The November 2024 Ballot

Endorsements, Non-endorsements, and Assorted Comments

I’m happy to give you the following endorsements for your 2024 ballot. However, it’s always best if you read up on the issues and make your own decisions. You can view an advance copy of the Oregon Voters Pamphlet here.

Oregon Congressional District 4. The leading candidates are incumbent Rep. Val Hoyle and Monique DeSpain. I have known both candidates for almost 20 years. I always know where Val stands on an issue. She’s honest, forthright, and true to her principles. What little I know about DeSpain’s principles, I’ve garnered from her associations rather than her claims regarding values and priorities. Her associations are troubling; for example, she’s signed a commitment to oppose reproductive rights and is endorsed by a party that opposes all forms of public schooling. DeSpain’s campaign ads are relentlessly negative and say nothing about herself. Vote Val Hoyle if you want an honest representative who works hard for her constituents.

Measure 115 - Empowers Legislature to Impeach Oregon Statewide Elected Officials. Oregon is one of only two states that don’t allow the impeachment of elected officials. Instead, we have a recall process that is long and expensive. But sometimes it’s important to show someone the door quickly, rather than let them linger to leverage the power of their office to prevent prosecution. I supported this measure long before my party did; I’m glad to see they finally put it on the ballot. Vote yes.

Measure 116 - Commission for Public Official Salaries. Oregon has some of the lowest salaries for public officials in the country, from legislators to judges. This measure would take this political hot potato out of the Legislature and give it to an impartial commission to decide fair compensation. In turn, this will allow people who must earn a living and can’t afford to take a demanding position without fair pay to run for public office. Vote yes.

Measure 117 - Ranked Choice Voting. This measure solves one-half of the problem with our current system by preventing the spoiler effect of third parties. While it doesn’t eliminate the problem of closed primaries, it’s still a step forward. I’ll take it for now and work for open primaries over time. Vote yes.

Measure 118 - Payments to Individuals from Corporate Taxes. In a nutshell, this one raises corporate taxes to give payments estimated to range from $700-$1600 annually to individuals, including children. The measure backfills lost benefits to the poor from the increased income, eliminating one of the biggest objections to similar measures. It’ll likely result in about $1 billion less in business tax revenue to the state, which will may result in cuts to other services or increased taxes to recover those funds (depending on what the legislature chooses to do about it). As it takes power away from the state government, almost everyone invested in the state government is opposed to it. The Permanent Fund Dividend results in similar payments in Alaska, where I lived for 3 years. Results were a mixed bag; they offset the high cost of living there to some degree, but also resulted in a high social cost to people suffering from addiction and their children. Vote yes if you think people should have more control over their tax funds; vote no if you prefer the current system, where the Legislature decides how to spend state revenues.

nb - Estimates of the annual payment vary substantially.

nb - Measure 118 is NOT a sales tax.

Measure 119 - Unionization of Marijuana Workers. Some federal unionization laws don’t apply to marijuana workers, because marijuana use is still illegal under federal law. The legislature punted on this one because of concerns about its legality. If passed, it will certainly result in a lawsuit to determine whether it is legal under federal law or not. I’m inclined to support workers and let the legal system figure it out. Vote yes.

Lane County Measure 20-362. Mid-decade County Redistricting.
There are two reasons for a county to redistrict in the middle of the decade and without new census data: either a court is ordering the county to or the majority of the county commission wants to lock in its majority. As no court is ordering the county to do this, we know it’s a partisan gerrymander to support the conservative majority. Further, the proposal allows a population variance of up to 10% between districts, instead of the usual 1% or less; this is probably illegal and erodes the principle of one person, one vote. The measure is opposed by non-partisan good government groups like the League of Women Voters. Vote no on Measure 20-362.

State Legislative Races. As you might expect after the 2021 gerrymander, there are exactly zero competitive local races. (If you doubt that partisan considerations came into play, listen to the Vice Chair of the Senate Redistricting Committee explicitly discuss it here. Start 5 minutes earlier if you want to understand why the Legislature doesn’t trust the Governor.) Politicians prefer not to campaign, which requires them to actually speak to their constituents. Vote Democratic this year and vote for whichever candidate promises to actually follow Oregon’s non-partisan redistricting law in 2030.

State Treasurer and Secretary of State. These races are not expected to be particularly close. The Republican Party put on the ballot two very conservative State Senators who were barred from re-election after walking out of the legislature as sacrificial lambs.

Attorney General. The Attorney General’s race pits two people I like and respect against one another - Dan Rayfield and Will Lathrop. Dan understands the role of the AG - representing the state, working on civil justice issues, and supporting the county DAs on criminal justice issues. When he was Speaker, my biggest criticism of him was that he didn’t push harder for the legislative reform proposals that we both supported - campaign finance reform, independent redistricting, and open primaries. However, I acknowledge that there was no path forward for these proposals in the State Senate at the time. Will has run on a law enforcement platform, which sounds good until you realize that the AG doesn’t actually have much influence in criminal justice matters. Both are good candidates, but Dan will be more effective because he understands the job and the system it operates within. Vote for Dan Rayfield.

Recommendations

Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas. This memoir of an Iranian-American girl growing up in 1970’s is belly-laugh funny and helped me understand Iran a bit better.

Sarcastosaurus, Substack by Tom Cooper. If journalism is the first draft of history, then blogging may be the first draft of journalism. Austrian historian Tom Cooper’s analysis of both the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East is extensive and illuminating. I don’t always agree with Tom (and I certainly don’t about Israel), but he has often proven to be correct over time.

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