Grant Darrow, left, speaks to the Union County Board of Commissioners in this October 2022 file photo as Mike McCarter, right, listens at the Union County offices in La Great, Ore.
Antonio Sierra / OPB
The group Citizens for Greater Idaho was on track Thursday for a narrow victory in Wallowa County as part of its multi-year effort to move a large swath of rural Oregon to a different state. But organized political opposition to the concept is also becoming more visible.
Since 2020, Greater Idaho has placed ballot measures in counties across the state asking voters to support the concept of moving Idaho’s borders closer to the Cascade Mountains so that rural Oregonians can be represented by conservative government of the state of Idaho. Wallowa County was one of the first to vote against the idea, but a second referendum submitted to voters this week had a 21-vote lead as of Thursday.
In a press release claiming the victory, Greater Idaho offered its own explanation for the narrow margin.
“Wallowa County has only two percent of eastern Oregon’s population, and its beautiful mountain views attract an unusually large percentage of high-income residents from the Willamette Valley, who may have been less favorable to joining Idaho,” the press release states. “Another reason why Wallowa County may have been less confident than other counties about the move … is that Portland Democrats spent more of them in Wallowa County to launch false accusations.”
Western States Strategies, the policy arm of the Portland nonprofit Western States Center, became involved in opposing the ballot measure in the final weeks of the campaign. Still, one Wallowa County resident said the opposition was much broader than a single organization.
Rob Klavins said he moved to Wallowa County with his wife 10 years ago, attracted by the county’s natural beauty. He and his wife work for environmental nonprofits and run a bed and breakfast near Enterprise.
Although Klavins’ progressive politics put him in the minority in conservative Wallowa County, he said the opposition movement in Greater Idaho grew organically and across the political spectrum.
“I think we’re looking to our leaders to do what’s best for us across the state,” he said. “We’re not interested in these political games that pit us against each other, and I don’t think we want to turn our backs.”
Conversations among community members turned into action, Klavins said. As Western States began mailing and posting online ads in the final weeks of the campaign, Klavins said Wallowa County residents had already been receiving pro-Greater Idaho campaign materials for weeks. Some residents of the area had started organizing events and activities to oppose the electoral measure.
FILE: La Pine, Ore. resident Mike McCarter on Feb. 19, 2020. McCarter, part of the separatist group Citizens for a Greater Idaho, said rural counties are “outraged by the liberal policies of the Oregon Legislature that they threaten their livelihoods and their industries.” and values”.
Emily Cureton / OPB
Although the Greater Idaho ballot measure is close to passing, Klavins said the fact that the vote came down to a nearly 50-50 split in a county where Republicans typically win by dramatic margins shows that voters opposed to Greater Idaho came from a variety of political groups. background
Western States felt compelled to make a late entry into the campaign as part of its mission to oppose far-right politics in the North West.
The Western States Center has been studying and rejecting far-right groups for years, but only recently became involved in the Greater Idaho campaign through Western States Strategies.
Western States Chief of Staff Jill Garvey said the organization is concerned about Greater Idaho because of the region’s history of secessionist movements. Garvey said previous moves to carve out new states from conservative parts of the Inland Northwest have had ties to paramilitary and white nationalist figures.
Garvey sees the goal of Greater Idaho as consolidating power at a time when vulnerable groups like LGBTQ people are threatened.
“What we’re doing is just pulling back the curtain,” he said. “Nothing else. That’s how these organizations connect. We’re naming what we think their real goals are.”
Greater Idaho has long denied associations with white nationalism or right-wing extremism, although Idaho has a well-documented history of hate groups such as the Aryan Nations, the Patriot Front and various neo-Nazi affiliates. In response to campaign material from the Western States, Greater Idaho offered its own definition of “white separatist.”
“The real white separatists are moving elsewhere to get away from the colored people in their area,” a press release states. “We are doing the opposite. We don’t want to move. We want to extend red state governance to the area where we live. This will not change the racial balance in which we live.”
Moving on to legislatures
Wallowa County and other counties that have considered a Greater Idaho-sponsored ballot measure do not directly vote on moving state lines. Most ballot measures ask voters whether they would like their county commissioners to hold regular meetings to discuss the possibility of moving state boundaries.
If this week’s results stand, Wallowa would become the 12th county to pass a pro-Greater Idaho ballot measure. The group’s vision originally included southwest Oregon, but they redrawn their proposed lines after Douglas and Josephine counties voted against the ballot measures.
Greater Idaho officials said they are working to get a ballot measure in Crook County, but there aren’t many counties left to vote on the issue. Regardless, the power to change state lines rests with both state legislatures and Congress.
Garvey said the stakes are high, even if those ballot measures don’t move any lawmakers in Salem.
“Even if they’re unlikely to redraw their borders if they build political power in the region, and they believe they’re doing it on the strength of their white nationalist ideology, that’s problematic for most of the people who live there.” , he said. said
Advertisements from the Western States provoked Greater Idaho to file an election complaint with the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office. Greater Idaho accuses Western States of violating state campaign disclosure laws by failing to identify itself as a sponsor in its ads. Greater Idaho also heavily ties the ads to Ben Unger, a political consultant and former Democratic state legislator who works with Western States. Unger would not comment on the filing of the complaint.
“We’re not afraid of the opposition,” Greater Idaho spokesman McCaw said before the election results were revealed. “We have an argument that Eastern Oregonians support and 11 counties have voted, but we strongly believe that people should follow the law.”
Garvey said state law does not require western states to identify themselves in campaign ads for local ballot measures. He said Western States did not reveal his identity as a way to avoid threats and harassment of his staff.
The string of successful ballot measures will mean little if Greater Idaho can’t convince state legislatures to take action. In Idaho, a resolution by the state House of Representatives to begin discussions on border movement died in the state Senate. A similar resolution in Oregon introduced by state Sen. Dennis Linthicum, R-Klamath Falls, has not received a hearing, and is unlikely to carry the state’s Democratic majority.
