Ron Wyden at Newberg town hall/Randy Stapilus Two to three years ago, turnout at Senator Ron Wyden‘s Yamhill County town hall ranged upward of 100, to 200 and more. Big crowds that filled large rooms. Not so much this weekend, when Wyden came to Newberg; only about 20 county residents showed up. (The lower turnout [..

  I saw a comment recently from a wine writer noting that they tasted over five thousand wines a year. I could only think how sad. Was this some sor

This week’s column by Chris Carlson mentioned several prospective Idaho political figures for coming years. One of them, Douglas Siddoway, responds: Please let your readers know that, while I respect my good friend Chris Carlson’s political acuity and appreciate his belief that I would make a good governor, I ha

Join us in Carlton on Saturday Feb. 4th from 12n-5p – this is an absolute don’t miss tasting for Burgundy lovers of all stripes. We’ll be pouring all five of the outstanding 2009 Meursaults from top-drawer producer Domaine Buisson-Charles. Though perhaps not as famous as Lafon, Roulot or Coche-Dury, the Bu

Never met the man, so such personal qualities as Steve Appleton had could only be extrapolated, from this vantage, from what public actions he made. Without getting into the kind of hagiography normal for the recently deceased, especially for the successful recently deceased, there are a few things that might be said, even

Join us in NW Portland at Scott Paul PDX as we kick-off our series of First Friday Happy Hours – Friday February 3rd from 5-7pm. We’ll be pouring our hand-crafted Oregon Pinot and a selection from our import portfolio – with a “Splurge Pour” of Grower Champagne also available (just in time for

This sounds like an idea that must not be new but sure doesn’t seem familiar: Instead of each state redistricting their congressional districts, that work would be done by a national National Commission for Independent Redistricting. Starting, if the legislation were passed, in 2020. The proposal, by Oregon Representa

Striking headline in a Tacoma News-Tribune editorial: “It took Richard Nixon to go to China, Bill Clinton to reform welfare and state Rep. Jeannie Darneille to push House Bill 2588.” It’s apt, and it could mark a breakthrough. DNA evidence is something relatively new on the civil rights screen, and complex

Chris CarlsonCarlson Chronicles Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter says he will seek a third term. Good! With the way he is “mailing it in” that may provide Democrats with the first real opportunity to occupy the executive chair since then Attorney General Larry Echohawk lost to Phil Batt in 1994. In 2014 it will have been

Suzanne Bonamici Annals of a congressional district that knows what it is and what it wants: Winding up a special congressional campaign that started last summer – last spring, really, when the first challenger got in – Democrat Suzanne Bonamici was elected Tuesday, over Republican Rob Cornilles, to the U.S. Hou

The Seattle Times has a roundup of presidential campaign activity in Washington state, which often – with its relatively late March 6 caucuses – isn’t a big factor in presidential nominations. If the battle for the nomination is still alive then, though, Washington could be a hotbed. In some ways, it’

Every decade, it’s the same: As population crowds into urban areas, legislative (and congressional) districts that cover rural areas have to stretch into larger and larger areas. It’ll happen again after 2020. Even so, I’ve been looking at the Idaho Redistricting Commission’s L93 map (yes, that means

After spending a little time with the Idaho redistricting commission, things look a little more upbeat than earlier this week for the prospects of it completing its task sometime soon – possibly Saturday (they’re prepared for a Saturday session), maybe sooner, but likely not a whole lot later. This was the commi

A significant change in status that doesn’t seem to have gotten a lot of attention yet. To this point, when Washington state officially talks about its “state universities,” it means the University of Washington and Washington State University – those two and no others. (Similarly, the only official

Chris CarlsonCarlson Chronicles A former newspaper editor and sometime reader of this column recently asked who I thought, other than Cecil Andrus, were great Idaho governors. A bias I have is this: The best governors almost always first served in their State’s Legislature. Why this contributes to success is obvious. Havi

In an Idaho Statesman piece, Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter, who’s co-chair of the Mitt Romney campaign in Idaho, remarks that “I would have bet you a month ago that this would have been over with by the first of February. But things have changed.” He’s certainly not alone in that, or in mov

There seems to be an ethic in our politics these days that lengthy pieces of legislature are only lengthy to provide loopholes and work for lawyers: if it’s worth doing, surely it can be expressed in a sentence or two. Legislators who’ve been around the circle a few times come to understand that things rarely [.

More love for the amazing and miraculous 2010 Burgundy vintage, this time from IWC’s Steve Tanzer – “At their best, the 2010 reds offer compellingly fresh and complex aromatics and site character; silky but sharply delineated palates; and suave, long, gripping finishes featuring firm but harmonious tannins. In their a

The Idaho Legislature, which has before it a bill that would move the state’s long-running May primary election to August, might as well go ahead and pass it. Candidates and election officials will need the time, because the odds now are that no new legislative redistricting plan will be adopted in the short term R