May 11, 2008

Advocates ponder historic divide
Movement supporters are taking their
message around to rural communities

By KATHY GRAY
of The Chronicle

     Home Rule for Eastern Oregon?
     The last time Congress carved a new state out of an existing state was June 20, 1863, when West Virginia was separated from Virginia.
     But that was in the middle of the Civil War, nearly a century and a half ago.
     Three Hood River people think the time may have come to repeat that process in Oregon.
     Consultants Paul Koch and Ernie DeRocher and property rights activist Rita Swyers say they have had enough with the way Oregon’s legislature and government have treated Eastern Oregon.
     They have floated the idea of creating a 51st state, Eastern Oregon, out of the counties lying east of the Cascade Range.
     That is, except Deschutes County.
     The burgeoning Bend metropolis, now with a population over 77,000, and the rapid suburbanization of the areas around Bend have led the trio to conclude that it belongs with urbanized Western Oregon and not in the proposed new state.
     “Their orientation is more toward the west than to the east,”said Koch.
     That would leave 17 counties with two-thirds of the state’s land area and a small fraction of the population. (See sidebar.)
     The three cite longstanding east-of-the-mountains discontent with decisions made in distant Salem as background to their movement.
     “Ernie and I were doing some consulting in Eastern Oregon,” said Koch. “We saw cookie cutter laws that will have a negative impact on the rural area. We saw the demise of the Office of Rural Policy. We saw reductions in economic development. We saw too many centralized decisions made that were too rigid.      So we said, ‘Why don’t we create our own state?’”
     They have done more than just talk about the situation. An organizational meeting was held at Boardman April 25, and 32 people showed up to air their dissatisfactions and plan for change.
     “We purposely went into that meeting without a lot of material,” said Koch. “We didn’t want everybody to think we’ve already made the decision and we just need you to rubber stamp. We truly want this to be a discovery process from the ground up.”
     The meeting did not produce a declaration of independence, but it did result in a list of grievances, and convinced organizers there was enough interest for further meetings.
     “Probably a third of the issues are land use or water,” said Rita Swyers.      “They’re all pretty darn mad at the state.”
Is it even possible to break away from an existing state?
     “Yes, you can,” Koch said. “It’s in the Constitution.”
     He’s right. Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution allows for the creation of a new state from an exiting state with the approval of the state Legislature and the U.S. Congress.
     In essence, it would take three votes. The people in the affected area would have to vote in favor of the division, the state legislature would have to approve, and Congress would have to pass an act creating the new state.
     Unlike a constitutional amendment, which requires ratification of three-fourths of the existing states, a simple act of Congress would be sufficient.
     The organizers admit that they may be “a little bit crazy.” to propose such a radical solution, and that the results of future meetings may lead to a different outcome.
     “A new state is only one option,” said Koch. “Doing something with our existing legislators is another option.”
     He also says that there may not be enough political will to tackle the difficult process.
     “You’d have to figure out how you’re going to pay for services,” he said. “How would the state be organized? What would the budget be? How would we handle the judicial system? What would the new state do with state property? We may end up in September with just the three of us,” he said.
     “We really mean it,” said Swyers. “We want the people to decide. We have a lot to learn yet, and we don’t know what’s going to come out of this.”
     But, so far, the idea is spreading, rather than dying down.
     The three say they have received “hundreds of e-mails” in support of the idea.
And it’s brought them media attention.
     Articles have appeared in papers east of the Cascades and on the Associated Press state wire. They’ve been heard on Portland radio stations KEX, KPAM and the Lars Larson talk show on KXL.
     Eugene television (KVAL Channel 13) came to Hood River to film and aired a 3-minute story Thursday on the group and their concept.
     What’s next?
     A series of meetings. A tentative schedule calls for 10 of them, starting May 15 in Nyssa. Other locations on the list include Island City, Lakeview, Burns, Klamath Falls, John Day, Fossil, Warm Springs, The Dalles (tentatively set for Aug. 7) and Pendleton.
     “The intent is to get as much information from the people out in the field,” said Ernie DeRocher. “Let them talk and give us information, tell us what they like and don’t like, and we’ll collect it all. Then in September, we’ll have a regional meeting, bring everybody together, review everything and make some decisions.”
     If that decision is to proceed, the three have an organizational chart with “at least 25 task forces” that would work for a steering committee to generate the answers to many of the complex questions involved in setting up a new state from scratch.
     The three are aware of the difficulties.
     One section of the initial presentation made in Boardman outlines the risks, including potential retaliation or threats from Salem or Washington, D.C. to cut funding, even the possibility that organizers may be called “idiots, fools and people with no brains.”
     It’s a chance the three are willing to take.
     “We’re not working for anybody,” said Swyers. “We don’t have any predetermined ideas about what should happen. We’re just three individuals who are willing to do the work to see what will happen.”
     “We’re donating our time and effort because we believe in it.” said DeRocher. “And at the end, we may end up with no change.”
     “At least, nobody can come back and say, ‘We never had an opportunity to participate,’” said Koch. That’s really important. Something good has got to come out of this.“
     Monday:Other proposals for states that never came to be.