Latest Westlund campaign spurs independence

 Governor candidate's supporters must drop party label to vote in May primary

April 17, 2006
By James Sinks

SALEM - He was a lifetime Democrat. His wife was a lifetime Republican until last year.

But as of last week, James and Helen Smith are politically independent.

"The system is dysfunctional," James Smith said. "It's long overdue, it's long past time to throw away the party politics."

Both major parties are more concerned with keeping power than solving problems, he said.

The Smiths, both retirees from the U.S. Forest Service and Bend residents for three decades, changed their voter registration cards at the Deschutes County Clerk's Office last week, then headed to the Bend campaign office of state Sen. Ben Westlund, I-Tumalo, who they say was a catalyst for their decision.

There, they signed the petition that they hope will put Westlund on the ballot for governor this fall.

In February, Westlund dropped his affiliation with the Republican Party and launched a bid to be Oregon's second independent governor.

Julius L. Meier was elected as an independent in 1930.

Registration deadline approaching
* Voters have until April 25 to register to vote or to switch party affiliation prior to the May 16 primary. Ballots will go in the mail on April 28.
* Voters must drop their Republican or Democrat party affiliation if they want to both cast ballots in the May primary and also sign the nominating petition for independent gubernatorial candidate Ben Westlund of Tumalo.
* Voters also can register in person or online, or change their party affiliations at county elections offices.
Deschutes County: 1300 NW Wall St., Suite 200, Bend, 388-6546
Crook County: 300 NE Third St, Room 23, Prineville, 447-6553
Jefferson County: 66 SE D St., Suite C, Madras, 475-4451		   And as part of Westlund's campaign, he is encouraging voters to follow his lead and drop party labels. The theme of a Westlund television commercial that began airing last week is "Declare your Independence."

A wall at his campaign office in Bend is starting to disappear behind the letters of Oregonians who say they have made the switch and are independent. Officially, they are "not a member of a party."

"Voters from across the political spectrum and across the state contact us every day to share their independence story about how they dropped their party affiliation," said Stacey Dycus, Westlund's campaign manager.

Among them is Charles Porter of Bend, a retired Air Force colonel and lifelong Republican.

"Westlund's decision to run as an independent prompted me to do it," he said.

"I think the two-party system has been heading in the wrong direction for some time, they are way too divisive and the positions they take are more for the good of the party and not for the good of the American people, and state politics are following the same path."

Still, he's unsure whether he will vote for Westlund in the fall. But he intends to sign the petition to at least put him on the ballot.

"There are never just two sides to every issue," he said. "Whether or not an independent governor would be good or bad depends on him and how he addresses the issues."

Yet despite anecdotal reports of people dropping their party labels, a veteran political analyst does not expect to see an avalanche of revised registration cards piling up at elections offices.

"There may be a local movement of supporters who want to make a stand, but it is not something I would expect to see sweep the state," said Jim Moore, who teaches at Pacific University in Forest Grove.

Westlund is still not well known in the Portland area and, in addition, few people seem likely to take what would be the inconvenient step of resubmitting their registration cards, Moore said.

Statewide, roughly 25 percent of voters are not registered as Republicans or Democrats, and 22 percent say they belong to no party.

Deschutes County Clerk Nancy Blankenship said her office has processed 218 political party changes since March 1, with 149 of those switches by voters to something other than Republican or Democrat.

House Bill 2614 makes it harder for third-party candidates to qualify for the ballot, and was supported by the leadership of both the Republican and Democratic parties.

Under the law, if somebody wants to vote in the primary election and also sign Westlund's petition, he or she must be registered as no party affiliation. Westlund must secure 18,386 signatures by the end of August.

Registered Republicans and Democrats can still sign the petition, but those signatures will count only if those voters don't cast ballots in the primary.

The law was spurred by the failed attempt of Green Party candidate Ralph Nader to get on the 2004 presidential ballot in Oregon, which would have helped President Bush but hurt John Kerry.

But Republicans can also point to an influential spoiler in Al Mobley, who ran as an independent in the 1990 governor's race. He is credited with siphoning enough votes away from Republican Dave Frohnmayer to hand the race to Democrat Barbara Roberts.

Ron Paradis, a former Bend-La Pine School Board member, said he is taking what will probably be a short vacation from the Democratic Party - but it became necessary because he wants to help put Westlund on the ballot.

"I considered just not voting, but I wanted to vote in the sheriff's levy," Paradis said.

He said he likely will rejoin the Democratic Party immediately after the primary, although it's not guaranteed.

Westlund is not expected to have any trouble collecting sufficient signatures, Moore said.

"Eighteen thousand signatures should be a pretty easy hurdle for him," he said.

"The Republican primary should have a fairly high turnout among Republicans but the Democratic primary still looks pretty sleepy, so I can see many Democrats sitting out the primary and signing the petition," he said.

But for James and Helen Smith, just sitting out the primary wasn't good enough.

As retirees on fixed incomes, they want a say in any new taxes. But in addition, they are ready to let go of partisan politics.

Helen Smith was a Republican her entire life until a year ago, when she switched to Democrat because she believed the Republicans were headed in the wrong direction by focusing so heavily on social policy like outlawing abortion.

But she doesn't think Democrats have all the answers either.

James Smith said he does not see eye-to-eye with Westlund on every issue - but he's the best candidate he's seen in years.

"I don't know that I've ever seen a perfect candidate and I've been voting since 1960," he said. "But Ben is not a hard-line liberal or a conservative. He's in the middle, and that's a place in the spectrum we identify with."