AFL-CIO fared well with endorsed candidates in Oregon

The Oregon labor movement has been in a schizophrenic state of mind since Election Day.

On one hand, labor leaders are extremely dismayed by the loss of Democratic nominee John Kerry for president. George W. Bush received 51 percent of the popular vote, winning 30 states and 286 electoral votes, for re-election.

But labor found solace in the fact that Oregon delivered the state’s seven electoral votes to Kerry, who captured 51.5 percent of the vote.

Labor also was comforted by the fact that all statewide elections were won by endorsed Democrats; that each of their endorsed congressional candidates won re-election by wide margins; and that Democrats regained control of the Oregon Senate.

“We can be proud of what we accomplished in this election,” said Oregon AFL-CIO President Tim Nesbitt. “We helped to focus the debate in Oregon on good jobs — including smart trade policies, affordable health care and fair workplaces — from the top to the bottom of the ticket.”

“I cried all day Wednesday,” said Judy O’Connor, executive secretary-treasurer of the Northwest Oregon Labor Council, referring to Kerry’s loss. “Still I’m proud of everybody who volunteered and gave of their time.”

“In 1984 when Reagan was re-elected, I thought that would be the end of the labor movement. It wasn’t,” said John Mohlis, president of the Columbia-Pacific Building Trades Council. “Now it’s up to us and our members to make sure we’re not done. We want to be around in 20 years.”

Gene Pronovost, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555, the state’s largest private-sector union, said: “In my 27 years in this movement, I have never seen our membership as motivated and involved in the political process. I’m very proud of their hard work.”

“Oregon has nothing to be ashamed of in this election. We did what we needed to do,” he added.

“It took a strong and united labor movement to achieve what we did in this election,” said Nesbitt. “And, we will need that strength and unity to stand up to the Bush-Cheney Administration in the months ahead.”

Based on returns from the 20 largest counties, AFL-CIO union household voters in Oregon were on track to exceed labor’s record turnout of 86.3 percent in 2000. Oregon has 2,145,821 registered voters and 1,780,149 ballots were cast. The voter turnout was 82.96 percent.

In Multnomah County, labor also helped turn back an attempted repeal of a temporary local tax for schools, services and safety. The vote was 52 percent to 48 percent opposing repeal.

In Washington County, Measure 34-94 to renew a local option levy for Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue passed by a wide margin.

Labor-backed Lisa Naito was re-elected to the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners; Bill Kennemer and Martha Schrader were re-elected to the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners; Damon Mabee, a field representative of Laborers Local 483, was elected to the Oregon City City Council; and Norm King, a member of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3336, was elected mayor of West Linn.

On the downside, labor-backed Jim Francesconi was defeated by former police chief Tom Potter in his bid for Portland mayor. And Nick Fish, who was heavily backed by labor, was defeated by Sam Adams for an open seat on the City Council.

Adams was endorsed by Local 555.

Also losing was labor-endorsed Rod Monroe for re-election to Metro. The new Metro commissioner, Robert Liberty, is a former staff member for Congressman Earl Blumenauer.

Here is how Oregon AFL-CIO-endorsed candidates fared on Election Day. Endorsed candidates are in bold type:

President

John Kerry, D, 904,264, 51.23%

George W. Bush, R, 835,283, 47.32%

Michael Badnarik, L, 6,967, 0.39%

David Cobb, G, 5,042, 0.29%

Michael A. Peroutka, C, 5,030, 0.29%

Write-in Votes, 8,471, 0.48%

U.S. Senate

Ron Wyden, D, 1,086,477, 63.43%

Al King, R, 544,347, 31.78%

Teresa Keane, Green, 40,656, 2.37%

Dan Fitzgerald, L, 28,076, 1.64%

David Brownlow, C, 11,801, 0.69%

Write-in votes, 1,417, 0.08%

 U.S. House

First District:

David Wu, D, 198,311, 57.41%

Goli Ameri, R, 132,117, 38.24%

Dean Wolf, C, 13,554, 3.92%

Write-in votes, 1,470, 0.43%

Second District:

Greg Walden, R, 242,584, 71.70%

John C. McColgan, D, 86,628, 25.60%

Jim Lindsay, L, 4,609, 1.36%

Jack Alan Brown, Jr., C, 3,942, 1.17%

Write-in votes, 585, 0.17%

Third District:

Earl Blumenauer, D, 233,705, 71.06%

Tami Mars, R, 77,555, 23.58%

Walter F. Brown, S, 9,891, 3.01%

Dale Winegarden, C, 6,661, 2.03%

Write-in votes, 1,056, 0.32%

Fourth District:

Peter DeFazio, D, 222,856, 60.87%

Jim Feldkamp, R, 138,013, 37.70%

Jacob Boone, L, 3,086, 0.84%

Michael Paul Marsh, C, 1,744, 0.48%

Write-in votes, 416, 0.11%

Fifth District:

Darlene Hooley, D, 173,252, 53.00%

Jim Zupancic, R, 144,743, 44.28%

Jerry Defoe, L, 5,855, 1.79%

Joseph H. Bitz, C, 2,674, 0.82%

Write-in votes, 337, 0.10%

Secretary of State

Bill Bradbury, D, 963,797, 57.13%

Betsy L. Close, R, 665,659, 39.46%  

Richard Morley, L, 53,973, 3.20%

Writei-in votes, 3,657, 0.22%

Attorney General

Hardy Myers, D, 901,129, 54.97%

Paul Connolly, R, 659,699, 40.24%

Donald G. Smith, Jr., L, 61,232, 3.74%

Richard D. Hake, C, 15,423, 0.94%

Write-in votes, 1,854, 0.11% Treasurer

Randall Edwards, D, 857,085, 52.87%

Jeff Caton, R, 663,898, 40.96% 

Mitch Shults, L, 50,269, 3.10%

Carole D. Winegarden, C, 47,670, 2.94%

Write-in votes, 2,113, 0.13% 

Ballot Measures

MEASURE 34 (State forests) Yes: 611,111 38%; No: 1,000,060 62%

MEASURE 35 (Medical malpractice) Yes: 818,192 49%; No: 835,587 51%

MEASURE 37 (Property compensation) Yes: 984,406 60%; No: 645,624 40%

MEASURE 38 (Dismantle Saif Corp.) Yes: 625,817 39%; No: 976,957 61%

Oregon Senate

Dist. 1: Southwest Oregon, Jeff Kruse, R, 37,731 65.94%; Bruce Cronk, D,19,388, 33.88%

Dist. 3: Ashland area, Alan Bates, D, 30,944, 51.91%; Jim Wright, R, 28,605, 47.99%

Dist. 4: Lane, Douglas counties, Floyd Prozanski, D, 36,903, 61.18%; Norm Thomas, R, 23,280, 38.60%

Dist. 5: Central coast, Joanne Verger, D, 30,252, 50.66%; Al Pearn, R, 29,330, 49.11%

Dist. 12: West Willamette Valley, Gary George, R, 31,857, 58.70%; Hank Franzoni, D, 22,226, 40.96%

Dist. 14: Beaverton, Ryan Deckert, D, 34,009, 63.89%; Jay Omdahl, R, 19,123, 35.92%

Dist. 18: Tigard, West Portland, Ginny Burdick, D, 36,049, 62.14%; John Wight, R, 19,860, 34.23%; Roger F. Garcia, L, 2,003, 3.45%;

Dist. 21: SE Portland, Milwaukie, Kate Brown, D, 49,623, 86.71%; Theresa Reed, L, 4,242, 7.41%; Paul deParrie, C, 2,960, 5.17%

Dist. 25: Gresham, Troutdale, Laurie Monnes Anderson, D, 25,000, 52.91%; Ron Sunseri, R, 22,102, 46.78%

Dist. 27: Bend, Redmond, Ben Westlund, R, 50,736, 82.33%; Don Loyd, C, 9,914, 16.09%

Dist. 28: South-central Oregon, Doug Whitsett, R, 37,405, 69.98%; Ross Carroll, D, 15,936, 29.82%

Dist. 29: Northeast Oregon, David Nelson, R, 35,725, 98.09%

Oregon House

Dist. 5: Ashland area, Peter Buckley, D, 19,076, 60.33%; Joanna Lofaso, R, 12,504, 39.55%

Dist. 6: Medford, Sal Esquivel, R, 15,601, 58.26%; John Doty, D, 11,129, 41.56%

Dist. 7: Lane, Douglas counties, Bruce Hanna, R, 17,682, 62.11%; Shirley Cairns, D, 10,744, 37.74%

Dist. 8: Central Lane Co., Paul Holvey, D, 21,609, 71.16%; Bill Young, R, 8,684, 28.60%

Dist. 9: Florence to Coos Bay, Arnie Roblan, D, 14,884, 51.08%; Susan Massey, R, 14,188, 48.69%

Dist. 10: Central coast, Alan Brown, R, 15,244, 50.48%; Jean Cowan, D, 14,864, 49.22%

Dist. 11: Lane, Linn counties, Phil Barnhart, D, 18,450, 56.83%; Michael Spasaro, R, 13,956, 42.99%

Dist. 12: Springfield, Elizabeth Terry Beyer, D, 16,974, 96.73%

Dist. 13: Eugene, Robert Ackerman, D, 18,730, 61.07%; Gary Pierpoint, R, 11,122, 36.26% Wayne Williams, L, 718, 2.34%

Dist. 14: Eugene, Junction City, Debi Farr, R, 14,980, 52.55%; Bev Ficek, D, 13,470, 47.25%

Dist. 16: Corvallis, Kelley Wirth, D, 17,819, 62.28%; Don Gist, R, 9,924, 34.68%; Jared Ellefson, L, 781 2.73%

Dist. 19: Salem area, Dan Doyle, R, 14,055, 55.75%; Brian Grisham, D, 11,086, 43.97%

Dist. 22: Salem to Woodburn, Betty Komp, D, 7,713, 55.07%; Al Shannon, R, 6,235, 44.52%

Dist. 27: Raleigh Hills, Beaverton, Mark Hass, D, 19,221, 66.24%; Gabe Schomus, R, 8,823, 30.14%; Christi Feldewerth, L, 929, 3.2%

Dist. 28: Beaverton, Jeff Barker, D, 15,419, 79.84%; Steve Geiger, P, 3,274, 16.95%

Dist. 29: Forest Grove, Cornelius, Chuck Riley, D, 9,462, 48.03%; Mary Gallegos, R, 8,299, 42.13%; Tom Cox, L, 1,883, 9.56%

Dist. 31: Astoria to St. Helens, Betsy Johnson, D, 21,542, 76.16%; Ron Ross, C, 6,522, 23.06%

Dist. 32: North coast, Deborah Boone, D, 15,221, 49.93%; Douglas Olson, R, 14,267, 46.80%; Ben Snodgrass, C, 909, 2.98%

Dist. 33: NW Portland, Mitch Greenlick, D, 24,286, 80.22%; David Long, L, 3,587, 11.85%; Tom Humphrey Jr., C, 1,847, 6.10%

Dist. 34: Beaverton, Brad Avakian, D, 17,511, 96.54%

Dist. 35: Tigard area, Larry Galizio, D, 13,381, 47.98%; Suzanne Gallagher, R, 12,633, 45.30%; Diane Mandaville, I, 1,241, 4.45%; Cody Mattern, L, 472, 1.69%; Ronald Brower, C, 133, 0.48%

Dist. 36: SW Portland, Mary Nolan, D, 24,565, 86.70%; H. Joe Tabor, L, 3,491, 12.32%

Dist. 37: West Linn area, Scott Bruun, R, 14,340, 51.97%; Jim Morton, D, 12,260, 44.43%; Marc Delphine, L, 502, 1.82%; Curtis Sommer, P, 460, 1.67%

Dist. 38: Lake Oswego area, Greg Macpherson, D, 23,497, 85.68%; Christopher Richter, L, 2,233, 8.14%; Ernest Richardson, C, 1,365, 4.98%

Dist. 39: Oregon City, Canby, Wayne Scott, R, 15,675, 57%; Doug Neeley, D, 11,011, 40.04%; Wes Wagner, L, 757, 2.75%

Dist. 40: Gladstone, Milwaukie, Dave Hunt, D, 15,011, 59.41%; David Sanders, R, 10,183, 40.30%

Dist. 41: Milwaukie, SE Portland, Carolyn Tomei, D, 19,473, 72.76%; Steven Rowe, R, 6,579, 24.58%; Rita Lynn, C, 610, 2.28%

Dist. 42: SE Portland, Diane Rosenbaum, D, 26,026, 82.73%; Charles Fall, P, 2,533, 8.05%; Susan Detlefsen, L, 1,734, 5.51%; Ronald Morgan, S, 941, 2.99%

Dist. 43: North, NE Portland, Chip Shields, D, 24,984, 87.71%; Shirley Freeman, R, 3,286, 11.54%

Dist. 44: North, NE Portland, Gary Hansen, D, 18,182, 79.69%; Aaron Huddart, R, 3,964, 17.37%; Robert Morton, C, 566, 2.48%

Dist. 45: NE Portland, Jackie Dingfelder, D, 22,651, 89.77%; Jordana Sardo, F, 2,179, 8.64%

Dist. 46: SE, NE Portland, Steve March, D, 19,240, 73.97%; Bill Cornett, R, 5,115, 19.66%; Eric Dickman, L, 1,502, 5.77%

Dist. 47: Outer NE, SE Portland, Jeff Merkley, D, 14,098, 64.27%; Frank Cleys, R, 7,659, 34.92%

Dist. 48: Outer SE Portland, Mike Schaufler, D, 11,468, 51.30%; Dave Mowry, R, 10,762, 48.14%

Dist. 50: Gresham , John Lim, R, 12,904, 51.30%; Jim Buck, D, 11,811, 46.95%; Allan Page, C, 372, 1.48%

Dist. 51: Central Clackamas Co., Linda Flores, R, 14,097, 53.30%; Kathryn Firestone, D, 12,284, 46.44%

Dist. 54: Bend Chuck Burley, R, 16,774, 48.80%; Judy Stiegler, D, 16,227, 47.21%; Tristan Reisfar, L, 1,309, 3.81%

Dist. 58: Pendleton area, Bob Jenson, R, 15,944, 98.12%

© Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc.