A State Party No More

They didn’t use to be this way. They used to be winners. Quite simply, the Oregon Republican Party is not what it once was. Once a proud bastion of Nixon-Rockefeller moderation and frequent electoral victor, the party has since been hijacked and rendered unelectable. Strangled by out of touch ideologues, there seems to be no saving this party, especially if nothing is done. Until these critical problems are solved, the losses will keep piling up. If this seems familiar to you readers outside the state, it should. Many of the same problems ravaging the ORP are currently plaguing democrats on a national level.

It wasn’t always like this. Many years ago, when the party was still focused on winning, the Oregon Republican Party was more or less the dominant party in Oregon. The state had two Republican Senators, Republican Governors, Republican state-wide office holders, and Republican legislators. Of course now, those days are gone. In 1986, Republicans lost the governorship and have not regained it since. In 1995, Republicans lost a Senate seat and have not regained it since. In 2002, the last Republican state-wide officeholder was defeated. Last November, the democrats took the Oregon State Senate. In a state getting bluer by the day (at least in terms of electoral results), it seems the losses may continue piling up.

They’re not what they once were. Apparently fed up with winning elections, the party underwent an extreme makeover (with emphasis on the extreme) in the early 1990’s. The moderates who ran the party for decades were systematically swept away when the party conducted local leadership elections. The Christian Coalition packed precinct after precinct and ensured that their members and their allies would win, and they did. The Christian Coalition, now with the numbers, enacted policy which took the party far away from their winning position in the center. Since then, their focus has overwhelmingly (and misguidedly) been on social issues. Just recall what happened in the last gubernatorial election: candidate Kevin Mannix made, of all things, opposing abortion the cornerstone of his campaign. Yes, Oregon is still in a deep recession, state programs are being poorly-run and under-funded, education is an absolute mess, deficits are getting larger, and people (myself included) are fleeing the state in droves. However, the Oregon Republican Party still believes their number one priority should be outlawing abortion and gay marriage.

This doesn’t work in Oregon. In the age of red and blue, Oregon as a whole has turned navy and the current state of the ORP hasn’t helped things. One of the saddest things about this party is that over the past fifteen years they have still yet to realize that social conservatism doesn’t win elections in Oregon. Recent polling has proven this. Oregon has the lowest percentage of church-goers in the nation at an unbelievable 12%. Contrast that with France, the most secular state in Europe, at 15%. Campaigning on prophesies of fire and brimstone might help energize the base, but only work to further alienate a religiously apathetic population.

All is not lost. While the party as a whole has been committing a series of critical errors over the past decade in terms of policy and leadership, victory can still be attainable. The first step is leadership itself. The party cannot continue to function effectively as long as it is controlled by the Christian Coalition cadre. This includes the current chairman who is responsible for both the continuation of an incoherent policy (aside from overemphasis on social issues) and the raiding of funds to pay off outstanding campaign debt. The first objective of a political party, this one included, is to win. The Oregon Republican Party can’t do that as long as it serves as the personal microphone and bank account of Kevin Mannix.

The party should focus not on extremist policies on social issues but on winning elections. The state has many problems including those mentioned above. The party should focus on trying to find solutions to those problems. Note how abortion and homosexuality are not included among them. Indeed, fiscal policy should be the focus of the party, which leads to another critical error that needs to be corrected: read my lips, no new taxes. The Oregon Republican Party has on many separate and numerous occasions broken the Republican Prime Directive of not raising taxes. This needs to end. Now. This is another sad occurrence of the party that it has failed to realize over the past decade that Oregonians don’t want higher taxes. By increasingly greater margins Oregonians are rejecting proposed tax increases. Campaign against such increases and they can win.

The next year may prove to be an opportunity for the Oregon Republican Party, having just lost another institution, the Oregon State Senate, and gearing up to challenge the unpopular and reclusive Ted Kulongoski. The Oregon Republican Party deservedly has an image problem statewide. If the party is dedicated to winning elections rather than pandering to the Christian Coalition, they can fix this problem. Step one would be to not run Kevin Mannix again. Step two would be focusing on the real issues and problems facing Oregonians: high unemployment, bad school systems, government deficits, and an overbearing tax burden; not abortion, gay marriage, and public school prayer. Step three would be recalling the history of the party, the good and the bad. The days of Lon Mabon and Bill Sizemore must end and never occur again. Only then can the party attain the heights it did under Tom McCall, Mark Hatfield, and Vick Attiyeh. This choice can be as easy as one, two, three or as difficult as four more years of democrat control.