The Arts Howland Open

The Arts Center Howland Open

Advocate Endorsements for Statewide Measures and Offices, U.S. President

This year’s statewide ballot measures include a packet of what we think of as good government questions – who should set lawmaker salaries, should ranked choice voting go statewide, and should our sweet little state have an available impeachment process.

Also on the ballot, a plan to send every Oregonian a check that would be mostly paid for by a new corporate tax, and new labor rights for cannabis workers.

But first, we give you our choices for federal and statewide offices.

FEDERAL

President: Kamala Harris, Democrat

Which candidate would you trust to chaperone the coeds’ during your kid’s next high school field trip. Gross that it would even occur to us to ask. Look, Kamala Harris’ politics may not aspire to the heights we’d like, but we’re quite confident she won’t throw us into a boiling vat of constitutional crisis either. As to policy, the alternative to Harris is Trump, who will be far worse on foreign affairs, women’s healthcare, the environment, and pretty much everything else. Neither candidate will impact the economy the way people are thinking they will, and for decades, it’s been congress that’s been the hurdle on immigration.

4th Congressional District:  Val Hoyle, Democrat

As a first-termer, Val Hoyle has accomplished more in congress than we would have anticipated, and like her predecessor, Peter DeFazio, we think she’ll be a good long-term bet for our district. Hoyle is reliably progressive, but balanced, and just earlier this month, she helped nail down some funding for a ship-to-rail intermodal port within our lovely little district. Opponent Monique DeSpain is the first sane and serious Republican we’ve seen run for this seat in quite some time, and we think she has a good grasp on the federal projects that would enhance our district’s economy, but we also think she’ll carry water for Trump if he’s reelected, and we don’t agree with her about women’s healthcare.

STATEWIDE OFFICES

Secretary of State: Tobias Read, Democrat

Most observers see Tobias Read as a highly effective and steady-handed policy wonk, and we think that’s a good thing. He’s served as Oregon’s State Treasurer since 2016, and before that,  in the Oregon House for five terms. As treasurer, Read has navigated turbulent times, and kept returns on the state’s pension fund strong – even if he hasn’t decarbonized its investments. Read has a penchant for numbers, and a reputation for honesty and hard work, which are good things in someone that’s a heartbeat from the governorship. Opponent Dennis Linthicum is a MAGA Republican, and as a state senator he participated in the 2023 GOP statehouse walkout that left the body without a quorum, which meant they couldn’t vote on anything. Linthicum is barred from seeking reelection as a state senator because of his unexcused absences – and now seeks to hold an office that oversees the state’s elections, when he himself is an election denier. Yeah, please vote for Read, moving right along.

Oregon Treasurer, Elizabeth Steiner, Democrat

A state senator since 2011, Elizabeth Steiner is also a medical doctor. Given she has co-chaired the Senate Ways and Means Committee since 2018, we believe she has the know-how to hit the ground running from day one as Oregon’s Treasurer. Her opponent, Brian Boquist was another GOP state senator that participated in the 2023 walkout that shutdown the Senate. Famously, during the walkout he told the governor that she could send state police to drag him back to Salem, but that she’d better “Send bachelors.” Yeah, a really swell guy. By the way, Boquiest thinks the state should just sell its infrastructure bonds to Oregonians instead of on the global market – so let’s see, that’s $1.5 billion yearly of bond issuance to a market of only four million Oregonians. We know died-in-the-wool Republicans that won’t vote for Boquist, and we don’t think you should, either. Steiner is the right choice for this office.

Attorney General, Dan Rayfield, Democrat

Corvallis’ Dan Rayfield may have the homecourt advantage with us, but he’s also a dude that in a little less than 10 years went from our freshman representative in the Oregon House – to the Ways and Means Committee, and then the speakership. But it’s more than that – Rayfield as speaker worked across the aisle – cleaning up a mess left by his predecessor, our current governor. He  kept Republican House members working, even as their counterparts in the Senate staged a quorum denying walkout. We’ve appreciated the current attorney general’s priorities, and we think Rayfield will have similar goals, and we also think his skills as a trial lawyer, and with people generally, will make him a highly effective AG.

That all said, we must admit, the Republicans have finally nominated someone for the office that’s both thoughtful and qualified. Will Lathrop was a prosecutor in Yamhill and Marion counties, and also worked in Africa for International Justice Mission, a Christian nonprofit that says it rescues people from human traffickers. The BBC has questioned some of his work in Africa, but to us, he does seem sincere. However, Lathrop has centered his campaign on crime fighting, when most of what the AG job is really about is advising and representing state agencies, collecting child support, and protecting consumers – and we think Rayfield is better prepared to do those things.

STATEWIDE BALLOT MEASURES

Measure 115, Power to Impeach

Yes. If passed, this measure would amend Oregon’s state constitution, empowering the Oregon Legislatures to impeach statewide officeholders – but it would require a two-thirds vote in each House. Do we think that both Houses will ever attain a two-thirds majority vote for anything ever… nope, not really, so we think that’s a pretty good safeguard against abuse of the authority. Every other state in the union has this, like, just so you know.

Measure 116, Independent Board to Decide Salary of Oregon’s Elected Folks

Yes. This measure would establish an “Independent Public Service Compensation Commission” to determine salaries for Oregon’s elected officials. It would eliminate legislative authority to set those salaries – because maybe elected folks oughtn’t be setting salaries for themselves. This looks like a move towards higher quality governance to us. Our one problem is relatively minor – it’s a constitutional amendments where we think the simplicity of new law would have sufficed, but we’re sill a yes.

Measure 117, Rank Choice Voting, Statewide

Yes, and Hells Yes. Our beloved Benton County was first in the state to adopt ranked choice voting, and it is working as intended. Do we think it eliminates a two-party stranglehold on electoral politics – nope, and we’d sure like to see laws directed at that too. But we think this measure is a good step in the right direction, so we’ll take it. Most of the objections we’ve heard about this proposal have to do with foisting an added expense onto rural counties – but we think the legislature can, should, and probably will allocate some dollars for that over time. There are also some conspiracy theories about this measure ::: yawn.

Measure 118, Corporation Tax Increase, Citizen Rebates

Hard No. We could maybe get behind a universal basic income plan, but this isn’t that – not even close, and it will actually burden the folks needing the most help. The idea for this measure is to charge companies an added 3% tax on sales over $25 million, and then send every Oregonian a ‘rebate’ check for $1,600 once a year. That breaks down to about $133 a month, which is not an income, basic or otherwise. Oregon’s state economists note the outgoing dollars to payout the rebates will exceed the projected income from the new tax, which will mean cutting some state budgets – including some programs our neediest fellow Oregonians actually need. By the way, that 3% tax on sales will absolutely be passed on to anyone buying anything like groceries, utilities, prescriptions, clothes, or anything else usually sold by a larger company. The math just doesn’t work in your favor – not really.

Measure 119, Unionization Rights for Cannabis Workers

Yes. Weed isn’t legal federally, so maybe the federal worker protections that make unionization a possibility don’t quite apply to cannabis workers the way one would hope – this measure seeks to address that shortcoming. Given the regular reports of labor difficulties in this industry, we think this is a prudent measure.

Do you have a story for The Advocate? Email editor@corvallisadvocate.com