Politics of Place: Clackamas voters get rebellious, shift to the right ...

SANDY -- On a recent hot afternoon, Faye Hanvey sat in the shade of a neighbor's back deck, sipping a cool drink, smoking a cigarette and explaining why she'd like to see a wholesale purge of Oregon's political ranks.

"They treat us like we're a bunch of sheep," Hanvey says, getting murmurs of agreement from her husband Ian Hanvey and friend Wayne Koch, whose porch they're occupying. "Any time I can vote to get new blood in there, I will."

Count all three among the growing ranks of "Clackastanis," the label given a rebellious wave of voters who are helping change the political complexion of one of Oregon's most influential counties. Once considered alongside Washington County as a place where close statewide races were decided by moderates and independents, Clackamas County now is getting a reputation as a restless outpost of government mistrust.
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Clackamas by the numbers

Unemployment

Clackamas County 7.9%

Portland 8.1%

Oregon 8.9%

People below poverty level

Oregon 14%

Clackamas 9%

Lake Oswego 6%

Gladstone 16.6%

Diversity

Whites, Oregon 88.6%

Whites, Clackamas 91.1%

Whites, Multnomah 81.2%

Voter registration/Oregon

Democrat 40%

Republican 33%

Non-affiliated 22%

Voter registration/Clackamas

Democrats 38%

Republicans 35%

Non-affliated 21%

Top 10 business clusters

Nurseries and greenhouses

Transportation and distribution

Wood products manufacturing

Professional and business services

Wholesale trade

Metals and machinery manufacturing

High-tech

Health care

Food and beverage processing

Agriculture and food production

Sources: U.S. Census, Oregon Secretary of State, Clackamas County

In recent years voters have rejected or repudiated what they consider heavy-handed moves by the county on issues such as urban renewal, increased vehicle fees to pay for a new Sellwood Bridge and, most recently, the decision to spend local tax dollars on light rail.

"That attitude definitely seems to be emergent," says state Rep. Chris Garrett, a Lake Oswego Democrat running unopposed for re-election to a third term. "It's a really anti-government, really anti-institution, certainly anti-Portland feeling."

Pinning down Clackamas County politically or otherwise can be a dicey exercise. It's a place with incredible geographic diversity, from the alpine views of Timberline Lodge to the expressways of Milwaukie, but a population that's 91 percent white. Economic disparity glares, with some of the state's highest-income neighborhoods in West Linn and Lake Oswego lying just across the river from vacant hulks that used to house the Blue Heron paper mill in Oregon City.

While the county has had its share of conservative newsmakers, once providing headquarters for anti-tax activist Bill Sizemore and for the anti-gay, anti-abortion Oregon Citizens Alliance, over the decades, voting trends have been mixed, sending a sprinkling of liberal, conservative and middle-roaders to the Oregon Legislature.

More recently, however, the county has seen a noticeable shift to the right, Garrett and others say.

"Clackamas is red, baby," exults John Lee, chairman of the local Republican Party. "As much as Washington County has been trending more blue, Clackamas is going the other way."

Lee has evidence to back the claim. In the last election, the only new Republicans elected to the state Senate -- Alan Olsen, of Canby, and Chuck Thomsen of Hood River -- were in largely Clackamas County districts. In city council races, conservatives are making a strong bid to pick up majorities throughout the county, including Lake Oswego and Wilsonville.

Numbers tell some of the story. Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Dudley beat Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber by nine percentage points in Clackamas County in 2010, although Kitzhaber won statewide. That's a switch from four years before, when Clackamas voters favored Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski by three percentage points over his Republican rival Ron Saxton.

Just since 2009, the Democratic voting edge has shrunk by almost 60 percent, to 7,000 from 12,000. Meanwhile, the number of non-affiliated voters has grown by 7 percent over the same period.

Beyond the statistics, the Clackamas political profile lies among the suburban strip malls, freeway interchanges, back roads, sleepy neighborhoods and city-averse residents that define the sprawling county. It's a place where people and businesses go to keep a discreet distance between themselves and the urban core.

"The whole urban-rural divide is still a huge issue," Lee says. "Clackamas sits just dead center on that divide."

A drive along McLoughlin Boulevard offers a windshield glimpse of Americana, Clackamas style: pawn shop, gourmet coffeehouse, strip club, muffler shop, the B-17 aircraft that has sat outside the Bomber restaurant for decades, the oddly placed Statue of Liberty replica outside an auto lot in Gladstone. Then comes the bridge that crosses the Clackamas River, a playground for kayakers, flyfishers and cliff divers.

Just ahead, in Oregon City, state transportation dollars have helped spiff up the historic, lower downtown area. New sidewalks gleam, beckoning walkers to a collection of shops and places to eat and drink, including a wood-fired pizza joint. Lunchtime crowds were sparse on a recent weekday, however, the effect to the recession still lingering.

Outside the 505 Tavern on Main Street, Joseph Anger enjoys a smoke at a sidewalk table and lives up to his name with an embittered view of government. He has been jobless since an accident last year cost him his trucking job and is now living in his van in the driveway of a friend. In recent days, he has been fighting with the state over his unemployment benefits.

"If you're a single man in this state, you've got to be laying in a gutter with your hands up before anyone would throw you a lifeline," he says. A waitress comes out and asks if he plans to order. "Only if you have a free menu," he says.

Across the river, a different scene plays out in downtown Lake Oswego. It's past the lunch hour, but nearly every table at Zeppo's outdoor eating area is full. Businessmen in ties dine in the afternoon sun with their sleeves rolled up. A group of retired women, dressed for a day on the town, sit down to salads and iced tea.

Back over the Willamette, in Milwaukie's industrial zone, one of the county's most recognizable entrepreneurs can't wait to show off his factory.

"Come on, let's take a look around," booms Bob Moore, whose bespectacled face and English cap grace every package of whole-grain food made by Bob's Red Mill. His muesli, oatmeal and pancake mixes are sold worldwide, and he can barely keep up with demand.
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Key legislative races

HOUSE

District 26

Republican: John Davis

Democrat: Wynne Wakkila

District 37

Republican: Julie Parrish*

Democrat: Carl Hosticka

Libertarian: Meredith Love Taggart

District 39

Republican: Bill Kennemer*

Democrat: Christopher Cameron Bangs

Libertarian: Blake Holmes

District 40

Democrat: Brent Barton

Republican: Steve Newgard

District 41

Democrat: Carolyn Tomei*

Republican: Timothy McMenamin

District 48

Democrat: Jeff Reardon

Republican: George "Sonny" Yellot

District 51

Republican: Patrick Sheehan*

Democrat: Shemia Fagan

SENATE

District 9

Republican: Fred Girod*

Democrat: Steve Frank

District 21

Democrat: Diane Rosenbaum*

Republican: Cliff Hutchison

Source: Oregon Secretary of State

Despite a global recession, the plant has doubled production over the past five years, says Moore, 83, as he dips his hand into a bin of flax flour and tastes a sample. Back in 1978, when he first decided to give grinding grain a try, he went to the county and told the woman at the counter he planned to open a flour mill on Roethe Road and wanted to know what permits he needed. The woman looked at him quizzically.

"She said, 'We don't have business permits.' That freedom was like a gift from heaven."

Everything's different now, Moore says in his upstairs office overlooking the Milwaukie Expressway. Society has turned anti-business and government has decided it needs to regulate every facet. The result, he says is a downward spiral of government arrogance and increased dependence on the welfare state.

"I'm simply a person who would die before I would take anything, any handout," he says, sounding like a card-carrying Clackastani. "I would sweep floors and clean toilets, as I have."

Outside money has fueled some of the Clackamas unrest. Loren Parks, a wealthy medical manufacturer who now lives in Nevada but has contributed heavily to conservative causes in Oregon, donated $250,000 to groups opposed to light rail. And the Oregon Transformation Project, which has gotten nearly half a million dollars from Stimson Lumber, also is putting cash into county races.

"What's happening in Clackamas County is pretty remarkable," says Rob Kramer, who directs the Lake Oswego-based Oregon Transformation Project. "Voters are saying no to this agenda, to the overarching idea of 'smart growth,' high density, emphasizing rail systems and bikes at the expense of roads."

Kramer says he doesn't know how the local defiance will affect legislative or statewide races. But his group is putting money into Republican candidates who are trying to tip the 30-30 balance in the Oregon House to the GOP.

One longtime political observer who doesn't like the trend says he worries that the county could be isolating itself, which could hurt it in the long run. Clackamas needs to work as a partner with Portland and other neighboring governments if it wants to make economic and social progress, says Verne Duncan, a moderate Republican who represented Milwaukie in the Legislature and served for years as state schools superintendent.

References to "Portland creep" and other putdowns only make things worse, he says.

"My big concern is, I just don't see people thinking ahead," Duncan says. "I keep saying, 'My gosh, 20 years from now we'll all wish we had done some of these things,'" that voters are rejecting. "We have no foresight now."

Clackamas draws people looking to escape, or at least keep their distance from, Portland's urban forces. But they do so for personal and often completely different reasons -- a dichotomy reflected in their voting patterns.

Consider these two final interviews, conducted a half-hour and half-mile apart.

Judy Hyatt and Bob Russell moved to Clackamas County for similar reasons, she to retire in comfort and quiet after years of city life, he to put a suburban buffer between the city and his accounting business.

Politically, they couldn't be more different.

"It's so peaceful here," says Hyatt, 69, who had just wheeled a cart of groceries and supplies from the Fred Meyer on Southeast 82nd Drive in the heart of Clackamas. A former secretary and hairdresser, she now lives "in the woods" near Carver, but loves being only minutes away from shopping and health care. A registered Democrat, she acknowledges she can't name her legislators.

"But I vote," she says. "I vote for the ones who think they need to help us out for a change, not just the people with money."

A few lights to the north, Russell talks with a couple straddling a Harley-Davidson motorcycle they bought after using the 52-year-old's CPA's services. Russell, a Republican who lives in Oregon City, also has trouble identifying legislative candidates.

But he rarely misses a chance to vote, he says. What motivates him, Russell says, is his disgust with what he calls government handouts. He has to shout to make himself heard over the noise of the bike and the hum of traffic plowing by his strip mall office.

"It's crippling a whole generation who don't have any incentives to work for themselves because government's going to do it for them."

-- Harry Esteve

Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/10/politics_of_place_clackamas_vo.html

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