Welcome, voter!

It is our privilege and responsibility as Oregonians and US citizens to vote all the way down the ballot in every election. When you demonstrate your engagement, you inspire others to participate!

I do this work for you and nothing makes me happier than to know it helped you fill out your ballot thoughtfully and intentionally. Thank you so much for reading and voting! ‌

This is a living document - until election day, as I received feedback and gain knowledge, I will add it to the guide. If I drastically change my position or candidate choice, I will note it with the edit date.

Disclaimer

My vote recommendations are based on my own research and do not represent any entity's opinions but my own. I vote leftist/progressive/democrat/liberal. When other factors are equal, I favor the candidate that is the least cis/white/hetero/old/male; who is aware of, and working on, their own implicit biases; and who is committed to improving equity, accessibility, and inclusivity within their jurisdiction. (Why this isn't racist.)

I will absolutely never vote for a Republican again. The GOP has given itself over to violence and lies and anyone who is still willing to call themselves a Republican, no matter now they frame themselves as "different," is complicit in the destruction of our democracy. The Republican party is corrupt to its very core and there will be no rehabilitation from within its ranks. (FYI, I update those links every year and there's always ample new evidence.)

I'm sorry for those people of integrity whose identity has been Republican, but it is way past time to renounce your party.

True patriots and conservatives with any integrity must not align themselves with the hateful, anti-democratic rhetoric of the Right. If this statement bothers you, close the tab and move along; I don't want to hear from you about it.

I've included summaries of why I'm voting the way I am, and links to more information on candidates, when available, in case you want to be an informed voter. I'm open only to discussion based on actual facts, that respects the work I've done here already. If you disagree with me philosophically to begin with, my guess is that it's going to be a waste of both our time to discuss. But if you think I've erred within my own set of values, I would appreciate your input!

Pay me for my work

What started out as a favor to friends (to keep them from randomly filling in bubbles on their ballots!) has turned into a significant piece of my community service. My voting guides will always be free to use and share, but they've never been free to make. The guide I've written for you here represents about 45 billable hours of my time, researching, info-gathering, and writing.

If this guide helped you fill out your ballot and you can afford to, you can pay me for my work: PayPal.me/laurasguides, Cashapp: $laurajoycamacho or Venmo: @laurajoycamacho.

Copyright

Please feel free to share this Voting Guide with your friends and on social media, as widely as you can. If you choose to quote any part of it publicly, you must credit my work and link back to the original.

Now Vote!

I'm using the Voter's Pamphlet that you can find here. Your ballot will be mailed to you on October 16. If you think it has gotten lost in the mail, or if it is damaged in any way, contact your county elections office and they'll help you out.

YOUR VOTE IS YOURS. If you are unhoused, you can still vote. If you are a student here, you can still vote. If you need disability services, they are available. If you feel threatened or manipulated to vote a particular way by someone, or if you feel unsafe in any way right now, there are so many people who want to help you.

Keep in mind that not everything I cover here will be on your ballot; your ballot only allows you to vote for the measures and candidates in your particular area of Deschutes county, plus any Oregon/nation-wide candidates and measures.

Your ballot must be postmarked on Election Day – November 5 – and received within 7 days, to be counted (but please fill it out and mail it ASAP!). Or you can drop your ballot at any of the secure ballot drop boxes throughout our county, beginning on October 18.

So, you really just want me to tell you how to vote? Sure thing!

President - Kamala Harris

US Representative, District 2 - Dan Ruby

US Representative, District 5: Janelle Bynum

Secretary of State: Tobias Read

State Treasurer: Elizabeth Steiner

Attorney General: Dan Rayfield

State Senator, 27th District: Anthony Broadman

State Senator, 28th District: Dylan Gutridge

State Senator, 30th District: NO VOTE

State Representative, 53rd District: Emerson Levy

State Representative, 54th District: Jason Kropf

State Representative, 55th District: James Williamson

State Representative, 59th District: Brian K Samp

State Representative, 60th District: No Vote

Measure 115 - Yes

Measure 116 - Yes

Measure 117 - Yes

Measure 118 - NO!!!

Measure 119 - Yes

Measure 9-173 - Yes

Measure 9-174 - Yes

Measure 9-175 - Yes

Measure 9-176 - Yes

Measure 9-177 - Yes

Measure 9-178 - Yes

Measure 9-179 - NO

Sheriff - Vander Kamp

Bend City Council, Position 1: Megan Norris

Bend City Council, Position 2: Gina Franzosa

Bend City Council, Position 3: Megan Perkins

Bend City Council, Position 4: Barb Campbell (or Steve Platt)

City of La Pine Mayor: Daniel Lee Richer

City of La Pine City Council: See notes

City of Redmond Mayor: Ed Fitch

Redmond City Council: Evelyn, Colvin, and Wedding

Sisters City Council: Letz, Madrone, and McDougall

Tumalo Basin Sewer District Director: Martha Gross

What's that? You want long-winded dissertations on every voting decision I'm making? Alrighty, I've got over 11,000 words for ya!

President/VP: Kamala Harris/Tim Walz

Remember: this vote is for the chemo, not the cure.

You're voting for the Commander in Chief of a settler-colonial nation that has never reckoned with – let alone repented of – its nearly 250 years of ongoing genocide.

The war machine demands its human sacrifices, and the first sacrifice is the good intentions of its leadership.

In no way do I think that Kamala is the single-handed savior of democracy. But I do believe that her policies and appointments (especially the SCOTUS seats the next president is supposed to be able to assign) will do some good things. And it is my fervent hope that she will do the many horrible things that our country will probably always do much slower than the other guy. And since I'm not an accelerationist, this is how I'm going to vote.

US Representative, District 2: Dan Ruby

Ruby has the basic Democrat platform with a sprinkling of slightly more Progressive language included. I'll be interested to see how he fares against Cliff Bentz, his Republican opponent, who has a chokehold on this district.

US Representative, District 5: Janelle Bynum

This is your Establishment Democrat pick, chosen for you by the DNC without regard for the nuances within this politically diverse district. I'm still bitter that Jamie McLeod-Skinner never got the big party backing she needed to close her win in this area. This is a frustrated VBNMW vote for me.

Secretary of State: Tobias Read

Read is a solid guy, did a standup job as State Treasurer, and I think he will do a good job in this role. He's running against Dennis Linthicum, the former Klamath Falls senator who lost his ability to run for reelection due to his prolonged walkouts. So now he's got his wife running for his former position, and he's running for Secretary of State. No fucking way do we want that dude in charge of our elections.

State Treasurer: Elizabeth Steiner

Steiner is the most qualified candidate by far, and I'll be delighted to see her win. I wrote a lot about her in my primary guide; you can read about her there!

Attorney General: Dan Rayfield

Rayfield strikes me as a kind and humble guy who nerds out about policy – just what I want in an Attorney General. He has also shown himself to be teachable, especially in matters where he lacks lived experience, like the racism that BIPOC Oregonians face. Rayfield talks about using the law to help lift people up; finding the places where they are being failed by our policies, rather than punishing them en masse.

His opponent is Will Lathrop, who is very proud of his work with the International Justice Mission, an evangelical, cultural sensitivity-free "anti-trafficking" group that has been criticized for using vigilante gunpower and criminalization tactics to combat sex worker and child trafficking in the global south.

Lathrop was the Country Director in Ghana, when the infamous "Operation Hilltop" mission in Lake Volta violently kidnapped at gunpoint children they insisted were being trafficked for fishing work. The children were held at a IJM facility for four months before it was determined their families were, in fact, not traffickers, and they were returned home. (This isn't even the worst story in that exposé.)

I do not want for Attorney General a white man who gets off on terrorizing African people (or anyone!) in the name of Jesus or Justice. This fervor for leveraging the law to punish people, rather than to help them, is deeply problematic for me. And the fact that Lathrop refers to Oregon as a "wounded beauty" tells me that the same weird savior complex that drove his questionable anti-sex trafficking work with IJM is alive and well in his approach to AG. Ick.

I suppose this would go without saying, but I think it's important to put into black and white during an election such as this one: Dan Rayfield explicitly says he will protect abortion rights in Oregon if a federal ban takes place. Will Lathrop is anti-abortion, so would probably be only too delighted to comply with a federal ban.

You can watch their City Club of Portland debate right here.

State Senator, 27th District: Anthony Broadman

Very happy to vote for Broadman, here! He is a current Bend City Councilor and Indigenous Rights attorney, and former Tribal Appellate Judge. He has the political experience that makes State Senator a logical next step. Broadman wants to address Oregon's struggles through a bottom-up approach – supporting safety and security for all by increasing access to affordable housing, affordable childcare, and reproductive healthcare.

His opponent, Michael Summers, seems fairly benign, but even if he is, he's just not nearly as experienced as Broadman. Summers is way too comfortable taking endorsements from the likes of MAGA candidate and Insurrection apologist Lori Chavez-DeRemer, MAGA militia Deschutes Citizens for Law & Order, and Tim Knopp, who apparently hand-picked him for the job. (Knopp can't run because he walked out of the senate too many times.)

State Senator, 28th District: Dylan Gutridge

Gutridge is an Air Force veteran, former wildland firefighter, nurse, and father. He supports Single Payer Healthcare and Public Utilities – both of which would be life-changing for Oregonians. There's currently a lot of movement in the Oregon Senate to get statewide Universal Healthcare passed, so having Gutridge there to help guide it to success is important.

He has an uphill battle in his district, unfortunately. The 28th district stretches from just south of Deschutes River Woods all the way to Klamath Falls, and nearly to Medford. If you've driven south on 97, you know it's Red, Red Country.

Gutridge's opponent is none other than Diane Linthicum, wife of Dennis The Walkout Linthicum who can no longer hold this position because he broke the law. Cute that he has a wife he can install. No shade to wives following their husband's footsteps into politics, but as her only political experience has been her husband's Chief of Staff, and since she is aligned with the politics and religion that believe women are the property of their husbands and submit to his every whim, I'm gonna say she's just his avatar, here.

Linthicum stands for "Rural Values," which by her definition means ripping apart our (very secure, btw!) mail-in voting system and forcing us to go back to in-person polls; making abortion illegal; destroying the public school system via "school choice" and book/curriculum banning; removing all gun safety restrictions, etc. Needless to say, she's endorsed by the MAGA militia Deschutes Citizens for Law & Order.

State Senator, 30th District: NO VOTE

The only guy running is Mike McLane, whose platform is your basic MAGA "Rule of Law" gobbledygook. He is endorsed by the MAGA militia, Deschutes Citizens for Law and Order. Do not legitimize this dangerous nonsense.

State Representative, 53rd District: Emerson Levy

Levy is the incumbent and has been doing a great job so far. She has been instrumental in getting millions of dollars into Deschutes county to address affordable housing and homelessness. She is also pro-choice and reasonably progressive on solving Oregon's drug crisis. Levy is an attorney and is clearly very thoughtful and well versed in the issues.

Her opponent is Keri Lopez, a Deschutes Republicans/People's Rights extremist candidate who is currently sitting on the Redmond School Board. Not only do I vehemently disagree with the company she keeps/endorsements she has collected, but I have never been very impressed with the way she talks about the issues – she resorts to vagueness or feigned ignorance, both of which I find distasteful.

You can watch their candidate forum with the Source Weekly here.

State Representative, 54th District: Jason Kropf

Looks like he's running unopposed and there's no reason not to vote for him. Kropf has been doing great things for Oregon and will continue to do so in his next term.

State Representative, 55th District: James Williamson

Williamson doesn't seem to putting much effort into his campaign, which is a shame because his opponent, E. Werner Reschke, is truly awful. I'm borrowing the following paragraph about Reschke from my screed against him in the 2022 elections, which he sadly won:

I will add that, just according to the current Voters' Pamphlet, Reschke is proudly anti-vote by mail, anti-trans, anti-vax (i.e. pro "medical freedom"), anti-abortion (ironically "medical freedom" doesn't cover abortion access), and anti-public school (i.e. pro "school choice"). Of course, the MAGA militia Deschutes Citizens for Law & Order loves him.

State Representative, 59th District: Brian K Samp

Samp seems to hold some principles that I agree with, but I sure wish he would expand on them. I assume that what he means when he says "Health Care is a right, and everyone should have access to it. Heath Care should be between a person and their Doctor. No one else, whether insurance companies or the government," is that the government shouldn't control reproductive care/abortion access. It could also be read as a statement about the need for Universal Healthcare, though, and in fact it technically should be, if he's consistent with the values he's stated here. If healthcare is a right and everyone should have access to it, then it needs to be freely provided. :)

Samp is running against MAGA militia-endorsed incumbent Vikki Breese-Iverson, who says she focuses mostly on "rural" issues like water rights, wildfire legislation, and road maintenance. But she has sponsored the anti-trans bill, the bill that would destroy our very secure vote-by-mail system, a 15-week abortion ban, anti-union legislation, etc.

State Representative, 60th District: No Vote

Mark Owens is the only candidate and will win this race, unfortunately. He's a bit slicker at bypassing the most troubling platforms of the MAGA style candidates, but if you look closely, you'll still see echoes of it in "school choice" and "rural values." And if you look at his voting record, you'll see that he's voting for the same anti-trans, anti-abortion, anti-voting measures as all his cronies. He's endorsed by the MAGA militia, Deschutes Citizens for Law and Order.

Supreme Court Judges: you don't have a choice anyway; do what you like.

Measure 115 – Should our Legislature be able to impeach statewide elected officials: YES

Oregon is the only state in the Union that doesn't already have this safeguard already in place. Right now, we just cross our fingers and hope that the person in power who did The Bad will find it in their heart to humbly step down from their position. Thankfully, there's enough of a social contract left in Oregon politics that the recent scandals have resulted in this.

However, as we have seen in the past 8 years, trying to hold democracy together with good intentions is a terrible idea.

A Yes vote allows the House to initiate impeachment with a two‑thirds vote. Then the Senate tries and convicts with two‑thirds vote, and the Chief Justice of Oregon Supreme Court will oversee impeachment trial. It very reasonable and has enough safeguards to prevent bad actors from steamrolling the whole thing.

Measure 116 – Keep lawmakers from setting their own salaries: YES

Okay, not much surprises me anymore, but I was a bit shocked to discover that current Oregon law has legislators set salary rates for themselves. You might think that this would lead to them choosing a super high paycheck, but it's kind of the opposite – at least for the high visibility politicians.

So, that leaves us with State legislators that only make $35,000/year. The governor makes only $98,000 (compare that to the average CEO salary in Oregon: $139,000) a wage that hasn't changed since it was set in 2014.

What's really wild is that thousands of state executives out-earn their bosses, probably because no one thinks about them. While the Secretary of State is locked into a $77,000/year salary (because it would require a vote in the legislature to change it and you know many Oregonians would be up in arms about it), the deputy Secretary of State makes $238,164/year!

All this to say, Measure 116 will create an "Independent Public Service Compensation Commission" that will set the salaries for "Governor, the Secretary of State, the State Treasurer, the Attorney General, the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries, judges of the Supreme Court, judges of other courts under the administration of the judicial branch of state government, state Senators, state Representatives and district attorneys." There are rules about who can and cannot be on this commission, to prevent nepotism and lobbying issues from arising.

Ironically, Oregon used to have a "Public Officials Compensation Commission" that made salary recommendations. In 2007, they said the governor should be making $130,000/year – but the 2008 recession hit and it was defunded, with none of their recommendations put into effect; it was officially eliminated in 2017.

So, now we're back to trying out this commission thing, and I think it's a good idea. For one thing, the optics are always going to be simply awful for legislators voting themselves raises; it'll just never happen (and I hold that it should!). Better to have an unaffiliated group of people handing down recommendations based on cost of living and the job descriptions.

Measure 117 - Ranked Choice Voting: YES!

All of the (all-Republican, from what I can tell) opposition to this bill is basically, "Oregonians are way too stupid to be able to figure out how to vote this way."

Trust me, it's not that difficult to figure out. You fill in the #1 bubble for your first choice candidate, the #2 bubble for your second choice candidate, the #3 bubble for your third choice candidate, and so on.

This measure will only allow (Proportional) Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) for Federal and State elections – the stuff all Oregonians vote on. It also authorizes cities or counties to adopt a different variation of RCV, called Sequential Ranked Choice Voting aka Single Transferrable Voting (STV) if they want it, but won't force their hand either way.

You can read this excellent primer on these two types of RCV here. If you really want to nerd out about the history of RCV in the US, check out this awesome article about STV. I was surprised to find out that it goes way back to the early 20th century!  And completely unsurprised that it lost popularity (amongst certain politicians and parties who lost power and privileges) due to its ability to increase fairer racial and ethnic representation.

Ranked Choice Voting is easy to understand and well supported by voters. It also tends to increase voter turnout and diversify representation. I'm excited to see how it will impact Oregon!

Measure 118 - A terribly conceived "Robin Hood" bill: NO!!!!!!!!

There are many cogent reasons why this is a terrible bill and should not pass – and you should read them if you're really on the fence about this. But all I need to know to vote No on this bullshit is to see that these dudes who wrote it did not bother to put protections around the money so that it wouldn't count as taxable income.

This means that low income families who are right on the edge of eligibility for public benefits programs, cannot afford to accept the upwards of $6400/year (for a family of 4) shoved at them, or they will risk losing access to essential assistance like housing vouchers,  SNAP (food stamps) or OHP (Medicaid) coverage. (And this doesn't even take into account the travesty that is Substantial Gainful Activity for people on SSI disability.)

I'm livid about this. It smacks of a smugness that hasn't bothered to ever talk to a single poor person, let alone had the experience of stretching every dollar and still coming up short at the end of the month.

Meanwhile, the efforts of the groups who have been trying to work on a rational plan for guaranteed income in Oregon have been totally undercut.

Tax Fairness Oregon, which advocates for an equitable tax code (that includes redistribution of funds), calls it A Hot Mess. The Oregon Center for Public Policy, which has for years been working on building an income floor in Oregon, says that Measure 118 will have damaging, negative consequences for those who are already struggling to get by.

If you are serious about helping Oregon build momentum for a guaranteed income solution, please consider joining forces with the experts who have already been doing the tireless work for years!

Measure 119 - Protect Cannabis Workers' Rights: YES

This is a no-brainer for anyone who is pro-union. Since cannabis isn't federally legalized, cannabis workers' federally granted rights aren't protected in the workplace. This measure will bring Oregon up to speed with other legalized states, and "Ensure that businesses licensed to sell or process cannabis enter into an agreement that allows their employees to organize and speak out without fear of retaliation."

Okay, go get a drink of water and get ready to vote for your local stuff!

Deschutes County ballot:

Measure 9-173 – Expand County Commission from three to five members: YES

Big shout out to John Heylin and Represent Deschutes volunteers – you did it! It takes a massive, sustained effort to get a measure on the ballot, and here we are.

This measure modernizes our County Commission by enlarging it to more appropriately represent the county at its current population.

It also shifts the election of new commissioners to mirror the Presidential election years, which will ensure much better turnout.

This is one of the only things I'm truly thrilled to be voting for this election! Yay!!

Measure 9-174 – Fund Redmond Schools: YES

You know me – the filthy socialist who believes in fully funding our public services!

This one is fantastic because it won't raise tax rates; it is set to take over the funds from current bonds that are expiring.

Measure 9-175 – Fund Redmond Parks & Rec: YES

Again, we all pitch in to make our communities lovely places to live!

If you've forgotten how levies work, please refer to my primer, here.

For about five bucks a month, the average Redmond homeowner can have a beautiful (and beautifully maintained) Parks district. This type of thing is exactly why taxes should exist and represent the best use of community tax revenue; please vote yes!

Measure 9-176 – Fund the Deschutes Soil & Water Conservation District: YES

The DSWCD does a lot of important work in our county, and they're currently subsisting on short-term grants.

Funding it via the teensiest ($0.06/$1000 AV) of property taxes would give it a sustainable future, allowing it to maintain and expand its current offerings.

This rate limit would be permanent. It would never cost more than $15ish per year for the average Deschutes county property to fund its many programs for rural and urban community members alike.

Measure 9-177 – Should Redmond allow 🍃 dispensaries: YES

This is an "advisory vote," which means, it's basically a voters' poll to tell the Redmond City Council that you want to modify city code to allow dispensaries in Redmond.

It doesn't mean that if it passes, you're guaranteed to not have to drive to Bend or Madras for your weed needs.

If it passes, it will allow Redmond City Council to fight amongst themselves to figure out how to regulate marijuana dispensaries.

It's high (haha) time for Redmond to benefit from the state and local marijuana tax revenues they've been missing out on since 2014.

Measure 9-178 – 3% tax on Redmond marijuana retail items: YES

Redmond City Council is pretty sure their residents will be polling YES on Measure 9-177, so they've already decided they want to tax dispensaries 3% on marijuana items. That's the same rate Bend has, so you're not going to suffer any more than you already do. Plus, that money goes toward...well, anything the City of Redmond wants to use it for.

The only reason to vote No on this is if you wanted to force the City to specify exactly where the money will go. At this point, it's probably a little too late for that, but if this measure ends up not passing, I would recommend that a group of concerned citizens get together and put some constraints into a future bill!

Measure 9-179 – Keep Psilocybin out of Redmond for 2 more years: NO

This moratorium is dumb and pointless. We have over 30 years of data showing that psilocybin assisted therapy is safe and successful. Besides, under the current state structure, psilocybin facilities are cost prohibitive for almost everyone; adding one or two to the town isn't going to turn it into a den of iniquity.

Deschutes County Sheriff: Kent Vander Kamp

I'm icked out by both candidates (not to mention the institution of Sheriff, in general) so don't take this as an endorsement. We are definitely in "Lesser of Two Evils" territory, here.

I'm just not going to vote for someone that Shane Nelson endorses. End of story. You can read about all the scandals around this race here (it's exhausting and honestly not worth your time). Nelson has a long history of costing tax payers millions in lawsuit after lawsuit after lawsuit for his pettiness and toxicity, and he's doing it yet again in this campaign. I'm so glad we are going to be rid of him and his costly vendettas!

Sheriffs are universally pretty racist and authoritarian, and changing out the dude in charge of the department isn't going to change the system. But, the DSCO employee union nearly unanimously endorsed Vander Kamp, and since he's going to be their boss, let's give them what they want.

You can watch the League of Women Voters candidate forum here.

Bend City Council, Position 1: Megan Norris

Norris has been in this position since January of 2023 and is very representative of the current City Council. Her policy positions are the left-leaning basics of affordable housing, better walk/roll infrastructure, a compassionate approach to houselessness, and transparency/accountability.

Norris is opposed by Jonathan Curtis, former Fishtank Live contestant and person who did not bother to scrub his internet history before he ran for public office. He strikes me as deeply unserious, with zero coherent policy plans ("get rid of the bike lanes"?!) and I can't tell if we're all just being punked. Regardless, I would never endorse someone who unironically calls Andrew Tate one of his heroes.

Bend City Council, Position 2: Gina Franzosa

Franzosa is the only candidate running for this position. According to her LinkedIn profile, she is a "real estate development consultant focused on community building, affordable, and middle housing." She has been volunteering on several City of Bend citizen committees, including the Tree Preservation Advisory Committee and the Transportation Bond Oversight Committee. Her positions are in alignment with the current liberals on City Council.

I'm a little concerned about how her career as a real estate developer is going to impact the council votes – I believe she and Megan Norris will have to recuse themselves from a lot of housing-related votes. But, well, there aren't other viable options for either candidate.

THERE COULD HAVE BEEN a viable option for this position, but Deschutes Democrats endorsements are such a powerful driver in who wins elections in Bend, that it feels almost pointless to go up against their favored candidate. I would have far rather voted for Ruth Vernotico (SUS magazine founder), who was originally running for this seat, but who dropped out when Franzosa was endorsed by Deschutes Democrats. 😠

Bend City Council, Position 3: Megan Perkins

Perkins is doing a fine job as mayor pro-tem; there's no reason to replace her.

Her opponent is Nick Cerveny, whose entire housing platform is to try and convince you that infill development (where we build "up," rather than "out") is less ecologically sound than suburban and rural sprawl. Are we in the upside down? No data supports this.

You can watch their Source Weekly candidate forum here.

Bend City Council, Position 4: Barb Campbell, or Steve Platt

I have had my issues with Barb Campbell over the years, but I think she has played an important and necessary role on City Council, by consistently standing up for the underdogs and often being slightly left of the centrist liberals around her.

I don't expect this to be a popular sentiment, so I'm going to give you my Ranked Choice #2: Steve Platt.

Platt is an Air Force veteran, former high school teacher, and has been on the Bend City Budget Committee since 2023. His platform looks like all the other liberals on Council, and he is endorsed by all of them. I expect him to win and I expect him to be fine.

Their opponent is Chet Wamboldt who is – you guessed it! – endorsed by the MAGA militia, Deschutes Citizens for Law & Order.

The Source Weekly candidate forum is here.

City of La Pine Mayor: Daniel Lee Richer

There are 3 candidates running against incumbent Mayor Richer, but none of them won my confidence in the League of Women Voters candidate forum.

City of La Pine City Council: See notes

I don't have a La Pine ballot, so I can't see how many you're supposed to pick. I for sure would not pick anyone endorsed by Tony DeBone, so Courtney Ignazzitto is out of the running. Cathi VanDamme is an incumbent and has been doing fine, as far as I know. Janis Curtis-Thompson has so many glaring typos in her candidate statement that I just can't. Jennifer Kuhn-Metternich is new to the scene and sounds like she might offer a little diversity of thought to the council, if that's your thing. It's hard to tell from these candidate statements and no one has a website!

City of Redmond Mayor: Ed Fitch

Ed Fitch is about as progressive as Redmond is gonna get for awhile, and he has done some great work for the city in his incumbency. Keep him, and keep the momentum going!

His opponent, Cat Zwicker, seems to be a fairly moderate, non-MAGA Republican. The risk of voting for her is that it will leave her city council seat open, to have someone appointed to it. Since she hasn't been awful on city council, leave her there!

Redmond City Council: Pick Three

1. Reelect Clifford Evelyn - Bless this man for continuing to serve Redmond, despite the awful racism he has faced!
2. Keep Tobias Colvin - Who was appointed to finish out Mayor Fitch's term when he won election.
3. Shannon Wedding - She's the least-worst option amongst the other three - mainly because she kind of votes along with the rest of the (more liberal) council.

The other two are Alan Lawyer, who is endorsed by Redmond's local MAGA militia group, and Jay Patrick, who is very conservative and less likely to support the endeavors of the rest of the city council.

Sisters City Council: Pick 3

1. Jennifer Letz - A good incumbent; her sustainability background is very useful for Sisters, in its precarious wildfire location.
2. Eli Madrone - The Working Families candidate (if this race wasn't "nonpartisan").
3. Sarah McDougall - I was most impressed with her interview in the Nugget, and she is endorsed by people I've endorsed before.

You can watch the candidate forum here.

Deschutes Soil & Water Conservation District Director, Zones 1 & 3

Both candidates are running unopposed, so do your thing.

Tumalo Basin Sewer District Director: Martha Gross

This is drama! Most of Tumalo is currently relying on very old septic tanks and this precarious setup is not only dangerous for the health of the river and wildlife, but it is keeping the town from growing. As you can imagine, residents are very split about whether the latter is a good thing or not! Whomever gets this role of managing the switch from the old septic system to a public sewer system has quite the battle ahead of them.

I think both candidates would be fine – they both seem clear-eyed about the difficulties of the position. Gross gets the edge here because according to her pamphlet statement, she was on the committee that formed the sewer district, and as such has already been doing the legwork with Tumalo citizens to get support of the project.

Yay! You voted! I'm so proud of you! Thank you for filling out your whole ballot.

Now, get yourself a treat and keep thinking about what small, sustainable action you're going to commit to for life, to keep your community safe and connected. 💜