Buehler

Each election, current and former Democrat and Republican elected officials are asked by candidates running for office for our endorsements. In a very predictable ritual, each election, Democrats line up behind their favored Democrat and Republicans their favored Republican.

This year something truly remarkable in Oregon is happening — leading Democrats and Republicans are breaking ranks, uniting across party lines and endorsing nonaffiliated Betsy Johnson for governor. Former Democrat Gov. Ted Kulongoski and former Republican U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith are the most high-profile bipartisan endorsements. But there are many others too, including former Democratic State Sen. Margaret Carter, who also led the Oregon Democratic Party and me, the 2018 Republican nominee for governor.

So, why is this happening? I’ll offer four reasons why these unusual endorsements matter.

First, hyper-partisan politics got us into this mess and even more partisan politics will only make things worse. Everyone endorsing Betsy knows this. When Betsy says she will demand bipartisan support for legislation, budgets and appointments, she completely changes the governing dynamics in Oregon. She empowers the people — not the parties. It’s why you don’t hear Democrat Tina Kotek or Republican Christine Drazan making a similar pledge — they can’t. Why? Because finding genuine common ground marginalizes the narrow interest groups — like the public sector unions and Oregon Right to Life who have incredible power over elected officials in their respective parties. Secretly, I suspect many politicians on both sides of the aisle in Salem will welcome the political liberation of Gov. Betsy Johnson.

Second, Betsy is no Johnny-come-lately political maverick. For years, she has stood up to the progressive left in her own party. In the Legislature, Betsy was something rare — a pro jobs, pro law enforcement Democrat. She speaks her mind — sometimes a little too much.

Who else but Betsy would say Tina Kotek will leave Oregon “woke and broke” as she did in the first debate? At the same time, Betsy is pro-choice and believes in the power of government to help people, to educate our kids and to build things we all need — like roads and bridges. Part populist, part moderate, part independent — Betsy is authentically Oregonian.

Third, Tina Kotek is not what Oregon needs or wants right now. She is a die-hard progressive warrior who ruthlessly exercises power and cannot be trusted to keep her word. The past few years of Kate Brown, Tina Kotek and hard-left Democratic super-majorities running the show in Salem have left Oregon worse off and more divided. Many insider Democrats won’t say any of this out loud but they do privately. Moreover, their endorsements of Betsy or lack of endorsements for Kotek, speak volumes. I suspect a number of Democrats will vote for Betsy while claiming to support Tina.

Fourth, pro-choice Oregon is not going to elect its first-ever pro-life governor just months after Roe vs. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court. Christine Drazan is a good person, but she’s not going to end the GOP 40-year losing streak in Oregon. Furthermore, trading one broken party for another, is no change at all.

I’ve been nominated by the Republican Party four times for public office in Oregon — I was elected twice and lost twice. I am now nonaffiliated. My views and values haven’t changed. What has changed is my strong belief that Oregon politics and government need the type of deep cleaning that only a candidate like Betsy Johnson, unshackled from party politics, can provide.

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