Thanks for asking local GOP candidates to go on the record. While I appreciate that former Sen. Deboer called out his party on this particular resolution, it is not enough. Most GOP leaders who have parted ranks with Trump on the question of the 2020 presidential result still appear to be in support of efforts to do whatever is necessary to move all power over election results to local officials--including the power to overturn outcomes they don't like. I haven't heard any Oregon Republican openly call for that, but the GOP state party platform advocates local control over virtually all electoral procedures; how far are they willing to push that? It's disappointing that Comm. Dotterer dismisses platforms and resolutions as meaningless gestures. What we've seen from other states shows they mean what they say and if/when the Oregon GOP has the opportunity, I believe they'll undermine what has been built in Oregon over many decades. Let's ask every candidate for office, regardless of party, to tell us how they will defend Oregon's successful and highly efficient electoral system from those who would try to dismantle it.
"I long ago learned to not pay attention to resolutions such as this. While I know of the resolution, I have not even read it. Resolutions accomplish nothing, they just make the people who passionately hold that particular position feel better." Dave Dotterer
Yes, but there is one problem. You are a witness to something and cannot pretend that you don't see it and that others don't see how you respond. It is a dangerous lie that has infected a significant number of the people whose general political positions you hold, i.e. fellow Republicans. You are a leader. You hold a position of trust.
If you saw a colleague on the Board of Commissioners take a bribe to OK a land use decision you could say "I learned not to pay attention to bribes such as this." And if people saw you take that position, because they announced it in a press release, then the public would learn something terrible about the integrity of government in Jackson County. They would see you turning a blind eye to corruption, and the blind eye says it is OK, or at least not something you care to object to.
You are a Republican and ran for office as a Republican. Your own Jackson County elections office had a warning painted on its parking lot: "Votes don't count. Bullets next time." David, you cannot ignore this. What people think about the election puts county employees at some potential risk. You have a duty, but you are saying it is ok not to pay attention.
On my doorstep in about 2004 you were campaigning and I watched you show integrity when I asked if Muslims should be allowed to build a facility in lower Manhattan. I watched you hesitate, then say there there was no reason a Muslim facility should not be built in lower Manhattan. It was their right as Americans. If they fit the zoning, they had every right, just like Christians, Jews, or anyone else. That took courage. You likely guessed I would echo the then-loudest voices saying that they should be forbidden to be there. The easy thing would have been to go along with the Fox News viewers who were saying "No Muslims near the former World Trade Center." You did the right thing. You told the simple truth to a voter. You were educating me as to what it meant to be an American, but also educating me about you. I surprised you when I said "good answer." You were a City of Ashland Planning Commissioner then--a tiny appointed office. Now you hold a serious, high visibility partisan office. Your courage would matter more than ever now.
Thanks for asking local GOP candidates to go on the record. While I appreciate that former Sen. Deboer called out his party on this particular resolution, it is not enough. Most GOP leaders who have parted ranks with Trump on the question of the 2020 presidential result still appear to be in support of efforts to do whatever is necessary to move all power over election results to local officials--including the power to overturn outcomes they don't like. I haven't heard any Oregon Republican openly call for that, but the GOP state party platform advocates local control over virtually all electoral procedures; how far are they willing to push that? It's disappointing that Comm. Dotterer dismisses platforms and resolutions as meaningless gestures. What we've seen from other states shows they mean what they say and if/when the Oregon GOP has the opportunity, I believe they'll undermine what has been built in Oregon over many decades. Let's ask every candidate for office, regardless of party, to tell us how they will defend Oregon's successful and highly efficient electoral system from those who would try to dismantle it.
"I long ago learned to not pay attention to resolutions such as this. While I know of the resolution, I have not even read it. Resolutions accomplish nothing, they just make the people who passionately hold that particular position feel better." Dave Dotterer
Yes, but there is one problem. You are a witness to something and cannot pretend that you don't see it and that others don't see how you respond. It is a dangerous lie that has infected a significant number of the people whose general political positions you hold, i.e. fellow Republicans. You are a leader. You hold a position of trust.
If you saw a colleague on the Board of Commissioners take a bribe to OK a land use decision you could say "I learned not to pay attention to bribes such as this." And if people saw you take that position, because they announced it in a press release, then the public would learn something terrible about the integrity of government in Jackson County. They would see you turning a blind eye to corruption, and the blind eye says it is OK, or at least not something you care to object to.
You are a Republican and ran for office as a Republican. Your own Jackson County elections office had a warning painted on its parking lot: "Votes don't count. Bullets next time." David, you cannot ignore this. What people think about the election puts county employees at some potential risk. You have a duty, but you are saying it is ok not to pay attention.
On my doorstep in about 2004 you were campaigning and I watched you show integrity when I asked if Muslims should be allowed to build a facility in lower Manhattan. I watched you hesitate, then say there there was no reason a Muslim facility should not be built in lower Manhattan. It was their right as Americans. If they fit the zoning, they had every right, just like Christians, Jews, or anyone else. That took courage. You likely guessed I would echo the then-loudest voices saying that they should be forbidden to be there. The easy thing would have been to go along with the Fox News viewers who were saying "No Muslims near the former World Trade Center." You did the right thing. You told the simple truth to a voter. You were educating me as to what it meant to be an American, but also educating me about you. I surprised you when I said "good answer." You were a City of Ashland Planning Commissioner then--a tiny appointed office. Now you hold a serious, high visibility partisan office. Your courage would matter more than ever now.
Peter Sage