Now that eastern Oregon and the Idaho House of Representatives have proven that they support the Greater Idaho movement, the movement must now focus on the Oregon Legislature. Summer and Fall are the times of the year when legislators have the most time to read your emails, take your calls, or meet with you. This year's regular sessions have ended in both states. Soon, many legislators will be focused on winning next years' elections.
Last month, two Greater Idaho volunteers visited the Multnomah County Democratic Party picnic. Katie wrote "I actually had fun!" They spoke at length with four different state legislators, and were able to significantly improve the attitudes of two legislators toward Greater Idaho. Some of the legislators had never before considered the benefits to western Oregon of moving the state line.
We have worked to put everything into place to make it easy for western Oregon legislators to vote in favor of Greater Idaho. In February, the economic analysis was published and the Idaho House invited the Oregon Legislature to begin talks. A poll was published last year. Unfortunately, most legislators seemed to be too busy during the legislative session to listen to us. We don't think our message is getting through.
So this is the first summer when everything is published for you to tell your legislators about. Also, newspapers published two new op-eds for western Oregon Democrats. One of them is in the biggest paper in Oregon. We now have gotten op-eds published for western Oregon, for eastern Oregon, and for Idaho. So share these with your legislators! Last summer, not enough of you contacted your legislators. Don't make that mistake this summer!
Contact Oregon Legislators
Idaho Senators need to hear too, because they haven't voted yet. Also, Idaho House members need to hear from you because they heard Rep. Ned Burns lie about us on the floor of House during debate. You can correct Ned's misinformation with this post. They might vote on this again too. Here's info for contacting Idaho legislators.
Contact Idaho Legislators
It's time for you to run for office!
This is the perfect time to become a candidate before the primary elections next year in May. In Oregon, you can open a campaign committee to accept campaign funds as early as September 1. Contact your legislator and find out if he's running again. 10 Oregon state senators are disqualified from running again, unless they convince the judge otherwise. Some of them leave an open seat next year: Art Robinson, Brian Boquist, Tim Knopp, Bill Hansell, and Lynn Findley. Senator Hansell announced his retirement anyway. Some believe that Sen. Findley will retire and Rep. Mark Owens will leave his seat open to run for Sen. Findley's seat. Consider the office of County Clerk or Commissioner too.
If you live in Idaho, some candidates win elections without spending anything. You might want to replace a state legislator who voted against our resolution. Their names are in
About
The Oregon / Idaho border was established 161 years ago and is now outdated. It makes no sense in its current location. The Oregon / Washington border was updated in 1958. The Oregon / Idaho border was not.
We are a group of 10,000 people working to convince Oregon and California to move their borders to put conservative counties on the other side of their borders to enlarge the territory of Idaho, a red state.
Anyone can collect signatures in certain counties to force this issue onto the ballot. To get a petition, one option is to download from www.GreaterIdaho.org and print on both sides of the page (turn it over).
Rural Oregonians can ask their county commissioners to put a non-binding advisory question about this on the county ballot. Please donate to our campaign.
Learn more: www.greateridaho.org