oregon Eco-
She added she has stood with
nomic Summit brought some
Eastern Oregon legislators on
of the state’s biggest political
their interests.
figures to Hermiston. One of
“I have had a real relation-
those individuals, gubernatorial ship with Eastern Oregon,”
candidate Betsy Johnson, visited she said.
supporters at The Pheasant Blue
Having flown into town, she
Collar Bar & Grill in Hermiston applauded recent improvements
on Friday morning, June 17.
to the Hermiston Municipal
“Eastern Oregon is not, for
Airport, calling it “one of the
me, just a stop on a political
most beautiful” fixed-base op-
campaign,” she said.
erators.
Johnson, who is running for
“And It’s nice to come out
governor as an
onto the ramp,
unaffiliated can-
and they know
“The town
didate, said she
who we are. We
comes to the re-
looks fabulous. bought some gas
gion regularly.
to help out the
... There seems airport,” she said.
She added she
has advocated
she
to be a sense of likes She to said
for, and pro-
consider
duced for, the
herself “a regular
possibility
area a great deal.
out here.”
here.”
Johnson, who
Furthermore,
was a member
she
said, “The
— Betsy Johnson,
of the Oregon
town looks
candidate for Oregon
House of Repre-
fabulous.” She
governor, about
sentatives from
called it “clean,”
Hermiston
2001 to 2005 and
“attractive” and
the Oregon Sen-
“welcoming.”
ate from 2005 to 2021, credited
“There seems to be a sense of
herself for promoting Eastern
possibility here,” Johnson said.
Oregon business.
“Hill Meat (Co.) now has ba-
LOCAL CONNECTIONS
con available in the Portland
When asked whether she
metro market because I flew the knew Hermiston Mayor David
director of the Department of
Drotzmann, she replied em-
Ag and the grocery industry out phatically that she did.
and advocated for them to have
“Hell yes, I know your
shelf space,” she said.
mayor,” she said.
She added she has promoted
She called him “a great Amer-
air service, including drones,
ican,” and she told, what she
in Pendleton. Johnson further
called, a “silly, little story.”
boasted of her work to support
Johnson has made her large
a partnership between Blue
eyeglasses a symbol of her gu-
Mountain Community College
bernatorial campaign. The
and the Pendleton Round-Up,
frames, however, “are damned-
which trained veterinary assis-
near impossible to find.”
tants and technicians.
According to Johnson, she
According to Johnson, she
spoke with the mayor, busi-
has brought other legislators to
nesspeople, the school super-
the area to promote the work of intendent and other people a
BY ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herald
Erick Peterson/Hermiston Herald
Betsy Johnson, gubernatorial candidate, holds up frames Friday, June 17, 2022, she said she has had for around 40 years. She said David Drotzmann,
Hermiston’s mayor and an optometrist, gifted her with identical frames recently. Johnson was at The Pheasant Blue Collar Bar & Grill to meet
supporters.
month ago. During the conver-
sation, she said, she mentioned
her troubles finding eyeglass
frames to the mayor. Soon after
their talk, Drotzmann, an op-
tometrist, sent her frames from
some “secret stash someplace,”
she said.
“I now have extras made up,
and I have one of them made
into sunglasses,” she said. “He
couldn’t have given me anything
that I would have welcomed
more, because they are impossi-
ble to find.”
She said she was “over the
moon.”
GOALS AS GOVERNOR AND
GETTING ON THE BALLOT
Continuing her talk, she
said she wants to make more
local contacts, especially if
elected governor, so she could
further help the area and the
entire state.
Oregon’s business inter-
ests, she said, need help. She
stated they need to be pro-
tected from excessive taxa-
tion and regulation.
“I’m talking to too many Or-
egonians who are saying, ‘We
can’t stay here. Permitting is too
difficult,’” she said.
Johnson added the state
needs to promote business,
keeping the momentum of suc-
cesses.
Johnson was at The Pheas-
ant in part to add signatures to
put her name on the November
ballot.
She said she has until
mid-August to obtain roughly
25,000 signatures.
“We will get many more than
that,” she said.
A representative from John-
son’s campaign stated it col-
lected more than 100 signa-
tures in visits to Hermiston and
Pendleton. Meanwhile, many
more signatures from other Or-
egonians were inundating John-
son’s office.
“We know we’re over 5,000.
We’re not sure how close we are
to 10,000,” the campaign repre-
sentative said.
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