On Sept. 14, Bend’s senator in the Oregon Legislative Assembly filed to run for re-election. As of this writing, the status of Sen. Tim Knopp’s (R-Bend) application is pending and is likely to stay that way. While they currently disagree about the timing of their ineligibility, Knopp and nine others are, by decree of the Secretary of State and by the will of Oregon voters, ineligible to run due to excessive absences during the last legislative session. Five of them are now appealing to the courts for clarity on the wording of the law that voters approved, which made legislators ineligible to qualify for the ballot after 10 absences during a legislative session.
In this case, the quorum-denying senators are not alleging that an election was rigged, but rather are saying that the voters in the recent election did not know what they were voting for, and thus the legislators with excessive absences can run one more time — a dogged attempt to stay in power despite the clear voter mandate to the contrary.
But there’s more skullduggery afoot as well.
Another of that cadre — Sen. Dennis Linthicum (R-Klamath Falls) — also filed to run for re-election, but rather than wishing and hoping that the Secretary of State moves his status from “Pending” to “Qualified” in order to be able to officially run, he’s got an alternative. On the same day that he filed to run for the 2024 primary, his wife, Diane Linthicum, also filed to run for the same seat, as a Republican. Thus far, no Democrat – or anyone, for that matter – has filed to run against the Linthicums. Nothing like a good ol’ proxy vote to spice up the next legislative session.
Is this really the best Republicans can do? Is Tim Knopp – a long-serving legislator, and an adept one, to be sure – the only person they can get to represent Bend in the legislature? Is he so singular and special that no one else can or should be allowed to stand in his stead? Knopp’s candidate filing status is pending and is not likely to be changed by court decisions or other methods in the period before the primary. That leaves Republicans with a tough choice: stick with their guy or find another person who isn’t sullied by qualification issues and can start getting their name out there in time to be a contender.
As of this writing, no other Republican has yet to file for the 27th District. Republicans already have a strong opponent on the Democratic side in Anthony Broadman, a current Bend city councilor and attorney with a solid reputation in the city. He has a very strong chance of winning, given Bend’s recent voting patterns and Knopp’s status.
Conservatives on this side of the mountains spend a lot of time complaining about how their voices are not heard in the Oregon legislature; how they’re drowned out by the vast sea of blue in the Willamette Valley. Some even dream of leaving Oregon for Idaho as a solution. Are conservatives prepared to die on this hill of perceived minority-status injustice by not bringing forth another viable candidate who wants to represent the increasingly purple city of Bend?
Is this really the best Republicans can do?
This article appears in Source Weekly September 21, 2023.
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Thank you Mr. Knopp and others for standing firm in June against HB 2002 and the move to allow gender affirming care & abortions to minors without parental notification.
Republicans have got to wake up to the fact that Conservatives in Central Oregon are not swayed by extreme measures. The Central Oregon Republican Party led by White Supremacists? Support for Donald Trump? If you want Conservatives to join up and vote for Republican candidates, how about blending some moderation into the mix?
I am so sick and tired of my lack of representation with Senator Linthicum. He is by far the worst Senator in the whole state Senate, and he comes from Klamath Falls, hours from here. I’ve never heard of him even visiting our area, totally unrepresentative of me, living in Alfalfa as I do. His diatribes via email are worthless, conservative drivel with a decidedly libertarian varnish. I hope he and/or his wife get voted out and someone who understands the issues of Central Oregon will run that I can support.