Published 8:45 pm Wednesday, December 8, 2021
REDMOND, Ore. — If she’s elected Oregon’s governor next year, Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, expects to keep her veto pen busy.
Many of the state Democratic party’s policies go against the interests of ordinary Oregonians and thus wouldn’t pass muster with her administration, she said at the Oregon Farm Bureau’s annual convention in Redmond Dec. 8.
“The ‘D’ behind my name doesn’t define me,” Johnson said, noting that she refuses to “march lockstep” with Democratic priorities that harm agriculture.
“Why do some legislators appear be so anti-farmer? I find this inexplicable,” she said.
Johnson’s observations were repeatedly interrupted by applause and laughter from the crowd of farmers, whom she plans to court vigorously in her campaign as a non-affiliated candidate for governor.
“Oregonians can be surprisingly independent and that’s independent with a small ‘i’,” she said. “Our government needs a centrist to bring the opposing sides together.”
Johnson said she’s currently focused on fundraising but will begin flying around rural parts of the state next year, since she realizes “there’s an Oregon that’s east of Bend and south of Eugene.”
Reaching out to citizens outside the state’s major population centers will be key to her campaign strategy, Johnson later told Capital Press.
“The support of rural Oregon will be absolutely essential to win this race,” she said.
Johnson reminded farmers of several instances in which she defied the state’s Democratic supermajority in the Legislature, such as voting against controversial “cap-and-trade” bills that aimed to curtail carbon emissions.
“Being told climate change is the most important issue our nation faces rings hollow when you’re struggling to make it to the end of the month,” she said.
Another bill to mandate higher overtime wages for farm workers was based on “emotions, not reality,” since it would likely result in reduced hours and paychecks for those employees, she said.
Johnson highlighted her support for legislation that’s helped farmers, including a bill that reduced regulatory requirements for cleaning drainage ditches.
“There are legislators in Salem who have no idea how important clean ditches are,” she said.
State environmental policy had treated all such ditches as “pristine salmonid habitat,” Johnson said. “No, they’re not. They’re a ditch.”
Farmers must give lawmakers an earful about policies that are important to them, which may mean testifying online during the next legislative session, she said.
“Don’t give up, even if leadership locks down the building,” Johnson said. “Don’t let them screw you with the door closed.”
Closing the Capitol to the public is an example of the state’s “episodic and jerky” coronavirus restrictions, which didn’t “necessarily follow the science,” she said.
“Nobody in Salem will crown me Miss Congeniality, but that’s fine,” Johnson said. “There are enough smiling faces in Salem.”
Many farmers will likely be receptive to Johnson’s message, even though the agriculture industry traditionally leans Republican, according to several growers at the conference.
“I’m not happy with the Republicans or the Democrats. They can’t work with each other and are entrenched in their own little world,” said Peter Kenagy, a Benton County farmer. “Neither of them sees the bigger picture of where we’re headed as a state.”
Farmers recognize Johnson as a Democrat who has “really stood up” for the industry, he said. “They value her historical support for agriculture.”
Johnson is seen as an exception to the Democratic party’s restrictive approach to commercial-scale agriculture, said Mike McCarthy, an orchardist in Hood River County.
“She would reduce the over-regulatory environment that’s putting us out of business,” he said.
Bob Klinger, a Polk County sheep farmer, said he doesn’t think farmers are married to voting for a Republican candidate in the 2022 election.
“I’m registered as a Republican but I’m an independent. It’s just if I don’t register as a Republican, I don’t get much of a voice,” he said. “When she says she’s independent, that’s what makes her acceptable to me.”
While Johnson has always been good to work with, the “bottom line” is whether she’ll be able to keep a left-leaning candidate from winning, said Kathy Hadley, a Polk County farmer.
“I want to see some polling and a path to victory,” she said. “That is the key underlying principle: Who can beat the progressive?”
