People think of Oregon as a bright blue state and, for the most part, it is. The last time a Republican presidential candidate won a statewide election there was in 1984, when Reagan beat Walter Mondale 56-44%. Last year all Trump could manage was 39%. (Earlier Bernie beat Hillary in the primaries 56% to 42%.) But of the state's 36 counties, Trump won 28-- and not just backward rural counties with tiny populations. Trump beat Hillary in Deschutes County 45,692 (46.36%) to 42,444 (43.07%), Jackson County 53,870 (49.27%) to 44,447 (40.66%) and Marion County, 63,377 (46.31%) to 57,788 (42.23%). But one of his biggest wins was in Douglas County where he beat Hillary 34,582 (64.61%) to 14,096 (26.34%). Although the gubernatorial candidate last year, Knute Buehler only won 43.7% of the vote statewide, he took 65.9% in Douglas County. Now that's a red county!Last year Democratic incumbent Pete DeFazio was reelected against the Mercer Family candidate, Art Robinson, 56-49%. But Douglas County voted Republican in a big way-- R+20, the reddest county in Oregon's 4th congressional district.In 2016, the county's voters decided to close all the libraries rather pay a few cents more in property taxes (44 cents per $1,000 in assessed value). All the libraries closed down, the last one on May, 31, 2017. Like I said, that's a red county!Good news: local residents who understand why libraries are important went to work and, through fundraisers, donations and even few local tax increases, managed to reopen 9 of the 11 libraries in the county, although on limited schedules:
• Canyonville Hours: Monday 11am-3pm Thursday 1pm-6pm Saturday 10am-2pm• Drain Hours: Currently open, hours not available at this time.• Glendale Hours: Wednesday 10am-2pm Friday 12pm-4pm Saturday Noon-4pm• Myrtle Creek Hours: Monday 10am-4pm Tuesday 3pm-7pm Wednesday Noon-4pm Thursday Noon-6pm Saturday 10am-2pm• Oakland Hours: Friday 10am-4pm Saturday 10am-1pm• Reedsport Hours: Tuesday Noon-6pm Wednesday 10am-6pm Thursday Noon-6pm Friday 10am-2pm• Riddle Hours: Tuesday 1pm – 6pm Wednesday Noon-5pm Friday 11am-4pm• Roseburg Hours: Tuesday 1pm-8pm Wednesday 11am-5pm Thursday 1pm-8pm Friday 11am-5pm Saturday 10am-2pm• Sutherlin Hours: Tuesday 11am-5pm Wednesday 11am-5pm Friday 11am-5pm Saturday 11am-5pm• Winston Hours: Monday Noon-6pm Tuesday Noon-6pm Thursday Noon-6pm Friday Noon-6pm• Yoncalla Hours: Wednesday 10am-5pm Thursday 2pm-7pm Saturday 11am-3pm
There are two kinds of people in the world-- those who choose to pay for public institutional commons (like libraries) and those who refuse-- in other words, progressives and conservatives. Although Douglas County isn't in his area, Mark Gamba, mayor of Milwaukie, Oregon isn't that far and the district he's running for Congress in, borders on the district that includes Douglas. Mark took a longer and deeper view though, than just geographic. "There are," he told me today, "certain things that we as a society choose to pay for: Police and Fire protection, clean water, functional sewer, schools and libraries. But as the middle class gets poorer every year due to the Neo- Liberal policies of the status quo federal politicians, people's abilities to pay more, to maintain these things degrades. At some point, frustrated middle class folks just decide they can't pay any more even though that means losing a critical service like a library. In cities with strong leadership and careful efforts to protect the poor as much as possible, voters still choose to support services like libraries. In Milwaukie a few years ago, voters chose to tax themselves over 20 years to rebuild and expand their library to the tune of over $9 million. These kinds of investment lift everyone and are so important to our kids. Leadership matters. Decreasing the burden on the middle class is critical. Time to go back to the tax system we had when our economy was it's healthiest and the rich paid their fair share of taxes so that the middle class has the breathing room to be able to choose to invest in critical services like libraries and police."