Ed King and TV Butte
Should you believe Sanipac is dumping Lane County garbage in Jackson County to hold your rates down, timber heiress Kathleen Jones McCann is not trying to buy retroactive approval for building in the McKenzie Floodway and Ed King should be allowed to purchase permission to turn Oakridge’s TV Butte into a gravel pit, there is a candidate for you. Jake Pelroy for Lane County commissioner, because corporate lobbyists always make wonderful public servants.
Dan Dizney
Eugene
Vote Yes for Clean Energy
As an accountant, I always look into who funds political campaigns. For Measure 20-388, the Eugene Clean Energy Fund (ECEF), I analyzed the reported funding sources on ORESTAR. ECEF, a license fee for businesses earning over a billion in profits, was proposed by non-profit organizations who tackle the climate crisis, pollution and more. We see funding coming from them, union locals, national groups (like Jane Fonda Climate PAC) and many local community members.
In contrast, the “No” campaign is funded by:
• Oregon Business & Industry PAC — which have Amazon and Walmart board members.
• Oregon Bankers PAC and Grocery Retail PAC — big bank and grocery conglomerate funded trade associations.
• LIFT Lane — the Chamber of Commerce’s PAC, which often represents the interests of big business.
• Andy Storment — (the sole named individual donor) who works in finance and banking.
Unsurprisingly, opposition to ECEF is bought and paid for by the wealthy few that would be subject to the fee. When you see arguments against a fund that would pay for local green jobs, climate justice and resilience projects, ask yourself, “Who is paying for those arguments and why?”
Measure 20-388 deserves a yes vote.
Jacob Trewe
Eugene
Editor’s Note: Read many, many election letters — and many in favor of Measure 20-388 — at EugeneWeekly.com.
Write Conrad
I urge voters who live in Oregon Legislative Representative District 12 to write in Charlie Conrad on the Nov. 3 ballot.
District 12 covers eastern Lane County, part of southern Linn County, and a small area of southeast Eugene. The incumbent has consistently voted as a MAGA Republican. The Democrat candidate is a ghost. The person’s name is on the ballot, but she has no campaign website, has made no campaign appearances, nor responded to journalists’ requests for an interview [EW Oct. 15].
As readers may recall, Charlie Conrad served one term, and then was “primaried” out of office for voting to protect choice and gender-affirming care, rather than voting “the party line.” In an Oregon Capital Chronicle interview, Conrad said he based this vote upon discussions with doctors and mental health specialists. He was a conscientious member of the legislature. He responded to every email he received from our household members. His current party affiliation is Independent.
Please join me in writing in Charlie Conrad for Representative District 12.
Jim Maloney
Eugene
Online Election Letters
Measure 20-388 “Bites the Hands that Feed Eugene”
I am writing to you on behalf of the thousands of retail workers in Eugene who rely on their pay checks to pay rent, car insurance and put food on the table. These employees include recent immigrants, students and single parents. Measure 20-388 bites the hands that feed Eugene. Two percent of gross profits is a considerable amount of funds to pay out for having a store location within Eugene. This measure puts stores in jeopardy of being closed. This includes the Valley River Center JC Penny and Macy’s, two Super Walmarts, two Home Depots, ten Starbucks locations, seven McDonalds, three Carl’s Jrs, Texas RoadHouse and four Jersey Mikes, to name a few that fall into the category of one bill and 500,000 locally. These locations have extended hours and they provide thousands of full and part time jobs. They hire a diverse workforce to include students and people with disabilities. They have entry level positions and offer training programs with upwardly mobile career paths. Most of all, the store locations offer convenience to the consumer and stabilize the value of neighborhoods. The unintended consequence of this measure is the closure of Eugene retail locations. The ones hurt the most are our most vulnerable unskilled residents, families, students and recent immigrants. Please vote no on Measure 20-388, it will hurt the retail sector employees.
Paul Avallone
Eugene
Vote for Kotek
We have two very different candidates running for Governor here in Oregon. The challenger is Christine Drazen from Eastern Oregon. As an Oregon legislator, she has voted against almost all gun safety measures, almost all climate legislation and advocated for the repeal of Roe vs. Wade. She, as minority leader in the Oregon House, spearheaded the Republican House members’ “walkout” from their elected duties to attend the last weeks of several of our biannual legislative sessions, resulting in the failure to pass all legislation. Legislation that would have helped working families with food access, education and other much needed help. She determined this was in the best interest of the state, so no fossil fuel taxes or climate legislation could pass.
The incumbent Tina Kotek has worked to give Oregon workers paid parental leaves for the birth of their children, raised the minimum wage for our working families, advanced strong protections for Oregon Women’s rights and family planning and advocated for environmental legislation to keep our state a Pacific Wonderland. She has worked to solve our homeless problem, which is still ongoing, but progress is being made.
Your vote will determine what course our state takes.
Hal Huestis
Eugene
Another Yes for Clean Energy
I am writing to urge voters to support Measure 20-388 that creates a Eugene Clean Energy Fund.
This initiative is a critical step in engaging and empowering our community to make progress in responding to climate change. Here are three reasons to vote yes:
1. It is a game-changer in our ability as a community to invest in housing, transportation and jobs that build the city we want and need for the future.
2. It is accountable and transparent. The Eugene City Council will approve the implementation of the fee, appoint members to the oversight committee and amend the program as needed in public meetings with public input. The program will be audited to ensure funding is effectively allocated.
3. The fee is targeted to mega corporations that can most afford it. It will not negatively impact local businesses.
Our community has made it very clear that responding to climate change is a priority. Investing in that response is expensive, but that investment does not stand alone. It is integral to all of our other investments and tied to our values as a community. We can respond to climate change and improve the quality and affordability of housing. We can respond to climate change and build our economy with clean energy jobs. We can respond to climate change and build a safer, cleaner transportation system.
Vote yes on Measure 20-388 and take pride in the promise of those investments.
Lucy Vinis
Eugene
Don’t vote if
By the time your fingers are turning the pages of the Oct. 22 Weekly, we have exactly 2 weeks to vote.
Don’t vote if: You love Donald Trump, the 34 felon! Don’t vote if: You love how Donald Trump has not released the Epstein files! Don’t vote if: You love the war in Iran that Donald Trump started — killing 130 school children and 18 American soldiers! Don’t vote if: You love the way Donald Trump keeps funding Israel’s war machine! Don’t vote if: You love the way Donald Trump has ordered the Masked ICE thugs to capture Hispanic brown-skinned people in the United States to be attacked, beaten, killed and thrown into Concentration Camps and deported without Due Process! Don’t vote if: You love the way Donald Trump loves to embrace Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un! Don’t vote if you love to pay extremely high grocery and fuel prices! Don’t vote if: You have no problem seeing your kids go hungry while Donald Trump enriches himself and his family through corruption! Don’t vote if: You are a MAGA Republican that loves Donald Trump!
Please vote if: You are a Democrat or Independent that loves to see that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is the path for everyone living in the United States. Please vote if: You Love to see Donald Trump cry as he sees that every Republican politician loses their race because honest people who believe in the Rule of Law, are Loyal to the Constitution and not the president and are determined to to save our Democracy — voted!
Frank Harper
Springfield
Vote for Val Hoyle
Who should decide how healthcare is delivered in Eugene? The doctors who live and work here, or corporate executives making decisions from offices hundreds of miles away?
Earlier this year, that question became very real when a large, out-of-state, for-profit company sought to replace Eugene Emergency Physicians as the group providing emergency care at our local hospital. These physicians had served our community for years, raised families here and built a practice focused on patient care rather than corporate profits.
For a while, it looked like the local doctors didn’t stand a chance. But something remarkable happened. Physicians, patients, community members and local leaders came together to push back. Against the odds, the local physicians prevailed.
Congresswoman Val Hoyle was there when we needed her. She listened, spoke up and fought alongside us. She understood this was about more than a hospital contract. It was about who controls health care in our community.
And she took that fight to Washington.
Hoyle introduced the Stop Corporate Takeovers of Physicians Act, legislation aimed at keeping medical decisions in the hands of physicians rather than corporate interests.
Our experience showed that communities don’t have to accept corporate control of health care as inevitable. Local voices matter, especially when elected officials listen and act.
We saw firsthand that Val Hoyle was willing to do both.
Chris and Brooke Kyle
Springfield
DeSpain Campaign’s Log Cabin Confusion
I am sensing that people are losing patience with all the shocking and salacious stories that have come out of this election cycle. I mean, have you seen the wild claims being made about the Callee Ackland campaign in Springfield? May I please offer some levity? The 2026 Congressional race has quietly included one of the funniest details that any campaign in Lane County could have treated us with. The incumbent Val Hoyle would probably prefer me to construct a critique based on actual legislative proposals, but I do not care. Readers deserve comic relief.
On the Monique DeSpain campaign website, the Republican nominee divides her endorsements list into a few sparsely populated categories. She utilizes a rather expansive definition of “Farming, Ranching and Forestry,” as that section boasts of support from an unexpected group: the Log Cabin Republicans. I am being completely factual when reporting that the first and most prominent endorsement in this category is the GOP’s self-described “natural home for gay conservatives.”
Let’s give grace here. This may have been a careless error when rounding up the tally on forestry-related endorsements. But I truly hope the campaign did not cynically expect Southwest Oregon voters to be tricked by a name. Most of us have lived here long enough to know what groups are actually focused on rural Oregon forestry and ranching, not anti-trans “LGB” advocacy. I suppose we need a good laugh once in a while, or we’re sure to cry.
Thomas Hiura
Eugene
The Measure No One Can Stop Talking About
The world hit 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial temperatures this year, the maximum warming limit set by the Paris Agreement in 2016. In 2027, we’re going to experience what 1.8 degrees will feel like from the effects of the El Niño.
The Earth won’t stop warming until societies stop emitting more carbon than the natural environment can absorb. Keeping the course we are on will likely increase the planet’s temperature 3-4 degrees Celsius by 2100. Simply put, our grandchildren won’t have a chance of survival. There are children alive today who will experience this. Clean, renewable energy is our only way out.
Calling the Clean Energy Fund a hidden tax severely misses the point. To dissuade your community from a clean energy fund that should’ve been passed over a decade ago because you don’t want to pay more at Walmart or Target is not putting your children first.
This letter isn’t to tell you how to vote, where to shop, or how to feel. It’s to ask you to explore if your values and your consumption are aligned. Our collective priorities are to make things easier to consume. We are doing it at a rate that earth’s systems can’t keep up with and there won’t be a viable world for future generations if we don’t take action immediately.
Demand a better world for your children’s future by demanding the end of fossil fuel consumption.
Jesse Noone
Eugene
What We’ve Been Waiting For
The world is in crisis, and Eugene has a chance to take meaningful local action by passing the Eugene Clean Energy Fund (ECEF), Measure 20-388.
Portland passed the Portland Clean Energy Fund in 2018, and it has become one of the most significant local climate-funding programs in the world. It will invest about $1.6 billion in clean energy and climate solutions through its first five-year plan. That is phenomenal — and shows what is possible when communities prioritize local action over corporate profits.
By placing a small fee on billion-dollar businesses, we could generate an estimated $15 million each year for local green jobs, clean energy and climate-resilience projects. That money could support energy efficiency in homes and businesses, transportation decarbonization, weatherization, green infrastructure, workforce development, and projects that help prepare us for climate-driven extreme weather.
This would be a game changer.
In 2014, Eugene passed the Climate Recovery Ordinance and made a promise to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But goals without funding are hard to achieve. ECEF gives us a practical way to take the next definitive step. Are we going to continue with the status quo while climate change accelerates around us? Or are we going to finally make billion-dollar corporations pay their fair share to prepare our community, reduce harm, lower costs and protect the only planet we have?
By voting yes on Measure 20-388, Eugene can create real local climate solutions — and inspire other cities to do the same.
Tomoko Sekiguchi
Eugene
Online Letters
Community ‘Spirit’
Thanks and kudos aplenty to the Eugene Film Society for creating and organizing the best damn Halloween tradition I’ve ever had the pleasure to be a part of. My middle-aged friends and I just spent the weekend in the woods playing with fake blood and costumes and lighting effects for our entry in the 11th Annual 72-Hour Horror Film Competition, and it was a blast.
Even better, they’re showing 50 of our neighbors’ entries on the big screen at McDonald Theatre on Monday, Nov. 2 at 7 pm. I gave up any rockstar/ Hollywood dreams long ago to be just a regular, blue-collar dude, but this low-stakes event gave me a reason to reach out to friends, and friends of friends, and do a silly, creative thing together. And we’ll get to see it huge and loud like a real movie, with a real audience. It’s such a blessing to live in a place that regularly puts this much effort into goofy, community fun.
Nick Powell
Springfield
Propaganda
Take a moment to realize how much we all have been programmed. All politicians, media centers, oligarchs, celebrities and other influencers have their own agendas for us. Even the schools are openly parrotting the corporate dominate narratives. To wit, I asked my grandson, in 4th grade, what books he was reading and he showed me a Scholastic book called Refugees. It’s about the refugees created by Hitler, Castro and Hafez al-Assad of Syria. Now I can see the case on Hitler, but ever since his reign of terror, the U.S. war machine has evoked his name in order to justify wars against communists and Muslims. The graphic novel (comic book form) says that after the USSR collapsed in 1991, Russia turned its back on Cuba and people starved. It says that President Assad bombed his own people, whereas the truth is that, after Obama drew his line in the sand, someone engineered a nerve gas attack on Syrians, and the US said Assad gassed his own people, which would be as crazy as the Russians bombing their own pipeline.
Stephen Cole
Eugene
Quacks in Eugene
Slant (online) on Oct. 22 correctly recommended everyone get the 2026 flu and COVID vaccines, and not take ivermectin. That drug is great if one has worms, especially those that cause river blindness in parts of Africa. But it’s useless against viruses. Hundreds of thousands of Americans died due to trusting viral disinformation that promoted ivermectin and other hoaxes instead of vaccination. Ivermectin works in vitro, in a petri dish, but not in vivo, in the body. Soapy water and flamethrowers also inactivate viruses, but don’t put them in your lungs. Biochemistry doesn’t care about opinions on anti-social media.
Last Feb. 22, EW promoted the “Metaphysical Wellness” hoax event. Using crystals, playing cards, placebos and guesswork instead of trained clinical observation can trick people into avoiding necessary care.
Pseudoscience preys on fear, high cost and poor access to health care. Universal coverage instead of profiteering insurance is the remedy. Too bad Phil Knight’s recent Phil-anthropy to UO is not being used to start a medical school to train more doctors.
I urge EW to scrutinize the anti-medicine industry. Not all quacks in Eugene are from ducks. Sustaineugene.org/quack.html.