The Liftoff: Kristof is out. What now?
PLUS: Short session highlights, Mingus Mapps on the pod, Oregon's changing drug policy landscape, public education news, and more!
Welcome back to The Liftoff!
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When the winner of the Democratic primary election for Governor is decided (and perhaps the winner of the general election, too), we will look back at last week as one of the most consequential weeks in the campaign. Keep reading to learn why.
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1. Nick Kristof can’t run for governor. What happens next?
It’s official: the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that Nick Kristof is ineligible to run for governor for failing to meet the three-year residency requirement. Kristof will not challenge the ruling. So what happens next?
Kristof joined Think Out Loud to talk about his own next steps. He also wrote a personal essay, including how he found out about the Supreme Court ruling. The answer to most of the complex questions (What will you do next? What will happen to your campaign funds?) is: he isn’t quite sure yet.
So, what does this mean for the Democratic primary? Read Portland Monthly’s in-depth insight, and see our high-level analysis below.
The obvious winners are Treasurer Tobias Read and former speaker Tina Kotek, who both extended olive branches to Kristof and his supporters (Secretary of State Shemia Fagan did not).
The good news for Kotek is, with Kristof out, she has a clearer lane to consolidate the support of progressive organizations, as demonstrated by her winning the endorsement of the Oregon Education Association over the weekend. She now has a clean sweep of all labor endorsements (UFCW, Oregon’s largest private-sector labor union, had previously endorsed Kristof).
The good news for Read is that this is now a two-person race. With Kristof out, he has an opportunity to try to win over Kristof’s supporters.
How will this impact the general election? There are a couple of theories:
Kristof was the top fundraiser in the D field, so with him out, both Kotek and Read are likely to spend less in the primary—meaning the eventual winner will have access to more cash in the general. This is the bad news for former State Sen. Betsy Johnson (a non-affiliated candidate who does not have to spend money on a primary).
Others believe that if Kristof would have won the primary, his outsider, center-left status (and access to large amounts of money) would have blunted Johnson’s appeal in the general election. In this sense, his exit is good news for Johnson.
2. The 2022 legislative session is halfway done. Here are the highlights.
Partisan tactics are ramping up as the legislature enters the second half of the short session. Pamplin describes it as “the return of parliamentary guerilla warfare.”
The Republicans are in the minority of both chambers—but they still have legislative agendas and budget asks.
A proposal from Rep. Andrea Valderrama would provide $600 payments to working class Oregonians, which would cost about $180 million according to OPB.
According to Les Zaitz, Oregon has an open meetings problem—and he uses a recent violation in Malheur County to explain why (featuring Rep. Greg Smith).
Oregon is experiencing a behavioral health workforce crisis so dire that programs are closing and the entire state system is threatened, according to Rep. Rob Nosse. A $200 million proposal has been offered as a starting place.
A separate proposal, led by Rep. Rachel Prusak, aims to address the critical nursing shortage in Oregon.
Election workers are under threat and are asking the legislature for greater protections, with the support of Secretary of State Shemia Fagan.
House Democrats have advanced a bill making it easier to register to vote online with the last four digits of your social security number (rather than a driver’s license number).
3. Portland Commissioner Mingus Mapps joins The Bridge podcast and talks Portland’s unique governance structure, homelessness, and the addiction crisis
Mingus Mapps is a Portland City Commissioner. He leads the Water Bureau, the Bureau of Environmental Services, and the Bureau of Emergency Communications (9-1-1). He is also an academic scholar who teachers courses on government. Mapps defeated incumbent Commissioner Chloe Eudaly and former Portland Mayor Sam Adams in the 2020 election. He is a unique figure in Portland politics; as you'll hear in the interview, he is whip smart and pragmatic--and he doesn't hesitate to levy critiques (including Portland's "ineffective" form of government). In this episode, we cover Portland's homelessness crisis, the challenge of addressing addiction issues, his mentors (former Multnomah County Commission Chairs Gladys McCoy and Bev Stein), and his call for Portlanders to jump into the fray and get involved in city affairs.
To make sure you don’t miss an episode of the podcast, please subscribe to our YouTube Channel and wherever you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify, Audible, and Google).
4. Oregon’s rapidly changing drug landscape
Oregon continues to attract national attention for our evolving drug policy landscape. Here are some highlights from the last week.
First, some excellent reporting from OPB: Regardless of what you think about Measure 110, the ballot measure that decriminalized drugs, two things are true:
“Less than 1% of those helped with Measure 110 dollars were reported to have entered treatment, new state data shows.”
“Most of those who accessed the grant-funded services last year, nearly 60%, engaged with harm reduction programs such as syringe exchanges and naloxone distribution.”
Draft rules for psilocybin mushrooms have been released—while not approved yet, they currently say anyone over 21 could access the drug, without a diagnosis or prescription, in a therapeutic setting.
According to WW, entrepreneurs, investors, and researchers from around the world are ready to capitalize on Oregon’s “psychedelic renaissance”—some call it a “gold rush mentality”.
A deeper dive on a story we’ve highlighted before, this time from KGW, highlighting Oregon’ behavioral health crisis: “Per capita, Oregonians 12 and older who sought treatment in 2020 for any kind of substance abuse are the least likely in the nation to find it.”
5. The state of public education in Oregon
It continues to be a challenging environment for public education in Oregon, with a deeply divided political culture, academic and mental health challenges from the pandemic, and a workforce in crisis. Here are some important stories from the last week:
According to Superintendent Charan Cline, the Redmond School Board adopted a resolution that directs “teachers to break the law” by making masks optional prior to the March 31 deadline set by Governor Kate Brown.
Portland Public Schools is expecting a steep decline in students next year.
Senator Michael Dembrow and Senate President Peter Courtney are calling for a massive investment in summer education programs to help students recover unfinished learning from the pandemic.
The House Education Committee unanimously advanced a bill with a suite of proposals to address the education workforce crisis.
The Oregon Education Association, which represents most Oregon teachers and is one of the largest labor unions in Oregon, has made endorsements in key primary races:
For Governor: Tina Kotek
For CD5: Jamie McLeod-Skinner
For CD6: Rep. Andrea Salinas
For Labor Commissioner: Christina Stephenson
6. Portland leaders grapple with homelessness and gun violence
What has happened since Sam Adams released his proposal to address homelessness? After several statements of disapproval, Mayor Ted Wheeler (Adams’ boss) is moving forward with an adjusted plan to relocate homeless campers to specifically designated areas in the city.
This excellent reporting from WW puts the Adams proposal in a broader west coast context, explaining the origins of the proposal and the political context that created it.
Meanwhile, visitors and workers have not returned to downtown Portland; John Tapogna suggests Portland may have “additional challenges” beyond that of other big cities.
In some unsettling news, reported bias crimes are up a staggering 41% over last year in Multnomah County.
Over the weekend, Portland saw more gun violence, with six shootings in nine hours, with some local politicians calling it an epidemic.
7. News Roundup: Droughts, supervolcanoes, carpet, gas prices, and more!
First, some apocalyptically bad news from OPB: “The American West’s megadrought deepened so much last year that it is now the driest in at least 1,200 years and is a worst-case climate change scenario playing out live, a new study finds.”
Oregon has the fourth highest gas prices in America—and they might keep going up.
And now for some great news: the old carpet is making a comeback!!
Today in terrible logic: “Man tried to open emergency door on Portland-bound plane in attention-grab to address COVID-19 vaccines, feds say”
The race to replace Rep. Mark Meek (who is running for the senate) in the Oregon City-based House District 40 will have competitive primaries on both sides, with the entrance of Adam Baker, a Republican police officer.
A new poll from the District Attorney’s Association (which was described as a “deliberate push poll” and “negligent work product” by a dissenting DA) shows that “soft on crime” rhetoric still polls well in Oregon, among other things.
State Epidemiologist Dean Sidelinger recommends you continue masking (at least until the end of March); check out his interview on Think Out Loud for more.
Pulitzer Prize winner and former editor of The Oregonian and The Bend Bulletin Erik Lukens has joined Oregon Business and Industry (OBI).
The electric vehiclce revolution might be supplied by Oregon thanks to a supervolcano, via OPB: “A supervolcano, a massive eruption and a lost lake left Oregon with what could be the largest known lithium deposit in the United States.”
Is Yamhill County the Oregon elections version of Pennsylvania? Read Tim Nesbitt’s take.
Thank you for reading.
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Oregon is one of the few states left with mask mandates and as seen in Redmond parents are fed up. Governor Brown has failed the state in so many ways and seems to do what California and Washington Governors do, not what Oregonians want.