04.29.2024
First we have an update on the mysterious “Oregon Gun Rights” that Christine Goodwin claimed “endorsed” her, and then on to the election debacle.
When we first saw last week that former House Rep Goodwin, who is now running for Senate District 2, was endorsed by “Oregon Gun Rights” we naturally wondered who they were.
They were not listed as a business and were not a Political Action Committee. No one we knew had any idea who they were. Goodwin wasn’t saying.
Some people wondered if she was referring to the law firm of Gilroy, Napoli, Short which owns the website address “oregongunlaw.com” but gun rights attorney Jason Short assured us it was not them.
Then late last week we learned that the unknown group’s website address was oregongunrights.org.
So we checked them out. And you can too. https://oregongunrights.org/
The website was one page that had no contact info, no “about us”, and nothing more than a collection of candidates they “endorsed” with links to some of their webpages. The name of the person who registered the website was hidden.
When we checked, the only candidate whose website listed this group as “endorsing” them was Goodwin. Two candidates we contacted had never heard of them and had not requested, and were unaware of, the endorsements.
Hilariously, the website twice misquoted the Second Amendment as “the right to bear and keep arms.”*
Now, at the very bottom of the site, in tiny type, appears the text “Paid For By Gun Rights First Pac”
“Gun Rights First Pac” suddenly appeared last Friday on the Secretary of State’s website.
Its director is Reagan Knopp. Knopp is the son of former Republican Senate Leader Tim Knopp. The only donation listed is from “Knopp and Company” for website development and that only appeared today. (UPDATE. The treasurer for this PAC also happens to be the treasurer for Christine Goodwin and Vikki Breese Iverson. What a coincidence .)
You will recall that it was Tim Knopp who folded and gave the Democrats everything they wanted after some Senators had walked out which barred them from running for their offices again. This was one of the most bizarre surrenders in Oregon history. One of the Senators who is barred from reelection is Art Robinson. It is Robinson’s seat that Goodwin is seeking.
(Goodwin has still not explained why she claims to live on someone else’s ranch in the 2nd district when she owns a home nearby, but just outside the district.)
It’s a pathetic state of affairs when you need to have one of your political allies create a PAC that does nothing so you can pretend to be backed by gun rights supporters. By the way, the PAC lists its “nature” as “Advoacting” for gun rights. For obvious reasons OFFPAC will be supporting Noah Robinson for that seat.
Speaking of elections, our bi-annual exercise in futility, they are nearly upon us. Many of you have already received your voter’s pamphlet.
For several decades OFF has published candidate grades. It is always an inexact science at best. Candidate surveys are not a very good tool for determining where a candidate stands or where they are going. Voting records are a better resource when available but even they don’t tell the whole story. For example, House Rep Kim Wallan voted against the very dangerous “militia” bill that was designed to attack gun owners while protecting left wing rioters. That would appear to be a good vote. But she voted against it because she did not believe it went far enough! Republicans Charlie Conrad and Kevin Mannix both voted for the bill.
This year there is very little for gun owners, and all Oregonians, to be positive about. And we cannot make many recommendations for legislative seats.
There are only two incumbent House Reps we support. Dwayne Yunker in House District 3 and James Hieb in House District 51.
Yunker has been a breath of fresh air after being appointed to fill the seat abandoned by Lily Morgan. He has been willing to speak the truth about the reality of what goes on in Salem. One of his recent email alerts correctly noted:“The Democrats are laughing at us.” We need more of that in Salem.
James Hieb was appointed to his seat after Christine Drazan walked away from it in her failed bid to be Governor. In the short time James served in that session, and since, the Republican Caucus has done everything they can to undermine him. Maybe because he has the courage to say things they don’t. James ran for, and won, the seat after that session even when the Republican establishment primaried him and pressured him to drop out of the race. Now, they have dragged Drazan out of the archives to run against him.
Drazan served as Republican House leader before quitting to run for Governor and her reign could only be called (charitably) disastrous. She cut deals with Tina Kotek that a 5 year old would have laughed at and regularly voted with her Democrat overlords. She even sent out a celebratory tweet after the conviction of Derek Chavin in the death of drug addict, felon, George Floyd.
She voted twice to put tampons in the bathrooms of kindergarten boys and then denied it. Now she is sending out email fundraisers asking for help “reclaiming” her seat. A seat that is held by another Republican, James Hieb. Disgracefully, the Republican Caucus, which loves to crow about “protecting incumbents,” seems determined to do anything they can to help her at the expense of Hieb. Oregon simply cannot withstand 2 more years of Drazan’s backstabbing sell outs. OFFPAC supports Hieb for House District 51.
As a result of walking out to protect your rights, Senators Art Robinson and Dennis Linthicum are prohibited from running again for their seats. However, Art’s son Noah and Dennis’s wife Diane are running in their place. We are confident they will continue the principles and policies of Art and Dennis.
We cannot support any other incumbents. Or any candidates that served before and are running again, like Bruce Starr or Mike McLane. Oregon cannot survive the same old collection of self serving back scratchers who simultaneously complain about Democrat rule and brag about their “bi-partisan” achievements. While sitting Republicans will boast about the money they got for their districts (by rolling over for the Democrats) some of us would rather have our rights than a new fire hydrant.
Of course, in many cases voters are left with little choice.
In races where the Democrats cannot lose your pick for the Republican candidate will make little difference so vote for whoever you like best.
In Republican districts many incumbent Republicans are running unopposed in the primary. In that case we suggest you write in your favorite conservative talk show host. The unopposed Republican will still win the primary but you will not have helped and maybe a tiny message will be sent. With the exception of the Hieb/ Drazan primary, in contested races currently held by Republican incumbents, we recommend you vote for the challenger. Given the sorry state of the Republican establishment there is very little to risk.
Oregon is disintegrating and we will not fix anything by returning the same compromisers year after year.
UPDATE. In the email version of this alert, we failed to note that both Republican members of Congress from Oregon, Bentz and DeRemer, have regularly voted to support the Biden agenda. They both voted for unsustainable budgets, millions more to protect illegal aliens, and to reauthorize the much abused FISA law that is regularly used by rogue law enforcement agencies to attack American citizens.
*Today after our alert went out “Oregon Gun Rights” corrected their misquote of the Second Amendment. Glad to help them out.