Oregon Governor Megathread

[NOVA Green]

Please Oregon just elect Ted Wheeler, we don’t need journalist or celebrity politicians

Good Lord... NO!!!

Wheeler managed to simultaneously both piss off Progressive DEMs, Indies, and fired up the PUB downstate base with his handling of the BLM Protests in PDX last Year.

Even if he were to win the DEM PRIM, he might well go down in the GE, since OR PUBs actually tend to be pragmatic about their selections for potentially statewide wins, despite the fact that their base is one of kookier in most States in the US.

[NOVA Green]

i think this whole prospect is totally absurd and he should think long and hard about why he really wants to do this

Yeah--- I mean he does have some OR roots, but even in the DEM PRIM he's gonna face some obstacles.

OR is generally a State with a very weak based party structure compared to many other states, so it's not like he's going to face entrenched local county party machines, but still generally OR-GOV Primaries are more like looking at known political figures who have actually delivered some results, and not some "rando journalist dude".

(His name recognition is low even among party activists, since most Oregon Democrats don't have subscriptions to the NYT).

I guess his edge might be being able to dump a bunch of outside $$$ into the race in the various media markets with what is likely to be a very crowded DEM field and slip over the top.

Still, if PUBs actually nominate a semi-sane GOV candidate, it will be very easy to represent him as a creature of New York big $$$ and elite media, and make it much more difficult to get the DEM margins in heavily PUB rurals, not to mention taking a whacking in the PDX 'Burbs and places like that outside of Salem, Corvallis, Eugene, & Medford) (Which really is where PUBs need to over-perform to have a shot at winning statewide elections these days).

[NOVA Green]

Given his alliance with moral conservatives in helping whip up a moral panic over sex workers, that seems very left field.

Forgot that he was "that guy" on the New York Times.

Probably won't get him any points in the DEM PRIM considering that OR has the largest % of strip clubs per capita compared to just about any other State in the Union (or at least overwhelmingly DEM PDX does for sure).

[NOVA Green]

Not quite sure where to put this, but I figured the OR 2022 GOV Megathread probably made sense.

....

In the poll of 600 likely Oregon Republican primary voters conducted in early November, 75% said they view Trump favorably, and 58% think that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him. Just over 60% of respondents said that Republican candidates for statewide office should be “more like Trump” while 23% said they should be less like him.

That was enough to prompt John von Schlegell, a prominent Portland business executive and political novice who commissioned the poll while he considered jumping into the race, to abandon that notion.

“After looking at all the data, as much as I believe a moderate Republican would be really good for this state, it would be difficult to pull off,” said von Schlegell, co-founder of Endeavour Capital, one of Portland’s best-known private equity firms.

....

Well ahead of the May primary that will determine the party’s nominee for the top state office, most frequent Republican voters — some 67% — are unsure who they’ll back, the poll found.

Bud Pierce, the Salem doctor who was the party’s nominee in 2016 before getting trounced by Kate Brown in the general election, got significantly more support than any of the other Republicans named in the poll. When asked who they would vote for if the primary were tomorrow, 13.7% went with Pierce.

....

https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2021/12/would-be-candidates-poll-shows-donald-trumps-lock-on-oregon-republicans.html

[NOVA Green]

This is a sleeper race. Brown is the least popular governor in the nation right now and it's a democratic midterm. Lean D.

Kate is term limited and not eligible to run for reelection, just in case anybody misinterprets.

That being said many OR GOV races tend to be much closer than PRES & SEN races, even in recent years.

Agree at this point would default to Lean D until we get a better sense of the state of the respective DEM & PUB primaries plus the potential of a "MOD DEM" wildcard getting cross-over PUB support.

[NOVA Green]

Betsy Johnson gets some additional momentum & support.

Article is beyond the Oregonian paywall unless you use your free monthly article for "subscriber exclusive content".

Here is an exerpt:

"People for Portland co-founders join Oregon governor’s race as advisers to Betsy Johnson


Two of Oregon’s top political consultants have officially signed on to help former state Sen. Betsy Johnson launch an independent bid for governor.

The pair, Dan Lavey and Kevin Looper, more recently worked together on People for Portland, an anonymous, well-funded advocacy campaign pushing local elected leaders to take urgent action on crime, homelessness and other livability issues that have bedeviled the state’s largest city.

Lavey told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Monday that he and Looper will provide messaging, strategy and advice to Johnson, a moderate Democrat who has garnered substantial financial support from an array of business, civic and political backers.

Filings show she has amassed more than $3.4 million to date, an amount that far outpaces any of her rivals. The increasingly crowded field include Democrats such as House Speaker Tina Kotek, state Treasurer Tobias Read and former New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, while House Minority Leader Christine Drazen, physician Bud Pierce and Sandy Mayor Stan Pulliam are among the Republican contenders.

....

Lavey and Looper co-founded People for Portland, which placed ads on TV and online and directed a mass emailing campaign to members of the Portland City Council, Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, Metro Council and state lawmakers who represent Portland.

The dark money group disclosed it spent more than $500,000 in the three months ending Sept. 30, city lobbying reports show.

....


"


https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2021/12/people-for-portland-co-founders-join-oregon-governors-race-as-advisers-to-betsy-johnson.html

[NOVA Green]

Betsy Johnson gets some additional momentum & support.

Article is beyond the Oregonian paywall unless you use your free monthly article for "subscriber exclusive content".

Here is an exerpt:

"People for Portland co-founders join Oregon governor’s race as advisers to Betsy Johnson


Two of Oregon’s top political consultants have officially signed on to help former state Sen. Betsy Johnson launch an independent bid for governor.

The pair, Dan Lavey and Kevin Looper, more recently worked together on People for Portland, an anonymous, well-funded advocacy campaign pushing local elected leaders to take urgent action on crime, homelessness and other livability issues that have bedeviled the state’s largest city.

Lavey told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Monday that he and Looper will provide messaging, strategy and advice to Johnson, a moderate Democrat who has garnered substantial financial support from an array of business, civic and political backers.

Filings show she has amassed more than $3.4 million to date, an amount that far outpaces any of her rivals. The increasingly crowded field include Democrats such as House Speaker Tina Kotek, state Treasurer Tobias Read and former New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, while House Minority Leader Christine Drazen, physician Bud Pierce and Sandy Mayor Stan Pulliam are among the Republican contenders.

....

Lavey and Looper co-founded People for Portland, which placed ads on TV and online and directed a mass emailing campaign to members of the Portland City Council, Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, Metro Council and state lawmakers who represent Portland.

The dark money group disclosed it spent more than $500,000 in the three months ending Sept. 30, city lobbying reports show.

....


"


https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2021/12/people-for-portland-co-founders-join-oregon-governors-race-as-advisers-to-betsy-johnson.html

Is this a left-leaning or right- leaning independent?

Betsy Johnson is a registered Democrat who has served in both the OR State House and Senate since 2001 predominately representing rural areas along / near the Oregon Coast, first in SW Oregon and then relocated to the NW OR Coastal area.

She has frequently voted with Republicans in the State Senate on Environmental, Taxation, and Gun Control issues.


https://www.opb.org/article/2021/12/14/oregon-state-senator-betsy-johnson-resigning-governor-race/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betsy_Johnson

https://justfacts.votesmart.org/candidate/biography/46663/betsy-johnson

[NOVA Green]

Phil Knight, CEO of Oregon based Nike Corporation has just donated $250,000 to the campaign of Betsy Johnson's independent campaign for OR-GOV.

"Nike co-founder Phil Knight has written his first big check to a candidate in this year’s Oregon governor’s race: $250,000 to unaffiliated candidate Betsy Johnson.

Johnson’s campaign received the donation on Monday and disclosed it in the state’s campaign finance system Thursday morning. The six-figure donation could mean Johnson has locked down a commitment from Knight to supply her campaign with more cash in the months ahead.

....

With the $250,000 contribution, Knight is tied with another of Johnson’s campaign donors, heavy equipment dealer The Papé Group, which also gave Johnson $250,000, according to state campaign finance records. Her next largest donors are Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle, who gave $225,000, followed by a subsidiary of oil and gas distribution company Global Partners, which has holdings that include a transloading terminal in Clatskanie, at $160,000.

...."



https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2022/02/phil-knight-makes-first-donation-in-2022-oregon-governors-race.html

[NOVA Green]

Thread should get a name change.

100% endorsed.   

It is linked as the OR 2022 Gubernatorial / State Megathread in YEs "Please use State Megathreads" pinned thread at the top of the board, and I am totally supportive of trying to keep items within the larger threads so we don't need to wallow through hundreds of individual threads to find some various subtopic. 

[NOVA Green]

I predicted Johnson would be a serious challenge to Kotek, much stronger than any republican could ever be

She's definitely got $$$ in the bank, plus as a Democratic member of the State Legislature who doesn't vote lock, stock, and barrel with the super-majority in Salem might well appeal to a wide variety of moderate DEM / PUB crossover voters.

Still, key question is will she be able to get enough from both PUBs and leaners, especially in downstate OR, as well as garnering enough crossover DEM appeal in the PDX 'burbs (and similar places downstate) in a three person race.

Either way it looks pretty clear this will be a three person Gubernatorial election and for the first time I can remember most likely all candidates will be on the GE debate stage if Betsy is able to maintain momentum and build her own brand as an "Independent Oregonian" type figure.

Right now I would imagine her name recognition is relatively low among most Oregon voters, but the big $$$ hitting at the right time might be able to come through while meanwhile DEMs and PUBs are fighting for their Primary nominations this coming May...

[NOVA Green]

Oregon Republican Gubernatorial candidate Stan Pulliam was a member of a Portland swingers club starting in 2016 according to an article published a few days ago in the Oregonian.

Needless to say this might complicate his Republican Primary campaign among "values voters"....

"Republican candidate for Oregon governor Stan Pulliam confirms former membership in Portland swingers group


A top candidate in the Republican primary for Oregon governor has confirmed he was part of an invite-only Portland swingers group for swapping sexual partners.

Sandy Mayor Stan Pulliam said in a statement to The Oregonian/OregonLive that he and his wife, MacKensey, briefly explored relationships with other couples beginning in 2016 before deciding to “focus solely on each other, our marriage and our family.”

...

In an interview with Willamette Week, which first reported about the couple’s involvement in the swingers group, Pulliam acknowledged the existence of screenshots from the group circulating online but said annotations claiming he was bisexual and yet publicly aligned with anti-LGBTQ groups were false.

...."




https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2022/02/republican-candidate-for-oregon-governor-confirms-membership-in-portland-swingers-group.html

[NOVA Green]

Bill Sizemore has now entered the race for an OR-PUB-GOV candidate.

Willamette Week who first broke the Pulliam swinger story, including links to the PDX Swingers page has just published this.

For those of you who don't know, Willamette Week is a decades long running Portland Indie free weekly newspaper with tons of ads, personals, and alternative content and like many Indie rags has effectively become a contender with more established and mainstream media outlets over the years.

Bill Sizemore is.... well a bit of a well known character in Oregon from way back. Kinda like a local version of Grover Norquist, except his personal financial history is a bit shadier....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Sizemore

So here's the link to the WW story which should be free with no paywall...

Put that in your pipe and reflect, but definitely is a significant development on the PUB PRIM side of the house....

https://www.wweek.com/news/2022/02/09/mayor-stan-pulliams-bid-for-the-hearts-and-minds-of-trump-voters-has-hit-a-few-snags/

[NOVA Green]

Hot take- Johnson wins the General

Hot take: She doesn't break 15%

Entirely plausible since she is running as an Indie.

Reality is that in Oregon now as of Feb 12 2022 the vast majority of both Democratic and Republican Primary voters in a closed-primary state have no idea of who is running in their respective primaries, even though it is basically barely over three Months from election day.

In order for Johnson to be successful as an Indie she will need to capture a significant % of Registered Dems, Pubs, and Non-Affiliated Voters (Plurality of RVs in OR).

The obvious question is what % of each segment she can capture and in what regions in OR, and ultimately what political themes she accentuates to differentiate her from both whomever the REG DEMS & PUBS choose to select as their flag bearer for November.

It's a very difficult needle to thread but obviously a winning Betsy coalition would need to involve at minimum a virtual tie in the PDX 'Burbs of ClackCo and WashCo, combined with reduced DEM % in MultCo (Thinking parts of West PDX and East County places like Gresham might be good fishing grounds).

Not quite sure how she could do it without winning Marion County as well as eating into Upper Middle-Class precincts in places like Corvallis, Eugene, & Medford.

At this point really we don't know s**t about Betsy's chances as an Indie w/o knowing the respective candidates and policy differentiation / brands between the flag bearers of the top two political parties within Oregon.

[NOVA Green]

Low hanging fruit, but it's official, Nick Kristof will not be running for OR-GOV in 2022

https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2022/02/nick-kristof-wont-fight-oregon-supreme-court-decision-that-keeps-him-off-ballot-in-governors-race.html

[NOVA Green]

With Kristoff out political handicappers are giving Kotek the edge to win the DEM primary and downgrading Johnson's GE chances.


https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2022/02/nick-kristof-is-out-of-the-oregon-governors-race-but-2022-still-promises-to-be-a-wild-year.html

[NOVA Green]

OR-GOV Primary Polls...

Got my first OR-GOV pamphlet in the mail from Read, nothing yet from Kotek and haven't seen any commercials for either on television in the Mid Valley area.

In the Democratic primary, former House Speaker Tina Kotek led state Treasurer Tobias Read 25% to 20%, in the survey conducted by FM3 Research and paid for by Read’s campaign.

https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2022/04/poll-democratic-gubernatorial-candidates-tina-kotek-and-tobias-read-in-a-tight-race-most-likely-voters-undecided.html

Republican voters have more candidates with name recognition and significant fundraising to choose from, and perhaps for that reason likely GOP primary voters were more split on which candidates they expected to vote for in the May 17 vote-by-mail primary. The candidate with the highest level of support was oncologist and 2016 Republican gubernatorial nominee Bud Pierce with 11%, followed by former House Republican leader Christine Drazan with 8%, according to the Nelson Research survey paid for by lobbying firm Public Affairs Counsel.

https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2022/04/oregon-republican-primary-has-no-clear-frontrunner-no-candidate-with-more-than-11-support-poll.html

https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2022/04/oregons-next-governor-week-in-review.html-3

[NOVA Green]

OR is a wildfire state like AZ, we had a real bad Wildfire season in 2020 that's why Trump did so poorly out here and NV is too, and Rs are for Fossil Fuels and Oil Drilling and greenhouse gasses destroys the Environment, they warned Reagan when he started Fracking but Rs didn't listen

Not quite sure what you are saying when it comes to the ref to "fracking" and Reagan (Personally was a Frack Reagan Oregonian as a young kid).

Forest Fire politics in general in general work against the PUBs in the "breadbasket" of OR voters (Metro-PDX), but also create a major counter-reaction in major parts of "Downstate" in current and former resource dependent communities worries about the costs of increased "regs" as a result of climate change activities increasingly costing $$$ w/o necessary grants to upgrade small diesel truck "Gypo" logging outfits.

Also, deep suspicion in many parts of downstate OR since "Urban Environmentalists" got scapegoated for decline of OR Mill jobs in the late '80s / '90s, etc.

Tech jobs were supposed to replace... Eco-Tourism was supposed to replace.

Never happened...

Now we dealing with aging Crystal Meth Addicts, Millennial opiate pill-poppers, plus people jacking up on harder s**t.

Nowhere to live, tent cities have been exploding throughout OR with fires, COVID, and basically many parts of Oregon where it is virtually impossible to live as a single person on minimum wage income.

[NOVA Green]

Schrader endorsed Johnson today:

https://twitter.com/senbetsyjohnson/status/1549494153263939586

Schrader is a joke, he barely won reelection once you subtract Deschutes County out of the equation.

Somebody got an axe to grind, plus dude was always on the take of Big Pharma, Big Timber, Big Ag, Big $$$...

No wonder he is camping out in Phil Knight land....

Guy is a has been, wanna been, sell-out, fake DEM, jokster, simply a complete embarrassment, and if he is simping for "LIB PUB $$$", in an attempt to resurrect his political career, naturally made a major miscalculation.

Time to go back to be a Vet (Non-Military style), before he starts to lose clients from his practice in Sandy / Canby OR for his bizarre attempt to main political relevancy.

Maybe something like James Herriot's "All Creatures series"  ? :

https://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/112127/did-the-actors-in-all-creatures-great-and-small-actually-have-their-hands-in-the

Clip from S01 EP13 from the classic British Drama, but don't believe it has the classic scene of a Yorkshire vet dealing with an intrusive scene, something regarding inserting arms into cows to save live stock, which otherwise would die (Or something of that nature).

[NOVA Green]

So Oregon just had the first, as well as possibly only Gubernatorial Election Debate yesterday.

It's an Oregonian exclusive, so don't believe you get a free read towards your monthly limit, unless you are a paid subscriber.

VERY, VERY, LONG article, so hopefully haven't exceeded my allotment here.

Oregon’s three leading candidates for governor sought to differentiate themselves on issues including homelessness, abortion and climate change in the first debate of the general election cycle in Welches on Friday.

On climate change, all three agreed it is a pressing problem. Republican Christine Drazan and unaffiliated candidate Betsy Johnson said Democrats’ approach would cost too many jobs and raise Oregonians’ energy bills too high, however. But neither of them outlined proposals to dial back the state’s carbon output.

The highly unusual dynamics of Oregon’s race for governor were on display as Johnson launched a populist attack against Kotek, warning viewers that “she’d have us all woke and broke” and criticized Drazan for her opposition to abortion rights. Drazan attacked Johnson for speaking disrespectfully of her opponents in an effort to advance Johnson’s “political agenda.”

Drazan and Johnson both said they would do everything in their power, if elected, to increase timber harvests in Oregon and help timber manufacturers, including by potentially easing regulations on pollution.

The issue of racism also came up at the debate, when a question about bridging differences between Oregon’s urban and rural communities prompted Johnson to respond to Kotek’s challenge earlier Friday calling on her to publicly condemn the use of the Confederate flag “and all other racist symbols” at her campaign events.

Johnson did not address the issue of Confederate flags and their connection to racism. Instead, she said she personally does not condone racism or bigotry and that Kotek’s suggestion that Johnson’s Confederate flag-wearing supporters are racist “just drives home the point that urban Oregon doesn’t understand rural Oregon.”

https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2022/07/oregon-governor-candidates-betsy-johnson-christine-drazan-and-tina-kotek-make-their-pitches-to-voters-in-1st-debate.html

Oregon Public Broadcasting has a pretty good read on recent Betsy campaign events. (Totally free no paywall)

Naturally since OPB is funded under the PBS system, PUBs in America tend to view it like many Tories view in England.

Regardless,

“I don’t care if you voted for Biden or Trump or you wrote in your dog, I want your vote and Oregon needs your vote,” Johnson tells the crowd, recycling one of her favorite campaign lines.

At the St. Helens rally, though, that kind of political diversity is hard to come by. Shirts bearing the Confederate flag and “Let’s go Brandon” — a coded epithet against President Joe Biden — dot the crowd, and most people you talk to tend to support one political party.

Three weeks after her rally at the Columbia County Fairgrounds, Johnson schedules a “Beers with Betsy” gathering at a tamale restaurant in Milwaukie. The liberal Portland suburb feels worlds away from St. Helens, and the 50 or so people who’ve come to see Johnson are just as distinct: It’s fairly easy to find Democrats within the crowd.

Here on Portland’s doorstep, Johnson’s sales pitch changes a bit. She doesn’t hold up Kotek as a threat to the state’s future – she doesn’t even mention the Democratic nominee. Instead, she focuses on the dissatisfaction many in the area are feeling.

“Eight percent of people in Portland think Portland’s on the right track,” Johnson tells the crowd. “I’d like to know who those 8% are because I sure haven’t met them.”

Johnson argues she’s the candidate who can turn the tide, nodding to a still-skeletal platform that includes easing business regulations, bolstering police and fighting homelessness. Her stance on those things isn’t too different from Drazan, the Republican. But Johnson says her long history as a Democrat offers an alternative for Democrats who’ve tired of their party.

https://www.opb.org/article/2022/07/28/oregon-governor-race-betsy-johnson-november-politics/

Not a debate coverage story but weekly metro PDX rag which you can pick up for free in just about any restaurant or bar worth it's reputation for free, Willamette Week, published this earlier this week.

NO-PAYWALL INDIE PUB

Former state Sen. Betsy Johnson (D-Scappoose), who is now unaffiliated with any party, reported a $100,000 contribution from Sid DeBoer, founder and chairman of Lithia Motors.

GOP nominee Christine Drazan reported a $250,000 contribution from the Republican Governors Association, a further sign that national money thinks a Republican could win the governor’s race for the first time in 40 years. The RGA has now given Drazan a total of $569,000.

AFSCME did not endorse in the Democratic primary, and many of its members are known to be open to Johnson—but Johnson’s campaign says she didn’t pursue the endorsement, a decision that shows she plans to run against public employee unions rather than try to pick off members who might be wary of Kotek.

“AFSCME is part of the public sector ruling coalition that is responsible for Kate Brown and Tina Kotek,” says Johnson’s spokeswoman, Jennifer Sitton. “They and the teachers’ union bosses work for [Service Employees International Union], not their members.”

https://www.wweek.com/news/state/2022/07/28/endorsements-hint-at-shape-of-oregon-governors-race/

[NOVA Green]

The Oregonian does a follow-up regarding confederate flags to the three major candidates running for election to become the next GOV-OR:

Betsy Johnson: “I’d say the Confederate flag is a symbol of treason against the United States, which protects the very freedom of speech flaunted so brazenly by those demonstrating their ignorance and racism.

“Displaying that flag is nothing less than provocative bigotry. The Confederate flag and the views it represents are the opposite of what our campaign is about as we seek to bring this state together past the extremism that dominates politics today.”

“Now the straight talk: This question doesn’t clarify anything about any of the candidates running for governor. We are all against racism.”

“The Oregonian’s question grants a false premise: I haven’t seen people waving Confederate flags anywhere on the campaign trail. One OPB reporter wrote about a guy in a T-shirt at one of my signature gathering events. Some guy wearing a T-shirt in a crowd of hundreds isn’t a movement, it’s an outlier. It’s a lazy journalist stirring up controversy, seized on by those who want to discredit our people-centered campaign.”

“Trying to create a controversy where there isn’t one was exactly what I was responding to when Tina started all this with her original internet post. Now The Oregonian is choosing shallow muckraking over responsible coverage. It may drive clicks, but it doesn’t help bring a divided state together.”

Tina Kotek: “It’s important for campaign events to be welcoming to all Oregonians. The Confederate flag is a widely recognized symbol of racist intolerance. If someone were to display a Confederate flag at one of my events, a member of my team would politely have a one-on-one conversation requesting that the symbol no longer be displayed at our event.”

Christine Drazan: Did not answer. John Burke, Drazan’s communications director, wrote in an email that “This has not been an issue at our campaign events, but Confederate flags would obviously not be welcome.”

https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2022/08/oregon-candidates-for-governor-how-would-they-respond-if-supporters-displayed-confederate-flags-at-events.html

[NOVA Green]

Also, looks like we might be hearing a bit more in the "Air Wars" in OR from Kotek, before too long.

Living down in "PUB Country" in the "Mid-Valley" already listened to so many Betsy & Drazen ads, but suspect that will change in the immediate future:

Oregon voters will be hearing a lot more from Democratic candidate for governor Tina Kotek, after the former state House speaker spent $450,000 Friday on TV and radio advertising.

Kotek’s campaign made the big ad purchase a couple days after Kotek received $800,000 from the Democratic Governors Association and $100,000 from the statewide teachers union, the Oregon Education Association, according to state campaign finance records.

The Portland Democrat also received $100,000 last week from the Oregon Nurses Association union. Kotek now has $1.7 million on-hand, out of $5.2 million raised since January 2021.

https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2022/08/oregon-democratic-governor-candidate-tina-kotek-takes-in-big-bucks-from-national-democrats-teachers-union.html

[NOVA Green]

Likely nothing to see here, but the Betsy campaign facing a bit of heat from political opinions of a former staffer way back in the days...

Limited quoting from much longer article...

For more than eight and a half years, Oregon unaffiliated gubernatorial candidate and former longtime lawmaker Betsy Johnson employed a woman as a legislative staffer who repeatedly voiced hateful views online toward Black, Muslim and LGBTQ people.

At the same time Pamela Fitzsimmons was a long-tenured staffer to Johnson, she maintained a Twitter account and a blog, Held to Answer, where she repeatedly referred to Black people as criminals, railed against the Black Lives Matter movement, said Black civil rights organizations needed segregation and hate crimes for their survival, questioned whether a Black man wanted to be shot by police for publicity, called LGBTQ rights activists “bullies,” said transgender individuals who share their stories were attention-seeking and wrote that the U.S. Constitution “might be a lot worse” if Muslims had participated in its writing. She wrote her name at the end of each blog post.

https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2022/08/longtime-legislative-staffer-for-betsy-johnson-repeatedly-voiced-hateful-views-online-toward-black-muslim-and-lgbtq-people.html

[NOVA Green]

Also, WW has run some numbers since the last financial filing reports...

In OR "Freedom of Speech" now equals unlimited campaign contributions.

Looks like either WW week is hacked or some issues with my PC, so unfortunately can't provide a direct quote or two.

Basically Betsy is sitting fat on cash courtesy of large donors, with the Timber Industry now sinking in massive $$$.

Kotek is getting massive infusions from the DEM NGA PAC.

PUB Women is also getting massive injections of $$$ from outside interests.

Personally already getting tired of OR-GOV ads on TV from all three candidates, and we are still only in August!!!


https://www.wweek.com/news/2022/08/04/all-three-candidates-for-governor-flex-fundraising-muscles/

[NOVA Green]

Also, WW has run some numbers since the last financial filing reports...

In OR "Freedom of Speech" now equals unlimited campaign contributions.

Looks like either WW week is hacked or some issues with my PC, so unfortunately can't provide a direct quote or two.

Basically Betsy is sitting fat on cash courtesy of large donors, with the Timber Industry now sinking in massive $$$.

Kotek is getting massive infusions from the DEM NGA PAC.

PUB Women is also getting massive injections of $$$ from outside interests.

Personally already getting tired of OR-GOV ads on TV from all three candidates, and we are still only in August!!!


https://www.wweek.com/news/2022/08/04/all-three-candidates-for-governor-flex-fundraising-muscles/

Don't forget Betsy is in the pocket of the only relevant person from Oregon, Phil Knight. PBUH

So yes you are correct, plus a bit more...

Still, Betsy isn't just getting money from Phil Knight, but is also apparently splitting Timber Industry Big $$$, that would traditionally go to the PUB OR-GOV candidate...

Here were a few quotes from the non-paywall article was gonna post, before my Chrome Crashed...

The biggest donation of the week was $800,000 from the Democratic Governors Association to Democrat Tina Kotek. It, along with $100,000 checks from the Oregon Education Association and the Oregon Nurses Association, helped to bring Kotek even with her Republican rival, Christine Drazan.

It also shows that Democrats are taking very seriously the possibility that they could lose an Oregon governor’s race for the first time since 1982.

Both women’s fundraising trails behind the third candidate in the race, former state Sen. Betsy Johnson (D-Scappoose), who is running unaffiliated with any party. Johnson has now raised more than $10 million and has $4.6 million on hand, having enjoyed the benefit of not competing in a primary race.

Also significant: Johnson reported a contribution of $100,000 on July 28 from Robert Freres, president of Lyons-based Freres Lumber. Freres and his family and company gave GOP candidate Bridget Barton $300,000 in the primary, so his decision to support Johnson rather than Drazan is a victory for the unaffiliated candidate.

https://www.wweek.com/news/2022/08/04/all-three-candidates-for-governor-flex-fundraising-muscles/

Also forgot to add a legendary clip from Phil Knight and Michael Moore way back in the dayz...

Got nothing against Nike per se, had a couple friends who worked their as contractors back in the late '90s who described all of the awesome amenities, including a couple full "Micro-Brew" facilities located on campus, not to mention some of the various fitness features...

But yeah... Phil Knight has effectively tried to make himself a "Kingmaker" in Oregon Politics, now that there is unlimited campaign contributions for statewide elections.

Phil might own U of O and the UO Alum, but he doesn't own Oregonians, and can just sit down a do a $5k max contribution to a political candidate, which is well beyond the individual of those of us who live paycheck to paycheck, where maybe something like $15-25 / weekly might fall within a budget for a brief period of time.

[NOVA Green]

New Oregonian Subscriber Exclusive, so apologizes in advance for very limited quoting:

The Republican Governors Association made a $1 million donation to the campaign of Christine Drazan, Republican nominee for Oregon governor, on Friday.

That brought the national governors’ group’s donations to Drazan to $1.57 million, $1.5 million of it in cash and the rest in polling and other in-kind gifts.

The group’s leaders are excited about Drazan’s prospects in Oregon’s highly unusual three-way race for governor featuring women who have all been elected to public office multiple times and proven themselves as effective fundraisers.

"Cash on hand"...

Even without a political party or governors’ association behind her, Johnson is far in the lead in fundraising so far. She’s pulled in $10.1 million and, as of Friday, reported having $4.6 million on hand.

That compares to Drazan’s $6 million raised and $2.7 million on hand and Kotek’s $5.5 million raised and $1.4 million on hand.

Might well be a case of the RGA either betting big for success, or perhaps more plausibly this result...



Over and Out... Live from Trump Country Mid-Valley OR.

NOVA GREEN



https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2022/08/republican-governors-association-gives-1-million-to-christine-drazen-republican-nominee-for-oregon-governor.html