Thanks to modern technology, property owners are able to connect to would-be visitors to rent out unused rooms in their houses. It’s proving to be a win-win for those property owners and their guests alike. However, these kinds of voluntary,...
9 June 2021
Promises Made, Promises Kept
This time last year, I was elected chair of the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners outright in the May 2020 primary election. I accomplished this by winning over 50 percent of the vote, meaning that a runoff in the November...
19 May 2021
We Must Not Be Unprepared
Unfortunately, residents throughout the rural parts of Oregon have become used to the ghastly sights and smells resulting from catastrophic wildfires ravaging the landscape. And while these disasters have become commonplace in areas like the southern part of the state,...
30 April 2021
The Perils of Government Overreach
Last fall, I made some public statements that caused quite a stir. Fed up with the government-forced lockdown of COVID restrictions, I simply said that I was going to have family and friends over for Thanksgiving and that our governor...
28 April 2021
Tootie Smith demands Gov Brown return public health authority back to the counties where it is mandated by Oregon constitution.
The Governor’s new lockdowns are unacceptable. Her plans for over the last year have been an abject failure, driving businesses to bankruptcy, people to unemployment lines and harming the mental health of adults and children alike. Its time for new...
13 April 2021
Hold Their Feet to the Fire
As chair of the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners, it’s my job to set the agenda in such a way that the county’s 400,000 residents are well-served. When I suspect that they aren’t being well-served, I must bring that to...
30 March 2021
Tipping Fee Tipping Point.
Metro is up to its same old tricks. And we need to tell them to stop it. Metro is overcharging for residential garbage and the Clackamas County Commission can put an end to this by simply amending the county code...
24 March 2021
Are Our Kids Supposed to be Social Experiments for Oregon’s New Drug Law?
Over the past couple of weeks, law enforcement officials and prosecutors from throughout Oregon have started to realize the aftermath of Measure 110’s passage in last November’s general election. The bottom line is that it will drastically affect their ability...
10 March 2021
Let the People Have Their Say
The fight over vehicle registration fees in Clackamas County has been going on for a very long time now, in some form or another. And throughout the last decade, I have consistently said people have a right to vote for new...
24 February 2021
Have We Learned Our Lesson?
Forest management has been one of the most contentious issues in Oregon since the 1990s. The timber industry that helped build this state was maligned under the guise of protecting the endangered spotted owl. That industry became more and more...
