Two years ago, the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners announced plans to raise property taxes to fund the construction of a new courthouse facility. I had already decided by then that I didn’t like the direction the county was going and that I planned to run against the board chair. Polling done at the time showed that 80 percent of…
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As of right now, so-called progressives have been in charge of Portland for decades, the Oregon Legislature for years, the U.S. Senate and Congress and the White House. So what, exactly, do we have to show for it? We are literally surrounded on a daily basis by mounting evidence that the policies they champion continue to fail. Let’s start at…
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It recently came to my attention that Clackamas County has been listed as a “participating jurisdiction” on the website of radical leftist organization Reimagine Oregon. Even worse, two of my fellow commissioners, and the chair whom I ousted from office last year, were listed by name as being part of its efforts. As soon as I found out and verified…
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Even though much of Clackamas County is rural in nature, it’s considered part of the Portland metropolitan area. The “tri-county area” consists of Clackamas, Washington and Multnomah counties. Those three jurisdictions are also part of Metro. Due to the close proximity that some of Clackamas County has with the state’s largest city, it’s subjected to what we’ve long called Portland…
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Did you know that, at one point, there were multiple other freeways planned for the Portland metropolitan area? It’s true. If the transportation systems envisioned in past decades had materialized, the freeway system would operate in more of a loop than it does now and would have more of a flow to it. So what happened? Powerful special interests became…
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If it’s true that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, then it must not have very many potholes. Time and time again, we find in the public policy arena that decisions are often based on stated intentions. But when push comes to shove, the results of those decisions, policies and programs often come up short and may…
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Over the past year, I’ve written about the decriminalization of two of the biggest problems facing the residents of the Portland metropolitan area and Oregon—drug use and homelessness. Now, some people are hoping to add prostitution to the list of illicit activities that will be allowed to take place in this state. Efforts are underway to gather enough signatures to…
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The thought of having to have a vaccine passport to conduct commerce and engage in voluntary transactions with other free individuals is understandably offensive to myself and countless people throughout this country and the world. This is largely because many of us recognize this for what it truly is—another attempt by power hungry elitists to control everything that everybody else…
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One of the main debates of our time is one that is nothing new. Society has always seemed to be split between people subscribing to two competing political philosophies—some want to be governed and some want others to rule over them and everyone else. It’s often easy to tell the differences between being ruled and being governed. When you’re being…
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At the beginning of the year, things were admittedly looking bleak. The coronavirus pandemic raged on with no end in sight, prompting many in authority to impose open-ended restrictions and mandates on the rest of us. There was violence and unrest in the streets, especially in Portland, where rioters were allowed to destroy the downtown area for literally months on…
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