GOP governor candidate Drazan holds homeless forum in Bend

Published 6:45 pm Thursday, October 20, 2022

BEND – Republican gubernatorial candidate Christine Drazan said Thursday that if elected, she favored declaring a “state of emergency” to deal with Oregon’s growing homelessness crisis.

Drazan visited Bend’s Veterans Village for a discussion with local political supporters and invited leaders of nonprofits dealing with the homeless crisis. The Central Oregon campaign event comes less than three weeks ahead of the Nov. 8 election.

“Establishing a homelessness state of emergency gives you that authority — frankly, that power — to be able to…innovate and get real serious about finding support services and also ensuring on the other side of that there is accountability,” Drazan said.

Drazan is running against former House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, and Betsy Johnson, a longtime Democratic state senator from Columbia County who left the party last year to mount a bid as an unaffiliated candidate.

The Oregon governor’s race  is one of the most highly-watched 2022 political races in the nation. Polls show Kotek and Drazan within percentage points of each other, with Johnson running a distant third. Candidates for two conservative-leaning minor parties – Libertarian and Constitution – are also on the ballot.

The volatility of the multiple-candidate race has led to the outcome being rated as a “toss-up” by top election forecasters. It’s among governorships the GOP hopes flip from Democrats in 2022.

“Republicans have a decent chance to pick up Nevada, Wisconsin and, thanks to an unusual three-way race, even Oregon,” reports FiveThirtyEight.com, a website affiliated with ABC News.

A Drazan victory would be a historic upset. Republicans last won the Oregon governor’s office when Vic Atiyeh was elected to a second term in 1982.

Drazan on Thursday repeated her stance that it is not a crime to be homeless, but would encourage the enforcement of local ordinances for people who live unsheltered.

“I don’t hand anyone anything on a silver platter,” Drazan said.

Joining Drazan for the campaign-sponsored forum were Cheri Helt, candidate for the non-partisan Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries, and Deschutes County Commissioner Patti Adair, a Republican seeking re-election on Nov. 8.

Joining the discussion were Erik Tobiason, the executive director of the Bend Heroes Foundation, the organization that helped build the Veterans Village. Also in attendance were David Nieradka, a coordinator at Central Oregon Veterans Outreach, Megan Martin of nonprofit Furnish Hope, and Randy Fenimore, a landowner near China Hat Road where a substantial portion of Bend’s unhoused population live.

The participants from Bend talked about the prevalence of fentanyl, inadequate mental health and substance use services, and an overall lack of affordable housing as major barriers to moving toward solutions for homelessness.

“It’s a sad situation,” said Nieradka, who is a veteran. “I don’t see an end in sight.”

Bend’s Veterans’ Village opened in November 2021. Twelve of its 15 units are currently occupied, and seven former residents have been able to move on to permanent housing.

Those involved in building Veterans Village say it is the epitome of community collaboration to come up with a local solution when state and federal assistance is limited.

“One of the things that makes homelessness so hard to approach is that you need an entire community to fix it,” Helt said.

Helt, a former Republican state representative from Bend, served in the Oregon House with Drazan, who represented a Clackamas County district.

Drazan was chosen House minority leader by the Republican caucus and led a 2020 walkout to block a Democratic-sponsored carbon cap bill.

Under Oregon’s constitution, two-thirds of each chamber must be present for any business to be conducted. Democrats held a 37-23 majority, three seats shy of the two-thirds mark. The 35-day session ended with hundreds of bills still pending.

Helt was the lone Republican House member who did not take part in the walkout, but said the difference in political strategy in the legislature didn’t impact her opinion that Drazan was the best choice for governor.

Helt has been endorsed by Drazan and Johnson in her race against Christina Stephenson, who has been endorsed by Kotek.

Helt said less rhetoric and more results are needed when it comes to homelessness, and she thinks Drazan is the best candidate to make the change happen.

Anna Kaminski is a reporter with The Bulletin in Bend. The Bulletin is part of the EO Media Group, a partner in the Oregon Capital Bureau.