Friday, March 4, 2022 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A3
In South County, an advisory committee seeks more autonomy
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
As Clatsop County over-
hauls its comprehensive
plan, a citizen advisory com-
mittee tasked with updat-
ing its own community plan
around Arch Cape has turned
in a document that may vio-
late state statute, according
to county staff.
The county’s compre-
hensive plan, which hasn’t
been revamped since 1980,
will shape the direction of
development — from natu-
ral resource management to
housing to transportation —
in the county’s unincorpo-
rated areas for the next two
decades.
The plan is composed of
statewide land use goals, as
well as community plans
for six regions: Northeast,
Clatsop Plains, Lewis &
Clark
Olney-Wallooskee,
Elsie-Jewell, Seaside Rural
and Southwest Coastal. Cit-
izen advisory committees
were formed to update each
plan.
Last April, the county
Board of Commissioners
chose to press pause on the
update process. They were
concerned about the pace
of the advisory committees’
work and with some of the
policy proposals emerging
from them.
The update resumed in
August. In December, the
committees submitted the
results.
As drafted, the commu-
nity plans contain aspira-
tional goals — a number
mention ways to mitigate
the local impact of climate
change, a goal some county
commissioners
have
expressed misgivings about.
But
the
Southwest
Coastal plan, which covers
the wealthy enclaves around
Arch Cape, presents distinct
problems and may run afoul
of Oregon law.
The new committee plan
may curtail the rights of
property owners and con-
strain how their land may be
developed.
The plan would expand
vegetated buffer zones from
25 to 50 feet from stream
banks. Areas identified as
tsunami inundation zones
may be closed to develop-
ment. The plan recommends
vacating old undeveloped
plats, essentially dissolv-
ing owners’ property lines,
drawn up before communi-
ties were sensitive to the nat-
ural topography.
In addition, the plan
includes a section for han-
dling
vacation
rentals,
appearing to get ahead of a
process already underway at
the county level for regulat-
ing the controversial enter-
prises in unincorporated
areas. As the North Coast
becomes a popular tour-
ist destination, certain areas
have felt the pressures of
parking, noise and other nui-
sances more than others.
In its proposed plan, the
Southwest Coastal commit-
tee recommends that short-
term rentals be defined as
commercial ventures that
should be confined to com-
mercial zones. They also
recommend that the county
adopt a plan to phase out
short-term rentals in Coastal
Residential zones by not
allowing property owners
to renew or transfer their
licenses, and to consider
rewarding with tax credits
those property owners who
end their licenses early.
Narrative
Charles Dice, the chair-
man of the Southwest
Coastal citizen advisory
committee, who lives in
Cove Beach, said the short-
term rental language was
included because the expe-
dited deadline to submit
the updated plan happened
to fall before the county’s
short-term rental discussion
ended.
“If we were going to say
anything on what our recom-
mendations were, we needed
to get them into the report,”
Dice said. “We didn’t have
the option of waiting.”
A county staff memo also
pointed to “bias displayed in
the narrative.”
For example, a section
that seeks to resurrect a qua-
si-judicial Arch Cape design
review committee that the
county Board of Commis-
sioners dissolved in 2017
notes that the vote was taken
“over strong support from
the community for continu-
ing” the committee.
This design panel evolved
out of the last Southwest
Coastal advisory commit-
tee that worked on the pre-
vious comprehensive plan,
and took a heavy hand in
the area’s land use. The new
proposal recommends some-
thing similar with the current
advisory committee:
“It is the desire of the cur-
rent CAC that this commit-
tee be made a standing com-
mittee to represent the region
in land use planning and
other development matters,
and to facilitate the flow of
information between com-
munity members and county
government,” the plan reads.
Dice said the board’s
desire in bringing back the
design review committee
was to adhere to the first of
the state’s 19 planning goals:
citizen involvement.
“We felt really strongly
that, to adhere to goal one, it
was really essential to have
a better mechanism for local
involvement, such as the
design review board,” Dice
said.
County staff told the
Southwest Coastal commit-
tee that some of the recom-
mendations may not be legal.
“They had told us it would
go through a legal review in
any event,” Dice said. “So
we figured we’d make our
recommendations and let it
go through the legal review.”
‘It’s ignored’
At a Board of Commis-
sioners work session last
month, the board unani-
mously disapproved of the
document.
County Commissioner
Lianne Thompson, whose
district encompasses South-
west Coastal, asked, “How
much more public money —
taxpayer dollars — and vol-
unteer time and staff time
and commissioner time do
we expend for a group that
doesn’t want to play by the
rules?”
A land use attorney will
review the community plans.
Dice said committee
members were “surprised
and disappointed” by the
board’s reaction. He said the
plan they submitted was not
intended as a statement.
“We only had one thing
in mind, and that was to
make sure that our recom-
mendations … reflected the
current state of affairs in the
community — and a num-
ber of things clearly have
changed in our area over
the last 40 years — and to
indicate what the people
are very interested in,” he
said.
A Planning Commission
review of the Southwest
Coastal plan has not been
scheduled. The Board of
Commissioners is looking to
adopt the updated compre-
hensive plan this summer.
County Commissioner
Courtney Bangs said the
Southwest Coastal plan
highlights a reason for last
year’s pause.
“Even when staff is giv-
ing guidance, and it’s giv-
ing valuable guidance, it’s
ignored,” Bangs said.
Incumbents pile up huge cash advantage to start 2022 races for Congress
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
Oregon’s congressional
incumbents have piled up
a crushing campaign cash
advantage over potential
challengers, according to
recent federal records.
The one U.S. senator and
five incumbent U.S. House
members whose seats are up
for election in 2022 began
the year with a combined
$13,895,939 in the bank,
according to the Federal
Elections Commission.
The bulging bankrolls are
seen as a hedge against the
political upheaval that led to
control of the White House,
U.S. Senate and U.S. House
swinging from Republicans
to Democrats, with a strong
chance of Congress swing-
ing back this year.
“Incumbency still mat-
ters but it doesn’t have the
importance that it once did,”
said Kyle Kondik, a lead
analyst at the University of
Virginia Center for Politics.
“A warchest can help deter
challengers in both prima-
ries and general elections.”
The 2022 outcome mat-
ters beyond the individual
fates of one of 100 U.S. Sen-
ators and Oregon’s six seats
in the 435-member U.S.
House.
Republicans can take
back the House by flip-
ping just five Democratic
seats. The Senate is split
50-50, with Democrats hav-
ing official control because
the U.S. Constitution makes
Vice-President Kamala Har-
ris the tiebreaker if needed,
in her role as President of
the Senate.
While candidates, espe-
cially challengers, will pro-
claim that elections will be
decided on issues, the finan-
cial heft of incumbents give
them a larger, louder mega-
phone to make their case.
Even in races when there
is little audible voice heard
from any other side.
Oregon’s closed prima-
ries allow voters to winnow
dozens of candidates in the
May 17 election to usually
no more than two when all
voters can cast a ballot.
Campaign fundraising
last year has been fueled by
anxiety over pandemic-re-
lated redistricting delays.
The geographical shape
and partisan tilt of Ore-
gon’s congressional districts
weren’t final until an Ore-
gon Supreme Court decision
three days before Thanks-
giving 2021.
Congressional race fund-
raising must follow fed-
eral campaign finance rules,
which are far more restric-
tive than Oregon’s nearly
non-existent limits on races
for state offices.
Candidates must still
file for office with the Ore-
CANDIDATE FUNDS FOR 2022
ELECTIONS FOR CONGRESS
Candidates running in the 2022 election for Oregon’s one
U.S. Senate seat and six congressional seats on the ballot
were required to file year-end campaign finance reports
with the Federal Elections Commission. The reports includ-
ed money raised, spent and on-hand in the candidate’s
main political action committee at the end of 2021.
The list below includes only candidates who filed to create
campaign finance committees prior to Jan. 1, 2022. Can-
didates with who raised or spent less than $5,000 are not
required to file a report. Candidates who did not file reports
or had zero activity are not included in this list.
The Oregon Secretary of State requires congressional candi-
dates to file for office. The deadline for the May 17 primary
is March 8. Candidates must file with the FEC to raise and
spend funds.
The FEC and Oregon Secretary of State lists of candidates
do not completely match because of different timelines and
requirements.
ONLINE
Gary Warner
Final map of the six congressional districts on the 2022 ballot.
gon
Secre-
tary of State
by March 8,
but it’s redun-
dant — the
FEC requires
a statement of
Cliff Bentz
candidacy
filing to raise
funds. Many were on file as
early as January 2021.
On the flip side, can-
didates who file with the
state for congressional races
without filing with the FEC
aren’t in the race.
FEC rules are copious.
Individual contributions to
federal candidates in the
2022 election are capped
at $2,900 — no direct $1
million checks of the type
signed by Nike founder Phil
Knight in the 2018 gover-
nor’s race are allowed.
There are a host of addi-
tional limits for contribu-
tions to and from political
parties and the extensive
menu of different kinds of
political action committees.
The rules have turned
federal fundraising into an
art form, often in the form
of “bundling” seemingly
separate contributions from
individuals who work for
the same industry, union or
other groups.
Websites such as opense-
crets.org parse contributions
to give roadmaps to which
candidate is getting a major
boost from a specific group
or sector.
More than half of the
Oregon incumbents’ haul
was held by U.S. Sen. Ron
Wyden, D-Oregon, who is
seeking another six-year
term in the seat he first won
in a 1996 special election.
His year-end report showed
slightly under $7.18 million
on hand.
Wyden gets his largest
donations from those list-
ing “retired” as their occu-
pation. As chair of the Sen-
ate Finance Committee, his
Peter DeFazio
Kurt Schrader
second largest grouping of
donations is from the secu-
rities and investment sector,
with the single largest chunk
— $41,500 — coming from
Lazard Ltd., a New York-
based investment firm.
Of the seven candidates
seeking to oust Wyden who
have created fundraising
committees with the Federal
Election Commission, only
four filed year-end reports.
Their total available cash:
$78,529. Wyden has nearly
100 times that amount.
The five U.S. House
incumbents — four Demo-
crats and one Republican —
have just over $6.7 million
on hand at the beginning of
the year.
While some races appear
now to be slam-dunks,
incumbents were unsure
who would come out as win-
ners and losers in the redis-
tricting done late last year by
the Legislature and reviewed
by the courts.
U.S.
Rep.
Suzanne
Bonamici,
D-Beaverton
inherits a highly Democratic
leaning 1st Congressional
District. Same for U.S. Rep.
Earl Blumenauer, D-Port-
land in the 3rd Congressio-
nal District.
U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz,
R-Ontario, saw his already
heavily Republican 2nd Con-
gressional District drawn
even more red with Demo-
cratic-tilting Bend extracted
from his constituency.
In the 1st, 2nd and 3rd dis-
tricts, incumbents together
have raised nearly $1.9 mil-
lion. Opponents: zero.
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio,
D-Springfield, started 2022
Ron Wyden
with just over
$1.26 million
in the bank and
filed a statement
of candidacy for
the 4th Congres-
sional District
race with the
FEC in January
2021.
With redistricting secur-
ing a stronger Democratic
edge, DeFazio announced
late last year that he would
retire. He’s endorsed Labor
Commissioner Val Hoyle of
Springfield, who dropped a
re-election bid to jump into
the congressional race.
Republican Alek Skar-
latos of Roseburg, who lost
a tight race to DeFazio in
2020, is trying again. He
is the best financed chal-
lenger in any congressio-
nal race, with $348,367 in
See this story at seasidesignal.com to see a list of candi-
dates and their campaign funds.
the bank at the start of 2022.
He’s also receiving money
from two political action
committees set up to share
money between multiple
candidates.
In the 5th Congressio-
nal District, U.S. Rep. Kurt
Schrader, D-Canby, totaled
$3.5 million for his re-elec-
tion bid. While the district
number is the same, the
boundaries were radically
shifted east during redis-
tricting. He’ll need it to fight
off liberal challengers in the
May primary. Schrader or
an insurgent Democrat will
face off against a well-fi-
nanced
Republican
in
November.
The new 6th Congres-
sional District that Ore-
gon received for its popu-
lation growth over the past
decade has no incumbent.
Unsurprisingly, 11 candi-
dates have filed for the seat
with the FEC, more than all
the other five races, incum-
bents and challengers, put
together.
Alongside the national
political uncertainty, candi-
dates face two other key fac-
tors: closed primaries and
delayed redistricting.
Oregon has 2,947,391
registered voters as of Sep-
tember 2021, the most recent
count by the Secretary of
State. The total includes
1,026,313 Democrats and
729,676 Republicans.
Both parties hold closed
primaries, wherein only reg-
istered party members can
vote on May 17. The scores
of candidates for offices
ranging from U.S. Senator
and governor to county com-
missioners are winnowed to
mostly one-on-one races for
the general election.