Capitol Currents

A Do-It-Yourself Redirect Page

2012-12-19T15:56:00.001-08:00

The Capitol Currents blog is wrapping up its three-year run in its current form. I'll still be writing some "not for broadcast" material, but those stories will be posted alongside my on-air reporting at the new website for the Northwest News Network. So, to find Capitol Currents and other statehouse coverage from Salem, please click here:

The new home of Capitol Currents

You can also follow me on Twitter, where my handle remains @CapitolCurrents

Thanks for reading! All of the material on this blog will remain active for now, so please feel free to browse around the archives.

Capitol Currents: Looking Back

2012-12-19T15:55:00.000-08:00

As this blog undergoes a time of transition, I thought it would be fun to take a quick look back at a few of the highlights of the past three years of Capitol Currents.

The post with the most views: Ironically, considering the subject of last week's Special Session, my blog post with the highest number of views was about Oregon sportswear giant Nike. The Oregon Ethics Commission had made a ruling that permitted Oregon public officials to shop at a "friends and family" store located on the campus of Nike world headquarters in Beaverton. It seems the phrase "Nike Employee Store" is the subject of a considerable number of Google searches.

The post(s) with the fewest views: Two posts from November 2009 tied for the least number of views. One was about then-State Senator Frank Morse deciding not to run for governor, and the other was about a list of hypothetical cuts released by the legislature in the weeks leading up to the Measures 66 and 67 election.

Here are some of my personal favorites:
For a broadcast journalist like myself, the great thing about a blog is the chance to write about things that wouldn't merit an on-air story. Such as:

A long-shot candidate for governor writes an entertaining account of an obscure candidates' forum on the Oregon coast.

For the first time in my career, my voice was used in a political campaign ad.

I had a rare chance to wander around a recently-closed prison, resulting in this irreverent photo essay.

Just one out of 60 state representatives in the 2011 regular session was not "in charge" of anything.

Senate President Peter Courtney throws a "minor temper tantrum." It was not a partisan blow-up; he was "mad at the whole House."

It's always dangerous to poke fun at other people's typos, because I'm certainly capable of unleashing some of my own, but I thought this one was especially amusing.

And pair of posts from this September easily resulted in the most feedback I've ever received: A post about a giant cheeseburger for sale by the state of Oregon, and a follow-up that revealed the jaw-dropping origin of that burger.

Buehler...Buehler...Buehler?

2012-12-05T13:45:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: That didn't take long. Buehler's Twitter page has been cleaned up, but you can enjoy a screen-shot of the original spam-filled feed below.

ORIGINAL POST: According to his Twitter page, former Republican Secretary of State candidate Knute Buehler has earned $1,388.10 by filling out online surveys since losing his race to Democrat Kate Brown last month. It's an accomplishment he apparently considers to be "Aweesomeee!"

Grab The Popcorn, It's An #Orleg Documentary!

2012-11-30T16:28:00.000-08:00

House Co-Speaker Bruce Hanna clearly enjoyed his opportunity to speak at last evening's capitol tree lighting ceremony. But the event was one of the last times Hanna will get to publicly play the role of Co-Speaker. His caucus lost four seats in the November election, breaking the tie between the Democrats and Republicans in the Oregon House. Hanna stepped away from his role as GOP leader of the House Republicans, but it wouldn't have been the same anyhow without that gavel. Still, Hanna (and fellow Co-Speaker Arnie Roblan, who is moving over to the Oregon Senate in January) will be immortalized in a new documentary under production by filmmaker Neil Simon. (No, not that Neil Simon.)

Here's a preview:

Simon is still trying to raise money to complete the production. In the interest of full disclosure, I was one of many people around the capitol who was interviewed for the video, though I don't know if I'll show up in the finished project.

Gov Says What?

2012-11-30T16:06:00.000-08:00

The following is an unedited piece of tape from near the conclusion of a 30-minute press conference this morning during which Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber unveiled his proposed two-year spending plan:

That's good to know, Governor.

Trees, Choirs And Politicians: Holidays At The Oregon Capitol

2012-11-28T16:27:00.000-08:00

Imagine, for a moment, that you're a stately Noble fir, ensconced among your peers amidst a lovely forest on the Oregon coast. Summers are mild, winters are rainy; pretty much everything you could ever want as a tree. You start to think that this might be a nice place to retire.

Then, one day, a lumberjack comes along and slices you off at the knees. You're loaded onto the back of a truck and driven nearly 100 miles into a city, where you're shoved through a pair of double doors and set up in a cold, hard echo chamber. Then, just as you're settling into your new surroundings, some prison inmates come along and pull you to the floor. To add insult to injury (or perhaps injury to insult?), another fellow whips out a saw and cuts off a slice of your torso. Back up you go, and you're left thinking: "Could this possibly get any worse?"

It does, because a few evenings later...let's say Thursday evening at 5:30...a small band of politicians slip into your new living quarters and begin to give speeches. They drone on about what a wonderful state we all live in, then someone flicks a switch, and you're blinded by a dazzling and decidedly un-forestlike display of lights. Everyone else gets cookies and punch but you're stuck drinking water out of a bucket.

Take heart, our Noble friend. For it won't be long until your days are spent being serenaded by some of the most beautiful choirs around. Happy Holidays!

Patrick Sheehan's Farewell Address

2012-11-15T14:31:00.000-08:00

NOTE: An earlier version of this story overstated the margin by which Patrick Sheehan lost to Shemia Fagan in this year's election. Please see updated version below. [Updated 11/19/12 at 11:45 a.m.]

Patrick Sheehan is one of four incumbent Oregon House Republicans to be unseated as a result of this month's election. In a lengthy farewell address to his constituents, Sheehan--who leaves after one term in the Legislature--blames his loss partly on redistricting, which shifted more of HD-51 into the Democratic stronghold of Multnomah County. Indeed, Sheehan won the Clackamas County portion of his district, but that lead was easily washed away by the Multnomah County section.

Sheehan is right that redistricting hurt his chances. In 2010, Democrats held a relatively modest edge over Republicans of about 940 registered voters and Sheehan easily overcame that electoral disadvantage. In 2012, the margin of registered Democrats over registered Republicans jumped to nearly 2,300. Based on the current unofficial totals, Sheehan lost his seat by roughly 1,300 votes to Shemia Fagan. While it's hard to pinpoint a loss solely on redistricting, the changed boundaries certainly didn't help Sheehan's chances. Ironically, the House Republican responsible for helping to draw up that redistricting plan, Shawn Lindsay, also lost his seat this month.

How To Pass A Ballot Measure

2012-11-14T15:47:00.000-08:00

The folks over at CFM Strategic Communications, a prominent Oregon lobbying/public relations firm, have written up an interesting post-election analysis of the campaign to pass Ballot Measure 79. That measure, as you may recall, puts a ban on any new real estate transfer fees or taxes into the Oregon Constitution. Opponents ridiculed the measure as pointless, since such a ban already exists in state law. Supporters said putting it in the Constitution would protect homeowners from possible future efforts by state lawmakers to repeal the ban.

A last-minute release of internal polling numbers by opposition group Defend Oregon seemed to point to a resounding defeat of the measure. But in the end, the measure easily passed with nearly 59% of the vote. CFM chalks up the victory to a "direct, simple and personalized" advertising campaign. Of course, the $5 million that real estate groups spent getting that message out certainly didn't hurt, either.

Election Day Line-Up, Oregon-Style

2012-11-06T15:58:00.000-08:00

Amid reports of people waiting three hours or more to cast a ballot in some east coast states, it's worth noting that here in Oregon, Election Day voting is so easy that voters at some ballot drop-off locations need to be warned to "slow down" in order to cast their ballot. Tossing your ballot out the window as you breeze past an elections worker at 40 mph is just not safe. I snapped this photo earlier this afternoon in front of the Marion County Courthouse in downtown Salem, where motorists were dutifully slowing down to at least 10 mph to cast a ballot. To find a ballot drop-off spot near you, click here. The deadline to vote is 8 p.m. tonight.

Students Weigh In On Eve Of Election

2012-11-02T13:46:00.000-07:00

There are some in the world of journalism who don't see much value in the "Man on the Street" interview. So we decided to try the "College Student in the Coffee Shop" approach. I sent Salem bureau intern Virginia Alvino across the street to the campus of Willamette University to talk to students there about what it's like to cast their first ever vote in a presidential election. (In the interest of full disclosure, Virginia is a Willamette student herself, currently on track to graduate with an MBA in the spring.) Here's a sampling of what the students she spoke with had to say: YoungVoters by Chris Lehman

Rudyard Kipling Is On The Agenda

2012-10-31T15:23:00.000-07:00

Did you know that famed Nobel-prize winning author Rudyard Kipling once spent a day fishing on the Clackamas River? When the Oregon Geographic Names Board meets this Saturday, the 25-member volunteer panel will consider a proposal to name an 18' x 60' rock in the river near the town of Carver after Kipling, who--according to local lore--spent one sunny day in 1889 perched atop the outcropping. And boy, did he ever enjoy himself. The 23-year-old writer was in the midst of a tour of the American west, and he wrote rhapsodically of his day on the Clackamas River.

For a taste of Kipling's enthusiastic description, I turned to retired Oregonian outdoors writer Tom McAllister, a long-time member of the Geographic Names Board. McAllister read for me a brief snippet of what Kipling had to say:

Tom McAllister Reads Rudyard Kipling

Whew! That's the kind of writing that tourism agencies would pay top dollar for, and indeed, Kipling's description supposedly spurred interest far and wide about the delights of Oregon. If you want to see the rock that may soon bear Kipling's name, you'll have to get a boat. McAllister says the rock isn't visible from any road or other public property.

Sometimes, Even Your Enemy Says Something You Like

2012-10-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that the folks at Our Oregon are no fans of the PolitiFact division of The Oregonian. Over the past 6 months, the left-leaning group has taken to calling it PolitiFarce, PolitiFiction, and PolitiFail. But while Our Oregon calls the O's fact-checking unit "an exercise in journalistic self-parody," it's not afraid to plug some of PolitiFact's conclusions into its own campaign literature. In a blog post today about the real estate industry-backed Measure 79, Our Oregon--which opposes the measure--writes that "the Yes on 79 campaign's messages have been described by the media as 'inaccurate and ridiculous...'"

So, who in the media described Yes on 79 campaign messages as "inaccurate and ridiculous?" You guessed it: PolitiFact Oregon. In a nice bit of irony, the Our Oregon blog post which uses PolitiFact's terms to help build the case against Measure 79 is immediately preceded by a blog post entitled "PolitiFarce Strikes Again."

Kate Brown Won't Be Issuing Voter Turnout Prediction

2012-10-26T15:59:00.000-07:00

Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown apparently won't be keeping up the election season tradition of issuing a guess about what percentage of the state's registered voters will cast a ballot. In Oregon, it's a ritual that dates at least as far back as 1966, when then-Secretary of State Tom McCall predicted a 72% turnout. Most Oregon Secretaries of State have kept the tradition alive, and that guessing game has become a lot easier now that vote-by-mail allows elections officials to generate some actual hard data from early returns on which to base the final prediction. During the last presidential election in 2008, for instance, Bill Bradbury predicted a modern record turnout of 86.5%. That turned out to be a little optimistic, but not by much.

Since taking office in 2009, Kate Brown has issued turnout predictions for every statewide election. In the January 2010 special election, the prediction was 62%. (This turned out to be right on the money.) In the May 2010 primary Brown predicted a 37% turnout. (Actual turnout was 41%.) In the November 2010, the prediction was 72%. (Actual turnout was 70%.) In May of this year, Brown didn't settle on a specific number, but she told the Oregonian she expected turnout for the primary to be "in the low 40's." (Actual turnout was 38%)

But don't look for a prediction this time around. Brown's spokeswoman, Andrea Cantu-Schomus, says, "As you can imagine it does take some time and research. We are focusing on our get out the vote efforts, encouraging Oregonians to register and vote."

Of course, Brown, the candidate, is probably watching the early returns closely. The Democrat is locked in a fierce political battle to keep her job against Republican challenger Knute Buehler. As of the latest count, just over 14% of Oregon voters have returned their ballot. So far, Democrats have returned their ballots at a slightly rate than Republicans.

The Voters Pamphlet In 113 Seconds

2012-10-18T16:45:00.000-07:00

Need a little entertainment on your next 23 hour road trip? Then consider listening to the entire Oregon Voters Pamphlet as read aloud by a voiceover artist at a Beaverton production studio. (She maintains a remarkably even keel as she reads through everything the state's political hopefuls felt like cramming into their Voters Pamphlet statement.) But who has the time to listen to all 23 hours? That's why I've helpfully condensed it down to a breezy 113 seconds. Enjoy!

The Oregon Audio Voters Pamphlet, Condensed

Jefferson Smith's Troubles Used As Campaign Issue In Legislative Race

2012-10-15T16:32:00.000-07:00

Jefferson Smith is a Democratic state representative, but he's making far more headlines these days as a candidate for Portland mayor. And many of those headlines have been, well, less than flattering. Some of Smith's supporters have even started to withdraw their endorsement of him. Now, it appears that Republicans are going to use association with Jefferson Smith against other Democrats running for office. The House Republican campaign arm is criticizing Democratic House candidate Brent Barton for continuing to endorse Smith, calling Barton's support "troubling." Nick Smith of Promote Oregon Leadership PAC said "If Barton truly believes violence against women is a serious issue, he would follow the others in dropping his support."

The attack on Barton could be a sign that Republicans think they could pick up the suburban Portland seat that Barton is seeking. It's an open seat, since current officeholder Dave Hunt is not seeking re-election. Democrats do hold a reasonably large voter registration edge in the district, however.

But while Barton is a former state rep who served alongside Smith for one term in the Oregon House, there's no particular reason to think he holds a special connection to Smith. In fact, the GOP press release about Barton could largely be re-issued verbatim with the names of a number of other Democratic House candidates in Barton's place. As of this writing, I count at least 14 such candidates listed as supporters on Jefferson Smith's campaign website. Jared Mason-Gere, the spokesman for Future PAC, the House Democrats' campaign arm, had no comment on the Republicans' strategy of associating Democratic candidates with Jefferson Smith.

GOP Opposes Measure That Republicans Helped Get On The Ballot

2012-10-12T16:53:00.000-07:00

The Oregon Republican Party wants you to vote against a measure that made it to the ballot with strong support from Republican lawmakers. Measure 77 gives the governor constitutional authority to declare a catastrophic disaster and to redirect funds for disaster response. It was referred to the ballot during the 2011 legislative session in the form of House Joint Resolution 7.

But despite the fact that HJR-7 passed with nearly unanimous support from both parties (the vote was 30-0 in the Senate and 57-3 in the House), the GOP State Central Committee has come out against the proposal. According to an Oregon GOP press release, committee members "voiced concerns about potential unintended consequences and possible misuse of Disaster Declarations."

The Secretary of State Race As Seen Through A Blue Oregon Blog Post

2012-10-12T10:34:00.000-07:00

Kate Brown's re-election campaign is starting to pay attention to Bob Wolfe. Who's Bob Wolfe? He's running for Oregon Secretary of State as the nominee of the Progressive Party. He's also been active in the effort to legalize marijuana in Oregon, and has been in a dispute with Brown over whether or not his initiative was properly disqualified for the ballot earlier this year. (A separate marijuana legalization measure did qualify.) Earlier in the year, Brown's office had fined Wolfe a record $65,000 for allegedly paying signature gatherers based on the number of names they collected, a big no-no under Oregon elections law. Wolfe disputes the finding.

So when Wolfe entered the race for Secretary of State, many viewed it as a thinly veiled attempt to "engage in a personal vendetta" against Kate Brown. At least, that's how former Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury describes it in a lengthy entry at the left-leaning website Blue Oregon. Bradbury--a Democrat, like Brown--spends a few sentences dismissing the efforts of Republican challenger Knute Buehler, who's running an aggressive statewide campaign. But it's unlikely many Blue Oregon regulars would consider casting a vote for Buehler. Instead, Bradbury saves most of his wrath for Bob Wolfe, whom he calls "out for revenge" against Brown. While Wolfe has raised only a token amount in his run for office, he got a boost this week with a high profile endorsement by Ralph Nader, who also recorded a radio ad on behalf of Wolfe. Clearly, Brown's campaign is worried that Wolfe will draw some liberal voters away from the incumbent. If Wolfe gets even one or two percentage points on Election Day, that could swing the final outcome in Buehler's favor.

And Republicans know this. Conservative talk show host Bill Post weighed in on the comments following Bradbury's blog entry, saying that he's found Wolfe "to be an honorable man" and that "if you are a progressive, you have a great candidate in Robert Wolfe!" Of course, Post doesn't really want a marijuana activist to become Oregon Secretary of State. His praise is a calculated effort to sway as many Brown supporters as possible to vote for Wolfe.

Whether that effort bears any fruit is a different matter, but it's also worth noting that several prominent marijuana legalization supporters also weighed in in the Blue Oregon comment section, blasting Bradbury and Brown. Pot activists proved to be a formidable force in the Democratic primary for Attorney General earlier this year, rallying around eventual winner Ellen Rosenblum with both moral and financial support. So far, Wolfe has not enjoyed that same level of support in his race for Secretary of State. Unlike Rosenblum, he's a definite long shot and would have little say over marijuana policy were he to be elected to that office. It's also worth noting that there are two additional candidates on the ballot besides Brown, Buehler and Wolfe: the Green Party's Seth Woolley and Libertarian candidate Bruce Knight.

Brad Avakian And The Politics Of Shop Class

2012-10-10T15:12:00.000-07:00

On the campaign trail, Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian likes to talk about a bill he championed in the legislature last year that aims to bring back "career and technical eduction" to Oregon schools. The measure, HB 3362, passed without a single vote in opposition. It created a $2 million grant pool from the state's General Fund, and schools around the state were encouraged to apply for a piece of the money in order to create what Avakian calls a "21st Century shop class." Avakian uses this program as an example of his track record as head of the Bureau of Labor and Industries. He's facing a credible challenge this November from Republican state Senator Bruce Starr.

Last evening, Avakian took his re-election campaign to a meeting of the African American Chamber of Commerce in Portland. He spent a great deal of his presentation describing the role of Labor Commissioner, and concluded by talking about his shop class bill and his hopes that it would create a new generation of skilled workers in Oregon. He said the first round of grants led to the establishment of new shop classes in 21 schools around the state. But Avakian seemed unprepared for the first question from the audience: "Of those 21 schools, are there any in Portland?"

No, the Labor Commissioner conceded, there are none in Portland. Grants were awarded to school districts in eastern Oregon, central Oregon, Eugene, and a few other places. But while Portland applied, it didn't make the cut. (You can see the entire list of grants here.)

The audience clearly wasn't pleased with this response, and peppered Avakian with questions about how the grants were awarded, who sat on the selection committee, was racial and ethnic diversity of students part of the criteria for choosing the grant-winners, and above all, why would the state's largest school district be shut out of a program like this?

Avakian, while emphasizing that he personally did not serve on the grant selection committee, said that the Bureau "reached out to every single school district in the state" and that he was confident that Portland would come up a winner in the next round of grants. There were more than 70 applications the first time around, and there simply wasn't enough money to award a shop class grant to everyone who asked. It wasn't clear whether the audience was satisfied with the answer. Avakian left immediately after his speech, but not before telling the audience he "wasn't going to stop until every middle and high school in the state" was able to offer a shop class. Including, presumably, those in Portland.

The Slower Increase In Voter Registration

2012-10-10T14:16:00.000-07:00

My editor saw a story in the Seattle Times earlier this week about how Washington state has not experienced a very large uptick in voter registrations this year. Yes, there's been an increase, but not to the extent that you might expect in a presidential election year, and not anywhere near the increase experienced in the run-up to the 2008 election. The paper had looked at Washington voter registrations in January of 2008 and September of 2008, and compared that increase to the increase in registrations from January of 2012 to September of 2012. The Times' analysis showed that about one-third fewer new voters had signed up this year compared to four years ago.

We decided to crunch the numbers to see if Oregon has had the same experience. As I reported on the radio, the short answer is "yes." But in a one-minute radio spot, I didn't have the luxury to really delve into the numbers, so here's a bit more of what I found:

First, thanks to redistricting, the Oregon Secretary of State's office didn't have voter registration figures available from January of this year, so it wasn't possible to do a strictly apples-to-apples parallel analysis with the Seattle Times story. So I used February of 2008 and February of 2012 as my baseline numbers for each year, which I think is close enough to draw a fair comparison. And I calculated the increase to September of both years. In Oregon, voter registration increased by 6.9% over that time period in 2008, and by 5.8% in 2012. Or, to put it another way, new registrations are increasing at a 16% slower pace this time around.

So clearly Oregon, like Washington, is seeing fewer new voters signing up this year. But the drop-off is smaller in Oregon than in Washington.

An Interview With 96-Year-Old Doctor/Actor Dean Brooks

2012-10-05T15:29:00.000-07:00

The Mental Health Museum at the Oregon State Hospital opens this weekend with a series of events, some of which feature Louise Fletcher, who won the Academy Award for her portrayal of Nurse Ratched in the movie version of "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest."

But Fletcher won't be the only actor from that movie at this weekend's grand opening of the museum (which features an exhibit on the making of the movie, along with plenty of exhibits and artifacts of the real-life hospital where the movie was filmed). Dean Brooks, who appeared in the movie as "Dr. Spivey" and was superintendent of the Oregon State Hospital for nearly 30 years, and who made the now-legendary decision to allow Hollywood access to the Salem mental institution, is also scheduled to be at Saturday's ribbon cutting. That's significant, since Dr. Brooks is 96 years old. He's still sharp as a tack--I spoke with him last week--and thinks the museum at the hospital is a long overdue addition.

If you heard my story previewing the museum's opening, you heard a brief portion of my interview with Dr. Brooks. But click on the link below for an extended length version of it, in which Brooks tells me more about the decision to allow the movie to be filmed at the hospital. Turns out, Brooks was initially angered by Ken Kesey's novel, but came to see it in a different light.

Chris Lehman's interview with Dean Brooks

Sometimes You Don't Need A Bill

2012-10-01T17:18:00.000-07:00

Former Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski will be back in Salem tomorrow when a National Guard support facility at the Salem airport is renamed in his honor. Interestingly, the renaming comes despite the fact that a bill authorizing the name change failed in the legislature last year. Senate Bill 601, sponsored by Senate President Peter Courtney, is pretty straightforward. In fact, the relevant section is literally one sentence long:

SECTION 1. The Oregon Military Department shall name the Salem Army National
Guard Flight Facility the “Governor Ted Kulongoski Army Aviation Training Center.”

The bill passed the Senate unanimously, and headed over to the House with more than three months to go before the end of the 2011 session. But it never even got a hearing in the House Veterans Affairs Committee. What happened? According to spokesmen for both Senator Courtney and Governor John Kitzhaber, the bill got caught up in partisan turmoil unrelated to the measure itself. The middle of the 2011 session saw several political skirmishes between co-chairs of various committees, as Democrats and Republicans shared power thanks to the 30-30 split. The bill honoring the former governor was apparently a victim of that bickering.

No fear. The Oregon Military Department decided it didn't need the legislature's approval to rename the facility. And so, with the blessing of Senator Courtney and Governor Kitzhaber, the name change was back on track.

Letters To Me From James Buchal Supporters

2012-09-27T16:14:00.000-07:00

In what was probably not the most shocking political strategy move of the election season, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said this week that she would not debate her Republican challenger, James Buchal. Rosenblum won the Democratic primary in May and was appointed by Governor John Kitzhaber in June to fill the remainder of John Kroger's term. There were no Republicans on the primary ballot, but Buchal won the GOP nomination on the backs of write-in votes.

Buchal's supporters aren't happy that their candidate apparently won't get to debate Rosenblum. They're pressuring media outlets to hold such a debate. Or maybe they're pressuring media outlets to pressure Rosenblum to agree to a debate. Or maybe...well, I'll just let you read these letters for yourself. Here they are, verbatim.

Regarding debate between Harvard Debater AG candidate James Buchal and his opponent the interim AG Ellen Rosenblum. If you are a truly informative press you should find in newsworthy that a statewide candidate refuses to engage in debate on public issues. Please do your job. Carol Orr

-----------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr. Lehman:

In order to make an informed vote for Attorney General, I want to see James Buchal debate with Ms. Rosenblum. If she won't do it, I can only conclude she's hiding something. Could it be her belief that she has unlimited powers to legislate from the bench? Which enumerated powers in the Constitution give her this right? Unless she can answer these questions to my satisfaction, I prefer to vote for Buchal.

I suspect that if a staunch conservative AG refused to debate a progressive opponent, you would become irate. The shoe is on the other foot, and to avoid looking biased I suggest you pressure Ms. Rosenblum for a public debate soon. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Lyneil Vandermolen

Tualatin, OR

-----------------------------------------------------

Rosenblum should debate with buckal so we see what each has planned

Bill Puntney

Clayton-Ward Recycling Centers

Oregon and Washington

-----------------------------------------------------

Dear Oregon media servants,

Please urge a debate, or series of debates between the current/interim State Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, and her opponent James Buchal!

The public deserves to hear them together in a fair discussion of the issues to be able to calculate the choice they face.

Not only is this very important for Oregon, but would also make for a lively media event for your stations!

From talks I have watched, James Buchal is a dynamic, enthusiastic speaker who would likely make for an exciting debate!

Thank you for considering this idea!

Vivian Ward

Larry Ward

Christopher Ward

Scappoose, Oregon

-----------------------------------------------------

Dear Chris Lehman,

I am an OPB viewer and I have just learned that Ellen Rosemblaum, who is running for Oregon Attorney General this November, refuses to debate her opponent James Buchal who is Republican. I am outraged that some candidates would feel there built in democratic lead gives them the right to decline a necessary vetting tool that voters rely on. Please do all you can to encourage and sollicit a depate between Buchal and Rosenblaum on your TV station, after all, Kate Brown (the democratic incumbant) still feels the responsibility to debate Knute Buehler for the State Secretary Office. Of all the candidates who need to be seen by Oregonians, James Buchal is the most dynamic candidate running for office in our state and perhaps the whole country. If you have not yet had the opportunity to see this brilliant patriot speak please treat yourself to a look at this short video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q313DZln0I

Thank you for considering adding and encouraging this potentially exciting programming to your schedule,
Judy Morrise

You're Just Not Going To Believe Where That Giant Cheeseburger Came From

2012-09-06T15:19:00.000-07:00

Since I wrote about it yesterday, the current bid on that giant cheeseburger being sold by the state of Oregon has jumped from $8.48 to $38.37. I just can't help but think that the story behind the cheeseburger is going to increase its value even more. As it turns out, the burger was used as a prop in a commercial for the Oregon Lottery. Take a close look at this video and see if you can spot it.

Apparently, the Lottery could think of no additional use for an 89-pound cheeseburger other than having five scantily clad women carry it through a meadow, so they shipped it off to the Oregon surplus division. Whoever posted the video on YouTube seems to think the commercial was "banned." Lottery spokesman Chuck Baumann says to call it "banned" might be stretching things, but he confirms that the 2008 commercial was pulled early "after a number of folks expressed concern."

The State Of Oregon Is Selling An Enormous Used Cheeseburger

2012-09-05T16:31:00.000-07:00

The state of Oregon is trying to unload an 89 pound cheeseburger. The description on the state's surplus auction site is priceless:

Artificial cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato on a sesame seed bun. Used.

As of this writing, the current bid for this gem is $8.48 cents. Why is the state selling a giant shrink-wrapped cheeseburger? Trust me, I'd love to know. I have a call in to the Department of Administrative Services...

[UPDATE: I discovered the origins of this behemoth burger and wrote about it here.]

Obama Gets Top Billing On Oregon Ballot

2012-09-04T15:53:00.001-07:00

President Barack Obama will get his name listed first among the six presidential candidates on this year's Oregon ballot. It isn't because he's the incumbent. By Oregon law, the Secretary of State's office conducts a "random ordering" of the alphabet prior to each election, and uses that order to determine the order in which the candidates are listed.

This year, the first letter chosen was "E." There's no one running for president with a last name starting with "E." The second letter selected was "O." That puts President Obama at the top of the list. As for Republican nominee Mitt Romney, he's number 5 on the list: Romney will follow Obama, the Green Party's Jill Stein, the Progressive Party's Rocky Anderson, and Libertarian Gary Johnson. Following Romney on the list will be Will Christensen of the Constitution Party.

Of course, it's unlikely many voters will sit down with their ballot and have zero familiarity with either Barack Obama or Mitt Romney. So the ordering of their names will likely have little effect on their vote totals. But what about races further down the ballot? A few years ago, NPR interviewed a Stanford professor who concluded that being listed first on the ballot could boost a candidate's totals by as much as two percent. Whether that's true in Oregon is debatable, since vote-by-mail gives people a little more time to consider their options.

Interestingly, the two major candidates for Oregon Secretary of State this year both have last names starting with "B": Incumbent Democrat Kate Brown and Republican challenger Knute Buehler. In that case, the order of names is determined by the placement of the second letter of the last name in the random alphabet. Brown "wins" this contest because "R" is higher than "U" in this year's random alphabet. However, both Brown and Buehler's names will appear below three minor-party candidates.

To view this year's random alphabet, click here.