Make the McKenzie Connection!
Make the McKenzie Connection!
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A recent survey from Gov. Tina Kotek's Prosperity Council found that most Oregonians believe high costs, taxes and regulations are making it harder for businesses to grow. The governor acknowledged the challenge plainly: "We have to be intentional here, to be competitive." One place to start is with the steep credit card processing fees Oregon businesses pay on nearly every transaction. Credit card interchange fees, commonly known as "swipe fees," typically take 2 to 4 percent of every credit...
Last week, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to begin implementing key parts of its executive order on mail-in voting, allowing Homeland Security to compile a federal citizenship list and share it with states, the Attorney General to prioritize prosecuting state officials who issue ballots to people the federal government deems ineligible, and the U.S. Postal Service to proceed with new rules governing ballot design. Despite a federal judge on Friday temporarily pausing rules...
It's hard to imagine a scenario where ranked choice voting - or, more to the point, the lack of ranked choice voting - won't have an impact on this year's race for governor. Ranked choice voting eliminates concerns about "spoiler" candidates and ensures that the winner has broad support among voters. Right now, we're teeing up a close gubernatorial election with at least one minor party candidate in the mix - with the potential for more to join the fray. Any time you have an election with more...
In May, state Sen. Janeen Sollman, D-Hillsboro, area lost her bid for reelection to the legislature, the first such incumbent loss since 2018. Multiple reasons contributed to Sollman’s loss to union-backed challenger Myrna Muñoz, but a pivotal and new factor was data centers. Those massive buildings, consuming vast amounts of electricity and water and producing compute, serving as the physical location of much of the internet cloud and especially the locus of fast-growing artificial in...
Since its 2001 implementation, The Roadless Area Conservation Rule has protected over 45 million acres of national forest land from having new roads bulldozed into their remote wildlands. This includes nearly two million acres in Oregon cherished for their outdoor recreation opportunities ranging from hiking and mountain biking to fishing and hunting. These inventoried roadless areas provide crucial contiguous habitat that benefit wildlife including deer and elk herds and threatened and endangered species such as bull trout. They are also the a...
Oregonians have a front-row seat to watch, though not vote in, an obscure congressional race that could say much about the reshaping of partisan politics in this state and beyond. I'm not talking about Washington's 3rd Congressional District, now held by Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, which saw the state's closest congressional elections for the past two election cycles and may again this year, though, it's certainly a race to watch. No, the Evergreen State contest of greatest interest ahead...
Like two sides of a coin imprinted with the nation’s motto, “e pluribus unum” — out of many, one — America’s political factions are cast in opposition, but they are intrinsically bound together as parts of a larger whole. From the beginning, the United States has aspired to build a more perfect union. When our founders convened the Constitutional Convention in 1787, they disagreed about the structure of government, the balance of power and the protection of individual versus collective rights. But when they debated — and they often did, wi...
Sky-high energy bills. Record-breaking wildfires. Air too toxic to breathe. Oregonians are already paying the price for pollution from large corporations, which is fueling climate disasters and extreme weather. To make matters worse, some corporate special interests are now trying to take away one of the best tools we have to lower energy costs and clean up our air: Oregon's Climate Protection Program. At its core, the Climate Protection Program is about reducing pollution and improving the...
The Trump administration's take on monopolies, mega-mergers and related activity, among the most important economic actions available to a government, often has been buried under many of the other national headlines in the last year and a half. But the Oregon attorney general's office - with counterparts in other states - may be about to launch a significant effort in the area. The general purpose of anti-trust laws has been "to protect the process of competition for the benefit of consumers,...
Not everything in the newly-released report of the Governor's Prosperity Council is uncontroversial, or should be, or points specifically to major systemic problems that limit Oregon's economic growth. But some do. Two general proposals especially, which may at first sound almost like anodyne boilerplate, seem on reflection like matters of real significance and specific relevance to the way Oregon works, or doesn't. And in theory at least, both ought not to be non-controversial because they...
Oregon and the Northwest generally have gotten off light so far this year when it comes to wildfires. That can change and probably will, because wildfires tend to take a worsening turn in the month or so ahead. But starting this year, we may have some new tools for planning for their arrival. As of June 25, the National Interagency Fire Center has reported a total 35,118 fires nationwide burning 2.9 million acres - both numbers considerably higher for this point in the year than any year in the...
My wife volunteered for years in dog rescue efforts around the region, and her experiences made clear to me that Oregon's animal cruelty and mistreatment laws were inadequate and needed strengthening. So when Initiative Petition 28, billed as doing something like that, pulled the mass of signatures neededfor ballot status, it sounded welcome. Then I read proposed law and descriptions - especially from the advocates themselves - of what it would actually do. Even its backers acknowledge it's unli...
After Robert Packwood, the long-time U.S. senator from Oregon, died last weekend, news stories about him flowed around the country. Most had a common theme. Many led with, and focused on, the tawdry and extensive sexual harassment and abuse scandals that in 1995 ended his Senate career. "Maverick Republican Sen. Bob Packwood of Oregon, who resigned after sexual harassment scandal, dies" ... "Bob Packwood, longtime Oregon Senator marred by scandal, dies at 93" - headlines like these were...
Every time an Oregon hunter buys a license, pays for a tag or purchases a box of ammunition, a small portion of that money goes into the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Fund. Since its inception in 1937, the sole purpose of that fund is to protect and improve habitat for wild game animals. In Oregon, those dollars have helped purchase and maintain twenty Wildlife Management Areas - roughly 200,000 acres of public land set aside specifically for fish and wildlife. These lands were paid...
The town of Blue River has seen many recovery milestones in recent years, and if you’ve looked closely, you might have noticed that several rebuilt properties have one thing in common – a “naturescaped” yard. Naturescaping is the term coined by ecologists and landscape architects to describe a practice of landscaping that is beautiful and cares for our non-human neighbors. It promotes pollinator-friendly habitats and river health while also incorporating Firewise practices that make homes more resilient to wildfire. And it’s not just happening...
A couple of decades ago, the comedian Chris Rock led a TV series called "Everybody Hates Chris," its name a spin on "Everybody Loves Raymond". Not to pile on too much, but did Oregon just see the "Everybody Hates ODOT" election? The context is that practically everyone in the state seemed to expect the transportation tax and fee law passed last year by the legislature to be given the boot by the voters; the only question was how strong that vote would be. It turned out to be overwhelming: as of...
When students walk through their classroom doors each morning, a day of learning is just the start of what schools provide. From meals to health services and academic interventions, districts have taken on expanded responsibilities because they know learning is deeply tied to a student’s well-being. But as these demands grow, funding has not kept pace. Districts have long been asked to do more with less, and in Oregon, that approach is no longer sustainable. Schools remain committed to supporting every student, but they need the resources to d...
Does anyone in Oregon think Measure 120, sustaining last year’s legislation on transportation taxes and fees, will pass? Anyone? Anyone who does seems to be well hidden, just like any supporters of the measure, the substance of which passed just last year with majority support in the legislature and signature by the governor. The state’s Democratic political leadership appears to have abandoned it completely. And the Oregon Department of Transportation, where most of the money raised is int...
Dear Commissioners, I watched your BOC meetings of March 31, 2026, and April 28, 2026. I have some observations concerning these meetings. In the March meeting Steve Mokrohisky demonized Sanipac and Waste Connections for being a “multinational” corporation and Commissioners Buch, Trieger and Farr, you continued to do the same thing in your comments. It was claimed that they don’t care about their customers and are gouging in their consumer rates. This has sent a very clear vision to all companies who are or would like to do business in Lane...
The Bonneville Power Administration, the federal agency that sells Columbia Basin hydropower, is required by law to make decisions that are economically beneficial for its customers. It also must protect and mitigate harm to our environment, including imperiled salmon and steelhead. BPA is failing at both, and using salmon protection as a distraction for its bad decisions and rising energy costs. Last week, BPA held a public workshop to begin planning for an expedited rate proceeding that would allow the federal agency to raise rates for its...
With Lane County’s ongoing budget challenges why would increasing our garbage rates become a way to deal with this issue? Last year the Lane County Board of Commissioners, in a 3-2 vote moved forward on a waste processing facility called Clean Lane. Clean Lane has been described as a $150 million “public‑private partnership,” with roughly $100 million in equipment financed by Bulk Handling Systems. But the public carries the financial risk: a $35 million County bond, higher disposal fees are charged to homes and businesses and a contrac...
Just how deep the antipathy - in Oregon at least - toward both major political parties actually is, may be tested seriously in this year's elections. The test may not involve outright wins and losses, but the percentages will be worth watching. What's new is the changed electoral strategy of the Independent Party of Oregon, the state's third largest with 154,862 registrants. That's not a huge portion of all Oregon voters, well behind the Democrats' 981,358 and the Republicans' 730,080. But...
On March 26, Gov. Tina Kotek declared a drought emergency in Deschutes, Umatilla and Baker counties at the request of county governments. Call that the first drop of what may soon be a flood of drought-related actions. This may be the most challenging large-scale drought year Oregon has seen in decades. Kotek's executive order hinted at that. It also said "forecasts suggest that below normal precipitation and streamflow conditions are likely to continue through summer in all counties following...
Despite attending university across the street from the Oregon State Capitol for the past three years, reporting inside its marbled walls was one of the last things I thought I'd be able to do. Now, as a third-year student at Willamette University, today is my last day of a 10-week internship learning the ropes of the short legislative session and the world of state politics. My involvement in the Legislature this session was as the Oregon Capital Chronicle's first political reporting intern....
Oregon recently wrapped up its short legislative session, and let's be honest about what happened: Lawmakers modestly trimmed tax breaks for rich investors and corporations to stave off cuts to services families depend on. That was the easy part. Oregon is facing a genuine budget crisis over the next five years because of cuts to Medicaid and food assistance in H.R. 1, the federal budget package enacted by congressional Republicans last July. Oregon will need to spend billions more to keep...
