Jim Thomassen was elected in November to chair the Deschutes County Democratic Party. A graduate of the University of Oregon, he was a professional economist for state government before working in marketing in the high-tech field. He and his wife moved to Bend in 2004. This is an edited transcript of a conversation with him by Source Senior Writer H. Bruce Miller.
tSW: How would you label yourself? Are you liberal, progressive, moderate, conservative, all of the above?
Thomassen: Yeah (laughs). On issues I’m different. I would say I am nearly a violent liberal on the war. … On fiscal responsibility, I’m an economist, I know we can’t spend that kind of money. On the social issues I believe it is our obligation to take care of our people. The fact that we have, I think it’s 200,000 homeless vets – that kind of stuff is embarrassing. It’s embarrassing to have the large, large number of poor people we have. It’s embarrassing that our middle class is disappearing. So on social issues – progressive.
How would you compare the political climate in Central Oregon with what you experienced in the Portland area?
We lived in Lake Oswego, and that’s a pretty Republican town. But they were nice Republicans. And in a lot of cases they’d vote Democrat, even though they called themselves Republicans. … Well, when we got over here we found angry Republicans. And that was a new experience for us.
On a First Friday [Art Walk] – we’d moved here about four days earlier – we parked our car downtown, and when we came back we found on the windshield what looked like an official parking ticket. But it wasn’t. It called me a pigheaded asshole and a couple other nasty words, and at the end the infraction is, they wrote in: “Kerry bumper sticker.” …
How did you get involved in Democratic Party politics?
I was really involved in the ’60s and ’70s because of the war in Vietnam, and then I raised a family so I kind of backed out and didn’t do too much. And then the big push again happened after 9/11 when they decided to turn right and go into Iraq instead of going after the bad guys.
Back in the mid-’70s I went to a movie called Coming Home, and I remember casket after casket coming out of the back of the airplane. … I walked out of the movie and I said to my wife, ‘You know, I didn’t do enough – I didn’t do enough to stop this.’ I said, ‘You know what? I’m not going to say I didn’t do enough again.’ So we volunteered, went to work for the Democrats in Portland. …
Is there a significant ideological split in the local Democratic Party between the element that wants to impeach Bush and Cheney and so forth, and the ones [former Deschutes Democrats Chairman] Paul [Motta] has called the Blue Dog Democrats?
I would say there was a significant split for a very short period of time, and after that it was blown out of proportion. There was a group of Democrats who really wanted to be more vocal on national issues, and then there was the group that just wanted to get things going on the local level. If there was a split it was a very short-lived split. …
We had a party last night [Jan. 10] and we had over 200 people there, 200 Deschutes Democrats. And everybody told me this was the largest crowd they’ve seen of this group since its inception. …
There are those who said there are some of the Deschutes Democrats who are too worried about their [Republican] neighbors to take a stand. And my reply to that is, ‘You’re darn right we’re worried about our neighbors, because our neighbors are independents, our neighbors are Republicans, some of our neighbors are Democrats, and we need to have the whole group to come together. The Democrats can’t pull this country together by themselves. So, yeah, we’re going to be very conscious of our neighbors, and we’re not going to purposely try to inflame our neighbors.
But if you have a Kerry bumper sticker on your car and somebody puts a thing on the windshield that says you’re an asshole, how do you reach those people?
Some of them you can’t. About 30% of the public still thinks Bush is doing a good job. But a lot of them you can reach; a lot of them are not happy with the way things are. They may not blame Bush, but they’re not happy with how the economy is going, they’re not happy that we’re still in Iraq.
Personally I find it very easy now to talk to Republicans. There are still a few mean Republicans, but I’m guessing there are a few mean Democrats too. I’m finding that my neighbors who are Republicans who in the past made a point of just not talking about that stuff, we can talk now. …
Most of the Republicans that I talk to our fiscal conservatives, and they’re really not happy about putting all this stuff on the credit card. So there’s common ground already, and there wasn’t so much common ground four years ago. What we have to do is make sure we don’t lose that common ground, and one way to lose it is to start coming out with inflammatory positions that aren’t really going to buy anything. Now, we will take strong stands on issues, but we’re not going to do it to inflame or to show how Democrat we are.
What are the local, regional or state issues that you think the Deschutes Democrats can take stands on and use to their advantage, looking ahead to November 2008?
Well, I think one area where we have to position ourselves is on the economy. Of course, the war …
The war seems to be receding as an issue.
I know, and that bothers me, because we just lost another kid yesterday. Twenty years old – god …
So obviously we will continue to talk about ways of getting out of Iraq, and certainly the economy, and that goes for gas prices. And the current problem we have with housing. I have friends and relatives who are underwater on their houses. And sure, it’s their fault. But it’s not all their fault, because they were offered free money, and it’s hard to turn that down. …
Let me tell you one issue that I’m going to be going after, and that’s immigration. … What would like to do is have what I guess I would call issue forums, and one of them is going to be on immigration. Why don’t we solve it? Why don’t we in Central Oregon solve it? Because if we can’t solve it, who’s going to solve it? Why don’t we find the people who say let’s build a wall, and then find people who say let’s send them all home, and then find someone who says we can’t send them all home because our economy needs them, but let’s give them a process to become citizens. …
The immigration issue seems to be a lot higher profile, according to the polls anyway, for the Republicans than the Democrats. I was kind of a little surprised to hear you talk about it.
Let me tell you why I’m talking about it. I think the Republicans are going to make it an issue. And if we are not ready we’re going to be in trouble. Because there are a lot of Democrats that are unhappy about illegal immigration.
Do you think it’s going to be an issue even in the local and state races?
Only in the sense that if people get incensed enough about what’s happening on the national level they decide to stay with the Republican Party, whereas they had been thinking about jumping ship because they’re so unhappy with their leaders today. …
Whether it becomes a Central Oregon issue or not, it engages us in the process of solving problems at home. We can’t ask our governor what position we should take. We should figure out what position Central Oregon should take. We may not have the power to follow through on our solutions, but if we solve problems here we can negotiate with our solution. I’d really like to see a cross-party forum on solving these issues. …
For instance, I wish there was some way we could figure out how to have a building moratorium and slow down the housing so we can let the infrastructure catch up. … Maybe this is the time to be talking about how, in the future, we need to be building Bend from the bottom a little bit more. Even our telephone service struggles at times because we’re putting in so many houses. Those are the kinds of issues we need to solve. …
Getting back to the economy again, it looks like we will soon be in a recession if we’re not in one already. What should be the local Democratic Party’s response to that? What’s the message to give people about how we got into this and how we’re going to get out of it?
The problem is the lower middle class becomes the poor class, because they’re the ones losing their houses and their jobs. We have to make sure that we as a community are set up to take care of these people. It’s difficult at the local level to really swing an economy. However, having been an economist, I also understand that … as an economist, if I said gloom and doom, I was causing gloom and doom. And then the news media too – it’s important not to gloom-and-doom us into a bad recession.
Hopefully it will be a short recession. Personally I think Bend will be one of the first places out of the housing problem. I believe there’s quite a pent-up demand of people who really want to move here, as opposed to investors or speculators. Because this is a cool place to live. …
As soon as things start to turn I think we’re going to see that growth again. What worries me most is that the infrastructure won’t be ready for it. What we can do about that is we can get different people elected, we can get different people leading us, and we can instruct them that we need long-term solutions, not make-money-now solutions. Bend is big enough, Bend is sophisticated enough that we should be able to act like a big city now. We should be able to have structured growth. …
Let’s talk about a couple of local races. On the Deschutes County Commission, Mike Daly is going to run for re-election. Do you see anybody emerging on the Democratic side to be a strong challenger to him?
The mayor of Redmond, Alan Unger, is going to announce. He’s the one I know of. But we are actively canvassing to find somebody to run. Obviously we’re not going to pick our candidate before the primary. He would be good, though – I talked to him yesterday, and he certainly is astute on Central Oregon issues.
I think Paul Motta would call him a DINO [Democrat In Name Only] because he has supported [Republican Sen. Gordon] Smith and [Republican Rep. Greg] Walden. Do you think that’s going to be a problem?
It will be a problem for some of the Democrats. I don’t know what he’s going to do about that. But when I asked him about some of the things he wanted to do, it was stuff that I liked and that I thought we needed to have somebody doing. My job is to get people to stop talking about this type of Democrat versus that type of Democrat. We are Democrats, we are THE Democrats, and we can’t fight among ourselves. And we can’t fight with the Republicans. Let’s have discussions among people. …
In another local race, Judy Stiegler is going to have another run at Chuck Burley [for the House District 54 seat]. She lost a very close race last time. Now Chuck has the advantage of incumbency, and he’s been a pretty moderate Republican legislator, he’s backed some progressive or semi-progressive things. … So I guess the question is if she couldn’t beat him then, how is she going to beat him now?
If the playing field was level she would beat him. We have more Democrats [now], we have more independents who are pretty much fed up with the status quo. Now that he is an incumbent obviously the field is not level anymore. So it’s going to be hard. We are putting a big organization behind her, because we believe Deschutes County is going to be the point of the spear that brings the first Democratic legislator from Central Oregon. …
She has some things already in her arsenal. He doesn’t have a very good attendance record over there [in Salem]. He’s already been quoted as saying he doesn’t want to run for the Senate because it would be too much work. Those are not necessarily good things to say for somebody who’s working for you. If someone’s working for me and they say, ‘Nah, I don’t want to do that, it would be too much work’ they’re gonna come off of my promotion list, that’s for sure. And they’re also going to go on that list of people who I might have to rethink if we need to lay off employees. …
One thing I think might be working in the Democrats’ favor is that on the national level, the Republicans I don’t think are going to be real excited about this election. Republicans might stay home in large numbers.
And the Democrats certainly won’t. From what we’re seeing and what happened just last night – we were stunned.
bruce@tsweekly.com
This article appears in Jan 17-23, 2008.
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“I have friends and relatives who are underwater on their houses. And sure, itâ ™s their fault. But itâ ™s not all their fault, because they were offered free money, and itâ ™s hard to turn that down.”
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Yes, we must never accept personal responsibility for overextending ourselves financially… better to blame others for loaning me money and expecting me to repay my loans. I am a loyal Democrat, and I need more Nanny State programs to help me overcome my own mistakes, I mean, they are not my mistakes, not my fault, somebody gave me free money, it is not my fault!
Apparently, local Democrats don’t believe in personal responsibility. This is clearly true in the articles statements above and is obvious on the national level as well. HillaryCare is an example. And, I don’t think the “split” in the Democrat party is about local issues VS national issues. The split is about the influence of the extreme far left, so far removed from reality that strong binoculars are required to spot a glimpse of them, VS the usual gang of left moderates. There is no question that the Geo. Soros and Daily Kos et al, extreme left have taken over a huge chunk of the party. For Republicans, that is an excellent metric, because it will drive a lot of Independents and moderates toward reasonably moderate Republicans, a zone where the current entire Republican field of candidates sits.
Illegal Immigration, the economy and defense are Republican’s strong suits, and the Democrats weak suits.
A lot of folks noticed that as soon as the war turned for the better, Democrats immediately began stuttering, looking for a new drum. A lot of folks, particularly if things continue to go well in the war, will remember it was primarily the Dems. that were trying to lose the war merely for political gain. Many of us saw the plan from the get go…. lose the war on purpose…blame the Repub’s… have a nice waltz over the millions of fresh bodies created by a precipitous pullout… and merrily raft down the bloody river of their own creation to a political victory, hoping no one would notice little details like reality or cause and effect. Run like hell was never a plan. It was a shameful partisan political stratagy.
If Republicans are angry, it is because of a slew of defamation and personal attacks by Dems. and a lot of really stupid, short sighted rhetoric that was/is harmful to the country… for purely partisan purposes.
“Illegal Immigration, the economy and defense are Republican’s strong suits …”
Ahem.
“Stock markets plunged on Thursday as investors confronted a troubling manufacturing report and new indications of the depth of subprime losses and housing woes. The Dow Jones industrial average lost more than 300 points.
“The Standard and Poorâ ™s 500-stock index, a broad measure of the financial markets, tumbled below its low for last year, set in March. At the close, it was down 2.9 percent after giving up early morning gains, bringing its decline since Jan. 1 to 9.2 percent.
“The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 306.95 points, or 2.5 percent, at 12,159.21, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index was off 2 percent.
“A dismal report on manufacturing activity caught investors by surprise on Thursday morning, sending the main indexes into the red after an early stint in positive territory. …
â ‘Basically every day now, you have more and more investors leaning toward the camp that yes, this is going to be a recession, and it could be a severe one,’ said David Kovacs, a quantitative investment strategist at Turner Investment Partners in Berwyn, Pa.” — NY Times, this afternoon.
Maybe you’d better rethink that part about the economy being the Repubs’ “strong suit.” Your hand doesn’t look so good.
What economy you been living in since ’02, HBM? Did the Bush tax cuts create it or not? I’m a blue collar person from a blue collar family with blue collar friends, and everybody I know is doing just fine.
Even if we are slipping into a recession now, you would do well to temporarily disengage your notorious selective memory and recall that Bush inherited a recession from your Democratic Pope, Clinton.
You also are typically disregarding the steps that are currently being taken to insure that it doesn’t happen.
Your reply reminds me of the person who was being given a severe dressing down and after 140 different accusations and epitaphs that included the word “fat” the woman’s only reply was, “I’m not fat.” You ignored the entire thrust of my post other than current and recent downturns in the economy, which is typical. You customarily cherry pick what you see is the weakest minor point in the argument of the opposition and ignore the entire mass of truth of what you cannot rebut, because truth is truth, and it is easier to spin the economy than it is to spin the truth.
A recent poll showed that 69% thought they were holding at least steady, 20% thought they were worse off and 19% thought they were doing better. Another interesting aspect of this poll was that the majority of those that thought they, themselves, were doing fine, thought most other people were not. In other words, the vast majority thought the economy sucked but thought they were the exception. That is precisely how the Democrats are spinning the economy with the help of the leftist media.
To a Democrat, truth counts for less than spun perception. Hopefully, 51% of Americans are smart enough to figure that out come November.
Interesting that the new Democratic chair thinks that those that take out loans they can’t pay for can righteously blame the lender. Apparently, folks are supposed to be protected from their own stupidity.
Lets run with that. First, did the lender break into the home of these “unfortunates” and at gunpoint force them to take out a loan…or…did they go out of their own free will and find a lender and apply for one?
So, if you go looking for someone to loan you some whiskey, and they do, and you drink it…go out and crash your car because you chose to be stupid drunk… The predicament you find yourself in is the fault of the person who loaned you the booze?
According to Democrats, we all have a right to health care, whether we have made the choices and sacrifices that provide that or not. How far do we go down this slope? Do we all have a right to own a house? Do we then all have a right to nourishing food? Do we all have a right to get free clothing? Do we all have the right to free transportation? Do we all have a right to get our hair cut for free? Do we all have a right to free gas to power our free cars? Free big fat tires to put on our free big fat trucks? Seems only right to get free lube and oil changes then. Does the Democrat’s ideal government come in and clean us up after a visit to the bathroom?
This abberation of logic is the fundamental difference between Democrats and Republicans.
HBM writes:
“The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 306.95 points, or 2.5 percent, at 12,159.21…”
———-
What was the DJIA when Clinton left office? About 10,500.
After 9/11? About 8,0000.
The high of GWBush’s term? About 14,200.
From 10,500 to 14,200? Not too bad.
From the low of 8,000 to 14,200, and now a pullback to 12,150. Hmmm, 50% gain.
The new Dem’s chair has the right stuff to lead Democrats. Foremost, he is clear that individual responsibility is a crime against nature. That is Commandment one through five on the Dem’s top ten.
How different from the hardy souls that founded this country. The founders cry was, “No tax without representation, let me free to practice my religion, and other than that, leave me to hell alone.”
The Dem’s plan seems to be to implant a chip in each of us, stick us in cage with a large government provided teat protruding from the wall, and lock us up to enjoy Big Beneficent Brother From Which All That Is Determined To Be Worthy Will Flow On Demand, Sorta.
Seems a far cry from what the founders had in mind.
Whatever happened to: you get what you payed for? What ever happened to: you get what you create? What ever happened to: you rise to the level of your own ability?
Several fallen socialist governments from around the planet failed to implant the message that an artificially leveled playing field is not economically sustainable in the long term.
Democrats, like this Thomassen, seem to be fundamentally socialists or at least are tipped in that direction. Unfortunately, socialism doesn’t work. But then, “working” and sustaining oneself, doesn’t seem to be a requirement of the Dem’s.
more cowbell
In regard to the housing loans and personal responsibility. All people of course, and should be responsible for themselves and the loans they take out. However, there are portions of the population that are not as educated as others in financial matters. Many banks were clever or perhaps lying to people that took out loans. Of course ‘buyer beware’, but also banks should not cry when the bank tried to deceive or pass bad paperwork through on the sly. If anything we should have a strong, perhaps publicly funded program for truly educating potential home buyers. As the saying goes “Don’t give a fish, teach him to fish instead”.
In regard to planting a chip in people by the Dem’s. Uh, no, wrong on that one pal.
Aren’t the Republicans the one’s that want to strip civil liberties as of late? To spy through AT&T and Verizon (thankfully Qwest told Bushco to take a hike and said ‘prove it’s legal’). As far as telco immunity goes on domestic spying. If there’s a bill needed to give immunity, it’s an admission that the spying IS illegal. Also, Republicans are responsible for the patriot act (domestic surveillance again), RealID (more domestic tracking). Dems have stood up lately as becoming the party of civil liberties and the ‘keep the govt out of my private life’.
I just worry the Dems won’t have the spine to stand up for our rights at citizens and challenge the Repubs on this, and just cave in fear of being called ‘soft’ on terrorism.
Agreed, all people, regardless of party, should have a strong work ethic. Life is a gift and it’s up to us the make the most of it and be resp for ourselves. I work 10-12 hours a day, pay all my bills and don’t expect anything from anyone.
For those that are truly screwed due to layoffs, being a disabled veteran, and other factors. I have no issues with paying my taxes to assist in their needs or time of crisis.
Dem’s have a strong work ethic, Repubs are just afraid the someone can have strong ethics, and GOD FORBID! Be willing to help others out at the same time.
“Democrats, like this Thomassen, seem to be fundamentally socialists …”
Yawwwwwwnnnn …
You Repubs really need to come up with a new scare word. “Socialist” doesn’t seem to be scaring anybody anymore, except among the loony right (aka the 30-percenters).
Why don’t you try calling the Democrats “communists”? Oh, wait — that’s been tried too. Okay, how about “Nazis”? Yeah, that’s the ticket! LOL!
More on the economy:
“Wall Street resumed its downward trek Friday as skittish investors, unable to hold on to much optimism about the economy, drew little comfort from President Bush’s stimulus plan.
“Investors had already pulled back from a big early gain, with the major indexes trading mixed as Bush began to speak. By the time the president finished announcing a plan for about $145 billion worth of tax relief, the indexes were well into negative territory.” — Associated Press
LOL! Smirky really has the Midas touch in reverse — everything he touches turns to crap. Should’ve just kept his mouth shut.
Let’s see… The economy went into the toilet before Bush when the Democrats were in charge; it may or may not go into the toilet now. Time will tell.
Does who is Pres. have much to do with the economy? We have had a Democrat controlled congress for more than a year… Isn’t congress in charge of the governments purse strings and the ones who are supposed to pass laws and create solutions to problems that the President then vetos or signs?
You know, the Democratic Congress that has an approval rating three times lower than Bush?
Thomassen to HBM, “We’re not going to purposely try to inflame our neighbors.”
If HBM follows Thomassen’s sage advice, he will no longer be able to write for a living.
“From the low of 8,000 to 14,200, and now a pullback to 12,150. Hmmm, 50% gain.”
The Dow opened at 3,256 on the day Clinton was inaugurated for his first term and opened at 10,791 on the day he left office. Hmmm, 331% gain.
Want to try again?
If you look at the performance of the Dow from the beginning of Smirky’s first term (10,791) to the present (12,099 at close on Friday) the gain is a piddling 12% over seven years — despite the supposed stimulus of Smirky’s tax cuts. So the Dow (as well as most other economic indicators, but there’s no time to go into that now) performed far better under “tax-and-spend” Clinton than under cut-taxes-and-borrow Bush. Kinda sorta makes you wonder about this whole supply-side, voodoo economics thing, don’t it? Or it would if you looked at things clearly instead of wearing ideological blinders.
Very good column today by Bob Herbert of the NY Times about what’s really wrong with the economy and what needs to be done to fix it long-term. I know the right-wingers won’t read it because they can’t handle any cognitive dissonance, but those with open and functioning minds will find it worthwhile.
All this talk about the DOW, leading economic indicators, and which administration is responsible for where the economy is now is interesting, and oh, so useless. There’s no question that the Bush administration inherited a lame economy in 2000, but there’s also no question that they employed a “take the economy out behind the barn and beat it to death with a wood maul” policy since.
On personal responsibility and the credit crunch, I’ve always found it fascinating that the people who are extolling the “personal responsibility” argument are precisely the same people who are staunchly defending the administration’s record on the economy. It seems like what they are really saying is,”Hey buddy, it’s your fault. You shouldn’t have believed us.”
Finally, who’s fault will it be when the Chinese call the mortgage on our country?
“There’s no question that the Bush administration inherited a lame economy in 2000 …”
I would respectfully disagree. The recession of 2001 was brief (eight months) and mild (only a 0.6% decline in real GDP). Bear in mind also that this came after the biggest and most sustained economic expansion of the postwar era.
I’m not saying Democrats are blameless — particularly for going along with deregulation and pushing globalization — but Bush and the Republicans (who controlled both houses of Congress until 2007) inherited an economy that was basically healthy and we now have an economy that’s sick and getting sicker.
One of the interesting things I noticed about HBM’s interview with Thomassen was the vast difference in style of rhetoric delivery between the two.
In Thomassen, we see a person who recognizes that our country has two major political parties, and if we are going to accomplish anything, considerable effort needs to be extended toward dropping personal attacks, slurs and immature labeling if reasonable compromise and bi-partisanship are to be attained.
Whereas HBM’s approach to political discourse is more like an elementary school kegger for bullies tasked with installing tuxedos on a truck load of wild hogs.
Local Democrats would do well to ask themselves which approach is more likely to win friends and influence people; something they would seemingly be interested in.
Imagine the difference in civility and tone were the Source to hire Thomassen as a senior Opinion Writer; leaving HBM free to pursue a career in the SSWA and the KNCAA. (Senior Sumo Wrestling Association and the Kindergarten Name Calling Association of America.)
Channing: LOL! That’s funny.
I’ve always known I didn’t have the temperament for politics.
“In the land of angry republicans”. Leave it to you HB to be emphasize devisiveness. A wide spread plague our country could do without. Your intro underscores what many of us have come to expect from you.
Barney, you and the other right-wingers hate me and call me names because I say things you don’t want to hear. That’s okay; I’ve been dealing with that for almost 40 years. I have to say, however, that those on the right have become more angry and intolerant of dissent over the past 10 years or so. I attribute it to Limbaugh, Savage, Coulter, O’Reilly and others of that “ilk” (to employ a favorite right-wing word) who are constantly fanning the flames of hate. Even among those who don’t listen to or watch them, they create a toxic atmosphere — and now the blogosphere has become part of it.
If you want to complain about divisiveness, why not start with those professional ranters? I haven’t heard pundits on the left accuse those who disagree with them of being “traitors” and “hating America.”
“Right wing”? I rest my case.
You “rest your case,” Barney? What “case” is that? “Right-wing” is a perfectly acceptable and legitimate synonym for “conservative.” Get our your thesaurus and look it up. And if you want to call me “left-wing,” go ahead.