I love Fall. There is a change in the air, a chill in the evening. The trees can feel it. The crimson and marigold speckled treeline seems to simultaneously celebrate the changing of seasons, and whisper of an impending darkness. The jubilant colors warn those who listen to prepare for the cold.
What a perfect season for elections!
I got my ballot and figured I would fill it out with you. This post will start with my choices for city candidates and then expand to the County and State races. This is because…
⭐Local Politics Are The Most Important Politics.⭐
Oops, did I make that too big? Nah. This is MY soap box and I can emphasize what I want. I haven’t been summarizing City Council Meetings for a year, Transcribing City Council Candidate Debates, and volunteering for multiple local political campaigns in town to put Council recommendations at the bottom.
Before we get into this, I highly recommend that you employ some Lateral Reading when you fill out your ballot. I know I’m amazing, but don’t just listen to me. There are a ton of resources you can use to inform your opinions and help you feel confident that you’re picking the right person for the job. You should read the Deschutes County Voters' Pamphlet, watch a debate or two, and read endorsements from your favorite local news organization to accompany this post. Maybe even check your second favorite local news organization if you’re feeling crazy.
Or don’t do any of that, I’m not your legal guardian.
If you have measures or races on your ballot not included in this guide, check out Laura’s Voter Guide. She’s been providing progressive, well researched, candidate and measure recommendations for Deschutes County longer than I’ve been alive.[citation needed] I also need to plug Bend YIMBY’s Endorsements and the Bend Bikes City Council Questionnaire as two other valuable local community resources you should check out when you are trying to get to know these candidates. You should give all of them money.
Okay, that’s enough preamble, I can feel your attention drifting to that social media push notification you got a moment ago. Must be the Adderal Shortage.
Bend Mayor: Melanie Kebler
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Melanie Kebler is Bend’s best bet at addressing the cornucopia of challenges currently facing the City. If you care about transportation, housing, or addressing our houselessness crisis, Melanie is the mayoral candidate for you. I get that people want more “balance” on Council, but that really is such a stupid thing to care about right now. We have shit we need to do, and we will not get that shit done any faster with a Mayor that thinks the right approach to making any decision is stop and ask a Neighborhood Association. What Bend needs is a leader capable of making their own decisions, backed by a voter mandate that pushes the city to build denser housing, improve our transportation infrastructure, and work with the County to address our houslessness crisis. Melanie has already shown she is a leader that will do that.
In her two years on Council she has done incredible work addressing our housing crisis. We now have over a hundred shelter beds in Bend, before her term there were none. In her term, Bend became the first major city to comply with HB2001 in the State of Oregon. She has passed tax incentives to encourage building Affordable Housing and redevelopment of the Core Area. Lowering building permit times has become a priority. By working collaboratively with Salem, we’ve been able to expand the UGB to include the Stevens Road Tract, which in the coming decade will add thousands of housing units in walk-able neighborhoods to the market.
Some will have you believe that the current council, in place for less than two years, is to blame for the tent encampments and the rise in homelessness we see on the streets of Bend today. We see the opposite—that past councils, including the one Chris Piper was appointed to, also faced these issues and did very little.
The Source Weekly
Learn More About Melanie:
The Source Weekly Kebler Endorsement
Mayoral KTVZ Debate (Kebler rocked this)
Bend Bulletin Candidate Interview
Bend Chamber Council Candidate Forum (Transcript)
Melanie Kebler's Campaign Website
Bend City Council, Position 5: Ariel Méndez
If you are even remotely attuned to the world of Bend Political Discourse (TM), you already know Ariel, and if you hang out on the West side with any frequency, you definitely recognize the bright orange cargo e-bike he uses as his primary means of transport year round. When he is not coaching soccer, he teaches political science at OSU Cascades and serves as an elected BPRD Board Member. Ariel is running on the promise of making Bend a better place for children, because if Bend works for children, it works for everyone. His primary focus is safe transportation and affordable housing.
Learn More About Ariel:
The Bulletin Candidate Interview
The Source Position 5 Candidate Interviews
Bend Chamber Council Candidate Forum (Transcript)
Ariel Méndez’s Campaign Website
Bend City Council, Position 4: Barb Campbell
I love Barb. I love her strange fascination with storm-drain hydro-power. I love her campaign stickers she personally made in Photoshop, and I love that she shows up “barefoot and pregnant” with no shoes and a pillow stuffed in her dress to Roe Vs Wade rallies. Barb is an agent of chaos and a treasure, and it is extremely important that she remains on Council.
Barb is the only member on Council that has been a councilor for longer than 2 years. Her 8 years of institutional knowledge will be sorely missed when she is gone. Every month Council is briefed on some topic or issue where her context comes in clutch. She’ll pipe up with a “We talked about this same exact thing 6 years ago, you said we couldn’t do it because this!” and then a staff member will reply “Oh yes, very insightful observation Barb! We did say something like that. Things are different this time because reasons.” It’s amazing. If we lose Barb, there will be nobody on Council that has the historical context to effectively hold City Staff accountable for anything that happened before 2020.
If that’s not enough of a reason, one of her opponents is a NIMBY MONSTER. I am of-course being hyperbolic, I’m sure she is a perfectly nice lady, but politically it’s true. Her opposition to the apartments on the West side helped inspire Bend’s YIMBY Movement. Barb’s endorsement from Bend YIMBY has a section about Karon worth quoting:
As a planning commissioner, Ms Johnson voted against apartments on the west side. Using her position on the board of a Neighborhood Association, she sought to delay and water down Bend’s implementation of HB2001 – going so far as to take out a full page ad in the paper. Her idea of using “inclusionary zoning” (forcing developers to build 20% of housing at below market rate) is one that has been tried in Portland and considered something of a failure.
Bend YIMBY
The seat that Barb is running for is a 2 year position. It is very unlikely that Barb will run again in 2024. Lets elect her one last time and see her off with a decade of public service.
Learn More About Barb:
Bend Chamber Council Candidate Forum (Transcript)
The Bulletin Candidate Interview
The Source Position 4 Candidate Interviews
Barb Campbell’s Campaign Website There is a Barb Original work of Photoshop art on the homepage that is worth clicking this link to see
Bend City Council, Position 6: Mike Riley
Mike is the head of the Environmental Center downtown, and was pivotal in passing the 2020 Transportation GO bond. Mike’s expertise in transportation and environmental issues will be a huge asset to Council, and any candidate that makes championing LGBT causes a priority is well on their way to earning my vote. I think Mike is a great choice, the other options for this seat are much more dubious. During the Bend Chamber Forum, the other guy running for this seat talked about how his business was a super-spreader site during COVID. Hard pass.
As the head of The Environmental Center and a co-chair of the committee that helped to see the transportation GO bond pass during the last election, Riley already has plenty of investment in city politics to contribute meaningfully to the council from the get-go. But Riley has more bona fides than simply advocating for environmental causes and transportation. In him we found a candidate who's invested in the community and has done the work needed to hit the ground running on topics including affordable housing and homelessness, growth and more.
The Source Weekly
Learn More About Mike:
Bend Bulletin Candidate Interview
Source Weekly Position 6 Candidate Interviews
Bend Chamber Council Candidate Forum (Transcript)
Deschutes County Commissioner, Position 1: Oliver Tatom
Oliver is great. He has served on the COCC board of directors and is a registered nurse and paramedic. Oliver grew up in rural Deschutes County and cares a lot about solving our housing crisis and improving access to childcare. He is a regular face at Bend YIMBY Meetups. During the KTVZ debate, Oliver showed he has done his homework and is ready to lead Deschutes County. He answered his debate questions clearly, concisely, and savagely. Meanwhile, Oliver’s opponent fumbled through answering criticisms that he has contributed to the problems facing the County over their last decade of service. In his closing statement, Oliver pointed out that his opponent has campaigned over and over on “managed growth”. He asked the public, do you feel like Deschutes County’s growth has been well managed? It’s a good question. My answer is no.
I met DaBone at Bevel once. We had a wonderful drunk conversation. Well… I was drunk, I learned later in the KTVZ debate that is just how he talks. The most interesting part of the conversation was when Tony said that moving homeless people without providing them shelter hasn’t been “fully litigated”. Personally, I don’t think a long and expensive court case over exactly how closely we can get to violating the 8th amendment of people in poverty is a good use of county dollars, but maybe that’s just me. That money would be better spent on expanding shelter capacity.
Learn More About Oliver:
Source Weekly Position 1 Interview
Oliver Tatom’s Campagin Website
Deschutes County Commissioner, Position 3: Morgan Schmidt
I am not a strong enough wordsmith to construct an endorsement good enough to be worthy of Morgan Schmidt, but I am going to damn well try. Morgan is a force of nature who has spent every single waking moment in the last hundred days campaigning to be a Deschutes County Commissioner. She pursues everything she does with a passion and intensity that I’ve never seen in any other functioning adult. She does not do anything halfway and she doesn’t have an off switch. Deschutes County would be blessed to have her as its representative.
In her past life Morgan was a pastor that truly embodied the ideals of the role. Her first instincts are to listen, to help, and to heal. In 2020, when the pandemic hit, she started Pandemic Partners, a Facebook group whose purpose was to connect people in need of help, with people with the means to do so. She is a strong advocate for the unhoused, who opened up the doors of the First Presbyterian church to those in need of shelter. In the days after the Safeway shooting, Morgan donned her pastoral stole again to help Bend at a vigil process our grief. In a political landscape of thoughts and prayers, Morgan is a rare person of action.
Well, it’s cool that she’s a bleeding heart self-sacrificing angel you might say, but that doesn’t get stuff done. You would be wrong. Morgan will also get Schmidt done. Here is a link to her priorities page on her campaign website. It is 5 pages long and it breaks down exactly how she thinks the County could do better on housing, homelessness, mental health and land use. Are you concerned about water? She can talk to you about water for days. She has cultivated a vast wealth of knowledge on just about every single thing the county is responsible for, and for the things she doesn’t know, she knows who to ask. She has this fun prop she likes to pull out at parties to explain what a County Commissioner is exactly (a question she is asked a lot). It is a stack of index cards taped together with the names of every single county department our County Commissioners oversee. She points out that she cannot be an expert in all of them, but what she can do is reach out to experts to make informed decisions. Morgan is the Commissioner that should be in Position 3.
Learn More About Morgan:
Bend Bulletin Candidate Interview
Source Weekly Commissioner Position 3 interview
Morgan Schmidt’s Campaign Website
State Representative, 53rd District: Emerson Levy
I don’t understand how The Bulletin could call Emerson Levy and Michael Sipe “both good candidates”, but I am not surprised. I’ve found their endorsements this year uncritical, unenthusiastic, and very surface level. It should be impossible to talk about the race for the 53rd district without bringing up campaign contributions, but somehow they managed it. Sipe’s campaign is positively dripping with dark money and cash from special interest groups. As of this writing, they have raised almost $600,000, and about half of that comes from PACS. Using this money they pretty much bought the County Fair. This is a historic amount of money for a State Legislative Seat. Their campaign so far has also been really nasty, with hecklers definitely-not-coordinated-by-the-Sipe-campaign-they-promise disrupting the Bend Chamber Candidate Forum.
Sipe ran a dirty campaign flush with dark money. He has operated a MLM with Donald Trump, and he (or his supporters) orchestrated a bullying campaign at the Bend Chamber Candidate Forum against his opponent. He called for a holy war on January 5th, the day before the insurrection. Fuck Christian Nationalists that bully Jewish mothers.
Tailor Glad
It is a shame that Sipe has managed to make this race all about how sleazy of a human being he is, because Emerson is a wonderful candidate and person. It sucks that this has been overshadowed. Emerson is a champion of school and gun safety and reproductive rights. She would be an asset that District 53 could count on in Salem.
Learn More About Emerson:
The Bulletin Candidate Interview
State Representatives 54rd and 55th District: Jason Kropf, Brian Lepore
I don’t really have much to say for these candidates. They’re not on my ballot, but they may be on yours. I also wanted to include this graphic I made out of what might be the best tweet from a political campaign this election. Brian also helped me with my soil science homework on Twitter recently, I thought that was pretty legit.
Learn More About the Boys:
Source Weekly Kropf Endorsement
Source Weekly Lepore Endorsement
Oregon Governor: Tina Kotek
Guys, I get it. Betsy is cool. She is sharp as a tack on the debate stage, and it is fun hearing someone say “We’re better at pitching tents than pulling permits” over and over. It’s a good line! But she’s polling at 14%. She’s not going to win. Kotek and Drazan have been polling neck and neck since August. You should decide which Oregon House leader you want leading the State in January, or you can vote for Betsy anyways, and let the rest of Oregon decide for you.
Oregonians have three choices in this race, and despite the fact that some of them want you to think they'll bring entirely new ideas, each of the candidates has a track record and a history in the legislature. Our faith is on the one who's prioritized what we believe is Oregon's biggest challenge—homelessness and housing—and put her legislative career where her mouth is
The Source Weekly
For me, the clear choice is Tina. She worked hard on HB2001 and Project Turnkey; the two most impactful State Legislative initiatives addressing housing and homelessness in recent memory, and if Drazan is elected, the Climate Friendly and Equitable Community rules might as well be thrown out the window. These rules align with City Goals very well.
Learn More About Tina:
US Representative, 5th District: Jamie McLeod-Skinner
Jamie McLeod-Skinner has never shied away from meeting any group—regardless of political affiliation. A person who demonstrates the ability to bridge the urban-rural divide is the type of person we want representing us in Congress. Vote Jamie McLeod-Skinner for Oregon's Congressional District 5.
The Source Weekly
I’m sure your mailbox has noticed that the Oregon 5th District is a battleground state for controlling Congress. I swear I’ve gotten a mailer for this race twice a week for the last 100 days. I hate mailers.
Unlike in the Senate, where you need to have a 2/3rds majority to pass legislation (except budget reconciliation), you only need more than 50% to get stuff through the House. If Democrats lose their narrow advantage, they will lose control of the legislative agenda. I hate federal politics. It’s a dumpster fire.
I will never forget that when we were grieving and processing the trauma of someone firing a hundred bullets from an AR-15 style rifle into a Bend Safeway, Jamie was here in Bend attending a vigil, grieving with us. Meanwhile, her opponent Lori was tweeting about her tour of the southern border for a farcical partisan grandstand.
Learn More About Jamie:
Jamie McLeod-Skinner's Campaign Website
US Senator: Ron Wyden
I don’t have anything fresh to say about Ron that I didn’t say in my Primary recommendation. He’s a good senator that is a stalwart advocate for LGBTQ and abortion rights. He is also on the right side on Data Privacy, which I appreciate.
Learn More About Ron:
TAILOR GLAD 2022 CAMPAIGN AWARDS
Best Debate Performance: Morgan Schmidt
Runner up: Betsy Johnson
Runner up: Melanie Kebler
Best Campaign Branding: Morgan Schmidt
Runner up: Jamie McLeod-Skinner
Best Ground Game: Jamie McLeod-Skinner
Worst Debate Performance: Patti Adair
Measures
Links on State measures are to Ballotpedia. Links on local measures are to Source Weekly endorsements.
Measure 111 - Amending the state constitution to require the State ensure affordable healthcare:
Yes please. This won’t actually give people affordable healthcare, but it gives the State legislature a voter mandate to pass a bill that does.
Measure 112 - Remove allowing slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for crime:
Duh. Slavery is bad yo.
Measure 113 - Legislators with 10 unexcused absences from floor sessions be disqualified from holding office as legislator the following term of office:
Sure. It looks like the purpose of this measure is to stop people from using their absence to prevent the legislature from establishing a quorum.
Measure 114 - Gun control measure, limits magazine size to 10, background check, training, and requires getting a permit from local police:
I’m voting Yes, but I am not confident. I think limiting magazine size and adding background checks and a training requirement is a great idea. However, I am not enthusiastic about how it requires local police to run permitting without giving them additional funding. In a recent council meeting, Bend Police Chief Krantz estimated it would require Bend Police to hire ~20 more staff to handle the additional work and they are already understaffed. We don’t know how to pay for this yet. Tentative plan is to get Salem to send us money.
Laura Camacho disagrees with me here and says No, because they say it would effectively allow local law enforcement to decide who gets to have a gun and requires that we give police more money.
Measure 9-148 - Make County Commissioner seats nonpartisan:
I would love that.
Measure 9-152 - Patti and Tony sending the Psilocybin bill from 2020 back to voters:
NO. (No means yes, let Psilocybin service centers exist in unincorporated parts of the County)
Measure 9-155 - Giving Bend-La Pine School District money to maintain schools. Does not increase taxes:
Yes
The Rest of the Ballot
Second shout out to Laura’s Voter Guide for being an excellent resource. I’m relying on her heavily for the remainder of these recommendations.
Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries: Christina Stephenson
Judge of the Court of Appeals, Position 10: Kristina Hellman
Judge of the Court of Appeals, Position 11: Anna Joyce
I cant really find much info about Anna Joyce, but she has an impressive Linkedin, which is something
Deschutes County Clerk: Steve Dennison
Deschutes County Treasurer: Trevor Lewis
Deschutes Soil and Water Conservation District At Large, Position 2: Brian Lepore
Deschutes Soil and Water Conservation Board member, Zone 4: Write in - Megan Kellner-Rode
Kellner-Rode is one of the farmers behind Boundless Farmstead. She has been a board member at Bend Farmers Market, High Desert Food & Farm Alliance, and Central Oregon Locavore, and is the organizer of the Central Oregon Fill Your Pantry event.
~ Laura Camacho
Deschutes Soil and Water Conservation Board member, Zone 1: Write in - TBD Brian Lepore doesn’t know either Waiting to see if Laura has a suggestion. If they do, I’ll update this section