Good Day World!
As a relatively new Oregonian (one year now), I like to read as much as I can about my newly adopted state.
I’m enjoying reading books on Oregon history, and following Oregon politics. We have some interesting races coming up here in November.
Today, I’m centering in on just one race however. The State Representative House District 2 race is (in my humble opinion), a controversial campaign that needs the light of day. I also plan on talking about other controversial races and ballot measures in the days ahead.
VIOLATING THE LAW IS NOT A GOOD WAY TO RUN A CAMPAIGN
To set the stage here’s some excerpts from the Daily KOS:
“One of the principles of our representative government is that the people we elect ought to have actually lived for a reasonable time in the geographic area that they are elected to represent.
It's not just a good idea. It's the law. It's the law at a national level, and it's the law at a local level, in every state in the Union. Now, some politicians wink at that requirement (Mitt Romney famously did so, with regard to both running and voting.
A fundamental principle of civilized society in the modern age is to eschew racism. Even politicians with racist associations in their pasts are well-advised to hide them (see Ron Paul and Rand Paul; also Rick "N*ggerhead Ranch" Perry.
Enter, stage far, far right, Dallas Heard. He is running for Oregon's House District 2, backed up by buckets of family money and the full-throated support of the Republican establishment.
But Dallas has some problems: he was not from the district where he is running, and he has compared dealing with the local tribe of Native Americans to dealing with a virus. To his credit, he did not say Ebola. He invoked the virus analogy several years ago--long before Ebola-hysteria became all the rage.” (read full article here)
According to Dallas the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians are "playing a race card" and that they are just as white* as he is--along with his insightful analysis regarding how to "cure" a "virus"--with no insight how this might reverberate in the minds of people who know history. (Smallpox-laced blankets, anyone?)
Statements like those ought to be disqualifying for any candidate.
When Dallas Heard filed to run for Oregon House District 2, he filed with the Secretary of State, indicating that his address was "2330 Dairy Loop Rd. Roseburg OR 97471"--trouble is, that address is not actually in House District 2, and in Oregon, one must have lived in the district for a year before election day.
The Secretary of State informed Dallas Heard of that little problem, and Dallas filed an amended filing to indicate that he lived in Myrtle Creek--a city that is actually in HD2. But it is odd--it seems to me, at least--that the address is shared with a Chris Boice and his family; so it appeared that Dallas and his wife and child were living with the Boice family, just as Mitt Romney allegedly lived in the unfinished basement of his son's family. (Source)
Meanwhile, Dallas Heard continued to use his out-of-district address as his home address on fundraising and correspondence with the Oregon Secretary of State.
He also continued to claim to serve as Chair of the Lookingglass Rural Fire District Board of Directors--an area for which he could not serve if he really lived in Myrtle Creek (in a basement, garage, or spare room--with his wife and baby.)
Since then, he and his wife have apparently moved into a new house, in Winston, Oregon, also in House District 2. This seems to really be their residence. Finally. But not, it seems, within the one-year period required by law.
The point is, Dallas Heard seems not to have lived for the requisite time in Oregon House District 2- that he retroactively "moved" in with Chris Boice, a local politician associated with right-wing politics and whose thuggish behavior appears to be seen (the big guy with the close-cropped "Klingon" style beard appears to be him, but it's uncertain) as the Tea Party crashes a Democratic picnic.
(Thanks to Crooks and Liars for preserving the video, which was taken down after the publicity over the River Forks incident went national. See Citizen Joe diaries, here and here.)
Dallas has some other problems: he is a creationist, climate-change-denying person who objects to the minimum wage in principle, a woman's right to control her own body, government regulation in general (he's been cited on multiple occasions for licensing violations), and so on. But honestly, being a racist carpetbagger ought to be enough to turn off even moderate Republicans.
Probably not, though. Oregon's Republican Party Chair is Art Robinson. Enough said.
You can support the Democrat in the race: Kerry Atherton--and help turn a little corner of Oregon blue. Kerry Atherton is a smart, hardworking, experienced person, who will work with our Democratic majority in Salem, and with local organizations to improve the lives of all of those in HD2.
Time for me to walk on down the road…
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