Randy Sparacino is a Republican.
It isn't an accusation. It is a simple fact. He is a Republican.
He is hiding it.
Randy Sparacino is a candidate for Oregon State Senate. What is happening here in Oregon is part of a pattern taking place all across the country. Republican candidates are scrubbing their websites. They are pretending not to be Republicans. They are taking the unpopular stuff out.
No photos with Trump. No "Trump won!" graphics. No advocating that state legislators overturn elections. No talk of criminalizing abortion. No photos of the candidate with an AR-15. Nothing about climate change being a big hoax. Nothing about prosecuting Antony Fauci. Nothing about Bill Gates and micro-chips and George Soros. Nothing about ending "Obamacare." No promise to "take our country back" once "we" get a majority.
It isn't merely a kinder, gentler GOP, as depicted in their ads. It isn't Republican at all. Locally, the GOP laid out the Party line: The 2020 election was stolen, Trump won, Biden is illegitimate. There was no peep of disagreement from Sparacino. He is a team player--not that one would know it from his ads or website.
Here is a link to his website.
Look it over. The word Republican is nowhere. Zero. His supposed "issues" are vague complaints without solutions. He is against inflation, crime, illegal drugs, homelessness, and "runaway spending." Who isn't? After all, right here in Medford, where Sparacino is mayor, we have inflation, crime, illegal drugs, homelessness, and critics of the city's supposed "runaway spending." If those problems are easy to fix, why hasn't he fixed them? (I am on the city's Budget Committee. I don't think we have "runaway spending" in Medford. I do observe that it is easy to complain about runaway spending, homeless encampments and other problems if one is on the outside, poorly informed, and has no real idea what is already being done.)
There is nothing wrong with being a Republican. Traditionally, there have been a lot of good, public-spirited Republican voters and officeholders. There is nothing surprising about Sparacino receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from the campaigns of Republican officeholders hoping to add a reliable Republican to the state senate team. There is nothing surprising about a Republican candidate getting hundreds of thousands of dollars from businesses that face potential regulation by Oregon's government. Republicans get money from Republicans. It is the way of the world.
Sparacino should stop hiding. Put the Republican label back on. What would he do if elected?
***If he will vote to criminalize abortion, say so.
***If he thinks life begins at fertilization and he wants to ban IUDs, say so.
***If he wants to end mail-in voting in Oregon, say so.
***If he believes Republican legislatures should overturn elections of a Democratic president, say so.
***If he will vote to end the "Obamacare" expansion of Medicaid--the Oregon Health Plan--say so.
***If cutting "runaway spending" means he supports even more cuts to the DMV, so that the lines and wait-times are even longer, say so.
The 2022 election will pit a Democrat, Jeff Golden, against a Republican, Randy Sparacino. If Sparacino is so embarrassed by what Republicans stand for that he needs to hide his party affiliation, then he should announce new positions or a new party. Be honest. Sparacino may well be be a full-on MAGA Republican. He isn’t saying. If he agrees with Republicans on issues, then he should say so and defend those positions.
I am astonished by Sparacino's website. Nowhere - nowhere does it say he is a Republican. He does say he will oppose Salem efforts to defund the police - as former Mayor of Medford I am pretty sure Randy knows that local governments fund local police and the legislature funds the State Police. State Police ARE NOT being defunded, nor has Golden called for that. When it comes to "runaway spending" the voters put a cap on that - it's called the kicker and it will be a HUGE refund to Oregon citizens this year because the amount of tax coming into state coffers exceeds the estimate made two years ago by more than 2 percent. Is 2 percent growth runaway spending? I don't think so,
The kicker is estimated to be a refund of over $3 billion in 2022 - largest refund in history.