Will Lathrop for attorney general

Many of us have spoken on the virtue of choosing people over party in these troubling, divided times. There is a candidate that deserves the attention of all of us, regardless of party.

I am writing to encourage you to vote for Will Lathrop for Attorney General of Oregon. This is a really important race and it is really close, so your vote can make a difference.

Here is why I’m voting for him: It is no secret that Oregon is struggling with crime, addiction, and homelessness. Public safety should be our top priority this election. The Attorney General is Oregon’s chief law enforcement officer. Will was a child abuse prosecutor in Oregon for nearly a decade, worked on child abuse efforts at the national level, and most recently has been leading multinational teams in Africa to rescue human trafficking victims and combat land violence against widows. When elected, he is going to take on drug trafficking, work to keep children safe, and combat government corruption. He has the unique law enforcement experience (in Oregon and internationally) to rebuild law enforcement in our state and restore public safety.

Will is not a political guy, he is just a long-time public servant who is focused on accountability, problem-solving, and protecting victims from crime. I strongly encourage you to consider voting for him. Thank you for your consideration.

— Chris Dudley, Sisters

Barb Campbell for Bend City Council

City Councilor Barb Campbell, if re-elected, would fight a President Trump cheeky enough to try to recruit the Bend Police Department to round up immigrant families.

Never all-talk, on August 12, 2020, Barb parked her car between two ICE buses to prevent the abduction of two men, both hard-working fathers living here lawfully under Oregon law. She couldn’t bear to see her beloved Bend sink into the cruelty of Trump’s family separation policy.

Barb realizes that local immigrant families live here peacefully and contribute in essential ways to the local economy. How else could our construction and service industries exist?

Barb has won three straight election victories despite being flagrantly outspent. But no worse than now: Opponent Stephen Platt has raked in $47,000 from the Central Oregon Association of Realtors, COAR. This amount is the most, I believe, ever given to a Bend City Council candidate by a single donor. Even candidates Norris and Franzosa (both with no actual opposition, in my view) have accepted generous donations. Does COAR intend to buy Bend’s entire governing body?

Before her 2014 election, Barb Campbell was an early activist for street traffic safety. (Remember Slower Safer Bend?) With her downtown business Wabi Sabi, she created a welcoming environment for everybody. Then, as a councilor, she plunged into the work for expanded public transportation, greenways and connected sidewalks; city policies incorporating human rights, equity, and diversity; city-based climate solutions; housing and humane policies for unhoused people; and even a fireworks ban.

As Barb’s spouse, I am so proud.

— Foster Fell, Bend

Vote no on Measure 117

Ranked-choice voting is not the best long-term solution to the mess we have made of our political system. It sounds good, giving the illusion of simplifying our voting process, and may reduce the cost of conducting elections — if only in the long-run.

However, the system will not be that simple for voters to understand and use. More importantly, voters will continue to be held captive to the arcane, divisive and undemocratic system of party politics. There is no simple solution, and that is a sad truth. The best option for enabling wider participation in our political process is not ranked-choice voting. Rather we should do away with the closed primaries by which candidates are chosen to be on the ballot and whom we would then have to rank. Our sullied system of closed primaries disenfranchises a great many Oregonians, and puts too much power in the hands of professional party officials and hacks. Our founding fathers decried the very idea of “factions.” But we have surrendered true democratic principles at the feet of those very factions, aka parties. It is time to disempower them. Vote no on ranked choice voting and start planning for open primaries.

— Paul White, Bend

Editor’s Note

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