Oregon Shouldn’t be Given Washington’s 3rd Congressional Seat

Carolyn Long

It’s no secret that Oregon, Portland primarily has for many years tried to control Clark County Washington while looking down upon us as “Vantucky” and essentially backwater, inbred interlopers muddying their version of Nirvana with our gasoline powered monster cars.

Okay, maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but yes, we all know Portland looks down on Clark County, never hiding their disdain for us, but has shown in the past how much they would love to tap into our revenues on this side of the Columbia River to fund projects and policies they have overextended themselves on.

Think Millions of dollars in income taxes Clark County residents employed in Portland must pay each year while not being given any degree of voice in Oregon’s political scene or think of the failed Columbia River Crossing and the Millions wasted as they worked diligently to force Clark County to accept and fund their light rail a short distance into the community with the promise of a new bridge to replace the aging Interstate 5 Bridges. Remember “No light rail, no bridge, no kidding” from then Governor Kitzhaber?

Suffice it to say Oregon has long felt they should have a say in how we operate north of the Columbia River, even though we are not in Oregon and live under different state laws. And unfortunately, by all appearance Democrats are showing a propensity to again cave to Oregon by electing a lifelong Oregon resident to Washington State’s 3rd Congressional District seat currently occupied by Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler, born and raised right here in Clark County Washington first elected back in 2010 to the seat.

Jaime Herrera Beutler

Very soon after taking the oath of office in 2011, far leftist organization Moveon began their assaults on Jaime at a rally attended and taped by this blogger castigating her actions less than two months in office.

Democrats have failed in every election to unseat her and they have had some pretty good Washington State Democrats up against her that just couldn’t pull it off. Even this year we saw three other actual residents of Washington State throw their hats in the ring only to be slighted by their party and local media, the Columbian aka “The Lazy C” in favor of Lifelong Oregon resident, Carolyn Long.

Ms Long’s claim to Washington is her teaching a class in politics at Washington State University from some 22 years. No doubt an expert when it comes to leftism, Liberalism and Progressivism, but who hopped in her car every night to head back home in Salem, Oregon.

That is, until purchasing a condo on this side of the river in July 2017, just getting in under the wire to establish legal residency to qualify for running. In the meantime her family remained behind in Salem, “awaiting a job transfer” we are told.

Long is very crafty in her bio claiming she “grew up in a rural community on the coast,” “Working at her father’s store at the age of 12,” and “working at Safeway to earn the money to pay her way through the University of Oregon.” Other than the UofO, she makes no mention that her history was all within Oregon, other than Rutgers University.

Email campaign endorsements also use crafty language to give the impression of roots in Washington State with claims of her 22 years teaching at WSU, followed by claims of “deep involvement in her community,” again giving the impression she has been involved in issues and matters of concern to the district over the years.

I have held the belief that an elected Representative should have roots within the district, that they have supported the needs of the district, been involved in interests of the district, paid taxes and voted in the district.

Other than co-hosting a couple election night broadcasts on CVTV, I've never seen her participate in council meetings, campaign for any candidate, attend any political rally for either party and never participated in a single Veterans event I have attended on this side of the river nor participate in any Washington State election. Of course she’s much too smart to have voted since she would have violated voting laws by being an out of state resident.

But now, all of a sudden, she is the “Great White Hope” for Democrats in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District?

Or are they hoping she gets in and grants Oregon one of Washington State’s Congressional seats and vote how Oregon desires?

I was recently told in a facebook discussion that any vote she took would be AS a Washington State Representative, but there is no indication in her history that any vote would be FOR Washington State’s 3rd Congressional District over Oregon.

Is holding a job in Clark County really establishing roots and being involved in the community, when every night and weekends for 22 years was involved in her home in Oregon?

Bear in mind that Oregon already has their full allotment of Congressional Seats, so why should they be given one in Washington, especially in Southwest Washington where we have seen many times over the years efforts to tap into revenues from our community to be used and spent south of us in Oregon?

I also note her slogan of “People over Politics.”

Nice sounding words and heard often by politicians that carry no real meaning once in office. Just as her call for more “civility” and “respect” for the other side.

To this end I emailed her campaign back in December 2017 asking for her view on her party’s incivility shown towards President Trump. To date there has been no response of any kind, none, nada, zip.

I have received dozens of campaign emails from her campaign, every last single one of them straight party line, even to condemnations and slinging mud towards the incumbent and Brett Kavanaugh for Supreme Court Justice BEFORE the hearings on his nomination even began. It has to be recalled that the House doesn’t vote in confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justices, the Senate does.

Carolyn Long makes claims of the type of Representation we deserve in Southwest Washington and making the district better somehow. But she has absolutely no relevant history of any involvement whatsoever in Southwest Washington, never voted, campaigned, spoken before any council, held even the smallest of office, just teaching leftwing politics at WSU for 22 years and scurrying back across the Columbia River to get home to Oregon.

It must be noted here that Jaime has been under constant fire from the left and Democrats claiming she “votes lock-step with Trump.”

She’s also been under fire from the more radical far-right fringe that has been trying to highjack the Republican Party and conservatism for “not voting with Trump.”

That tells me that Jaime is the centrist Representative both sides have long called for.

We deserve someone actually rooted in the district. Someone that has a history of working for constituents in some manner or involvement with citizens in the community in issues and matters concerning the district.

We don’t need Oregon slipping in and taking over our Congressional District seat by fooling voters into voting for Oregon’s Carolyn Long.