March 20, 2015 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 9A
Walker wins Oregon GOP presidential straw poll
Dorchester Conference ponders 2016, staying relevant
By Katherine Lacaze
Seaside Signal
About 300 people deliber-
ated the future of the Oregon
Republican Party at the 51st
annual Dorchester Confer-
ence, which featured speech-
es from state politicians, a
2016 presidential candidate
straw poll and group discus-
sions on several timely issues.
The conference ran from
March 13 through 15 at the
Seaside Civic and Conven-
tion Center.
The main event was Sun-
day’s presidential straw vote,
a conference tradition where
attendees selected who tops
their candidate list to run
for the Republican Party in
the 2016 presidential elec-
tion. The winner of the 2015
Dorchester straw poll was
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker
with 39 votes.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb
Bush was the runner-up with
22 votes. Florida Sen. Marco
Rubio was third.
Other candidates men-
tioned were New Jersey Gov.
Chris Christie; Ohio Gov.
John Kasich; Kentucky Sen.
Rand Paul; ; former Alaska
Gov. Sarah Palin; former Ar-
kansas Gov. Mike Huckabee;
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal;
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth
Warren; and a few others. Not
all conference participants
voted in the poll.
A few attendees, during
the open comment session
before the vote, suggested Jeb
Bush could be a problematic
candidate for his last name
alone — he is the son of for-
mer president George H.W.
Bush and the younger brother
of former president George
W. Bush, who both are wide-
ly unpopular with Democrats.
“I feel so strongly we’re
speech expressing disap-
pointment in the current
federal administration and
just shooting ourselves in the
touting the importance of
foot if we vote for Jeb Bush”
the 2016 election for the
in the Republican presidential
Republican Party.
primaries, said Ginny Brew-
Many leading Demo-
ster, of Happy Valley.
crats, Walden said, includ-
Others felt Bush did a
ing Obama and former U.S.
good job as governor of Flor-
Secretary of State Hillary
ida and that having guberna-
Clinton, are lacking in
torial experience is important
transparency, violating the
for the president. He could
law and U.S. Constitution,
likely overcome his name’s
isolating allies and cozying
associations, they said.
up to countries that pose
Supporters of Walker talk-
a threat to U.S. interests.
ed of his practiced leadership,
KATHERINE LACAZE PHOTO He also expressed distaste
his ability to win a governor-
for former Speaker of the
ship in a traditionally blue Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., spoke at the 51st annual Dorchester Conference in Seaside, held
March 13 through 15.
House Nancy Pelosi, say-
state and his marketability.
ing he and Rep. Pete Ses-
Alison Bruun, president
of the Dorchester board of ty as being full-spectrum general public or the candi-
The conference also fea- sions, R-Texas, had made
dates selected to represent the tured a debate on the issue of it a mutual goal to “get her
directors, said, no matter who and socially diverse.
A few attendees suggested party. Rather than shifting to Uber, taxis and town cars as ¿UHG´
is selected, the Oregon Re-
Walden spoke about what
publicans must be organized, the party is out of touch with the center, they said, the cen- forms of transportation and
XQL¿HGDQGIXOO\VXSSRUWWKDW mainstream views and some- ter must be shifted to the right. what actions a government he believes are some recent
Kathy Lamberg, of Lane should take to ensure the pub- Republican victories, such
candidate. She expressed the times isolates individuals
desire to once again make Or- who don’t believe in all com- County, and several others OLFLVVDIHDQGWKHSOD\LQJ¿HOG as electing the country’s
egon a swing state that will in- ponents of the general party said the Republican Party is level when companies try \RXQJHVW SHUVRQ WR RI¿FH
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y.;
must work harder to show it to circumvent the rules.
duce presidential candidates platform.
Marshall Kosloff, of Lake is genuinely concerned with
to make campaign stops.
Terrorism and counterter- ÀLSSLQJ)ORULGD¶VWK&RQ-
Oswego, said the party needs the welfare of constituents. rorism was the topic of an- gressional District with Car-
Discussing the issues to more appropriately address Lamberg, who ran for state other issue discussion and the los Curbelo; and electing the
How the Republican Party WKHFRQFHUQVVSHFL¿FWR2UH- representative of the 14th dis- debate focused on the utility ¿UVWEODFN5HSXEOLFDQZRP-
can stay relevant in Oregon gonians, such as health care trict last year, said that can be of economic sanctions.
an in Congress, Rep. Mia
ZDV RQH RI WKH PRVW VLJQL¿- costs, tax increases and mak- accomplished by “bringing a
After the debate, attendees Love, of Utah.
cant and complicated topics ing post-secondary educa- personal relationship to peo- voted on a resolution posing
“As we get ready
discussed by the group.
tion accessible to all people. ple” and expressing “the idea the question: Was President for 2016,” Walden said,
As of February, 37.7 per- 7KRVHVWDWHVSHFL¿FLVVXHVKH that we really care.”
Barack Obama premature “you’ve got to realize (the
cent of Oregon voters were said, must be elevated above
Other suggestions includ- in lifting the economic sanc- opposition) may have the
registered Democrats; 32.5 the main issues targeted by ed:
tions against Cuba and should elites and they may have
percent were registered non- the national Republican Party.
• Expanding the party’s so- the policy be reversed and the the liberal press and all the
DI¿OLDWHG LQGHSHQGHQW RU
“The voters have moved cial media presence;
sanctions reimposed to try to bureaucracy in Washington
minority parties; and 29.8 away from our core posi-
• Marketing the party in a bring regime change for the on their side, and they’ll use
percent were registered Re- tions,” said attendee Jim more appealing way and with good of the Cuban people? every lever — this admin-
publicans, according to the Parker. The party must be better commercials;
A majority of conference at- istration is all about Chica-
Oregon Secretary of State’s willing to reposition itself to
• Communicating how tendees voted “no,” although go-style politics — but we
2I¿FH7KH*UDQG2OG3DUW\ be aligned closer to voters’ the Oregon Republican party a few spoke against the way have the spirit of freedom
hasn’t nabbed the governor- ideals and concerns, he said.
is different from the national in which the sanctions were and the will of the American
ship since Vic Atiyeh led the
party and George W. Bush’s lifted and felt the U.S. didn’t people to move forward and
Communication
state in the 1980s.
regime;
get any concessions in the win. We have to prevail. ...
You know what the conse-
Small groups of people problem
• Reaching out to new vot- process.
quences are if we don’t. Can
were separated around ta-
ers as soon as they register;
Other attendees suggested
you imagine a third term of
bles. Each table generated
• Broadening the party’s Making a change
Barack Obama headed up
a few ideas that then were it’s not Republican ideologies positions and policies; and
next year
by Hillary Clinton? That is
presented to the entire that have strayed from pop-
• Running for a special
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, what we will get, and it’s not
group. Some of those ideas ular opinion but rather how district commission or board
R-Ore., gave the keynote what we can afford.”
included marketing the par- they’re communicated to the seat in the May 19 election.
Vandenberg calls conference cancellation ‘unfortunate’
Conference from Page 1A
The conference is intended
for educators, health personnel,
counselors, social and youth
service workers, parents, teen
parent program staff, commu-
nity members and teens, ac-
cording to the event website. A
majority of participants in the
past have been older than 18;
those younger than 18 had to
have written parental permis-
sion and be accompanied by
a legal guardian or chaperone.
The content is aligned with
Oregon’s Comprehensive Sex-
uality Education requirements,
according to the Oregon Teen
Pregnancy Task Force. Those
requirements state all human
sexuality education programs
should emphasize abstinence
as the only method that is 100
percent effective against unin-
tended pregnancy and sexually
transmitted disease.
“Such courses are to ac-
knowledge the value of absti-
nence while not devaluing or ig-
noring those students who have
had or are having sexual rela-
tionships,” the rule states. “Fur-
ther, sexuality education mate-
rials, instructional strategies and
activities must not, in any way,
use shame or fear-based tactics.”
During the 2014 conference,
a keynote speaker discussed
abstinence and a workshop was
conducted on abstinence; other
sessions addressed healthy
relationship skills; and discus-
sions centered on youth-adult
communication.
Price of cancellation
Convention center con-
tracts normally include a
$1,000 fee if an event is
canceled within 12 months
of its scheduled date. In this
case, because of the center’s
longtime relationship with
the client, the cancellation
fee was waived as a courte-
sy, said Russ Vandenberg,
the center’s general man-
ager. That courtesy often
is extended to long-term
customers, or the fee is ap-
plied to a future booking,
LOUIE OPATZ PHOTO
Pete Battjes protested the Ad-
olescent Sexuality Conference
last year outside the Seaside
Civic and Convention Center.
which wasn’t done in this in-
stance, said Director of Sales
Gretchen Darnell.
The organizers “weren’t very
specific” and “didn’t go into any
detail” about why they were
canceling, Vandenberg said.
The Oregon Teen Preg-
nancy Task Force’s email
announcing the cancellation
referenced the more than 30
years the conference has “pro-
vided valuable content and dis-
cussion to inform and engage
public educators, health pro-
fessionals, parents and youth.”
“Our mission continues
to be focused on facilitating
communication and aware-
ness on all facets of healthy
sexuality for youth in our
community,” the email states.
“While we remain clear in our
vision, we feel current condi-
tions have shifted the setting
and our ability to offer open,
safe and honest conversations
about sexuality.”
In addition, the email states,
the organizers value their rela-
tionship with the Seaside com-
munity and “cannot, in good
conscience, hold a conference
when we believe conference par-
ticipants and our Seaside partners
may be put in uncomfortable or
unpleasant situations.”
The city received some
pressure to cancel the event a
few months ago, but the Sea-
side City Council chose to not
breach its contract with the
group and to allow use of the
convention center this year.
Vandenberg called the
cancellation “unfortunate.”
“We don’t like losing
events,” he said. “We’re here
to drive economic impact. We
weren’t hoping they would
cancel by any means. ... We
don’t judge clients or judge
what they bring into the build-
ing. If we got into the business
of starting to judge clients and
what they did, it wouldn’t be
professional on our part.”
The group’s rental fees for
2015 were $1,125, but Dar-
nell said it “is hard to specu-
late what the revenue loss is
exactly.”
“We don’t know what
their food and beverage costs
would be, as they hadn’t or-
dered it yet,” she said.
While they are pursuing
other groups to use the center,
Vandenberg said, “It’s unlike-
ly someone will, because of
the short time frame.”
Individuals who had paid
their registration fees will be
refunded and cashed checks
will be reimbursed, according
to the task force.
“We remain dedicated to
our mission and will carefully
consider how to continue our
work in a positive, respectful
manner,” the task force said.
“Thank you for your contin-
ued support.”
Event organizers have not
said if or when the conference
will take place in the future.
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