... and picked Elizabeth Steiner Hayward instead. It would appear that there was a bit of county bias joined along with three Republican commissioners (the minority) that teamed up to do this and basically tell us PCP's who voted for a more experienced Chris Harker to take this seat that our vote in effect didn't count in what we thought was best for and what represented the interests of this district in lieu of an actual primary.
My guess is that the Republicans voted for her thinking that since she doesn't have much experience as a politician yet, that they can:
a) take advantage of this in trying to run over her in the State Senate when sessions come up moreso than a rep from the State House like Chris Harker with more experience.
b) they will have a far greater chance of getting a Republican to take this seat in 2012 election if she's the incumbent instead of Harker.
That's not picking a rep that one feels best represents the interests of the voters in the district, but playing political games and agendas.
It's sad, because though I don't know Mrs. Hayward that well, it's probably also unfair to her as well. She worked very hard to get the vote. Now from the sounds of it she sounds also a bit more conservative than Harker, but its hard to tell with that brief meeting we had. She still could do a damn good job, so I'm going to giver her a shot.
Just don't appreciate how this process went down, and how the whole political landscape is turning more in to a game each day than it is an environment that hopefully we have a way of choosing the best person to represent us all.
Story in Blue Oregon on the events today.
http://www.blueoregon.com/2011/12/sd-17-elizabeth-steiner-hayward-appointed-oregon-senate/
The comments here are interesting. I'm not sure I'm as extreme a voice as those seem to be on either side, but it is a sad set of comments. Almost felt like I was told the time I spent to go there when I had a lot of other things to do this hoilday was a waste of my time, which I don't like to be told when I think something is important.
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