The Idaho state House has passed a resolution on a 41-28 vote to initiate talks with the Oregon state legislature about incorporating several eastern Oregon counties.
This resolution is inspired by the Greater Idaho movement, which is pushing for rural counties in Oregon to join Idaho. The movement’s organizers argue that cities such as Eugene, Portland, and Salem hold outsized influence in state affairs, leaving the state’s rural and generally more conservative citizens in eastern and southern Oregon politically disempowered.
“The aspirations of Portland-area and northwestern Oregon voters force the state government toward a direction that happens to be incompatible with the values and livelihoods of my town and many in eastern and southern Oregon,” said Mike McCarter, president of Citizens for Greater Idaho.
McCarter is one of the most vocal proponents of re-adjusting Oregon’s borders with Idaho.
Said McCarter:
Oregon is controlled by the northwest portion of the state, Portland to Eugene. That’s urban land, and their decisions are not really representing rural Oregon.
McCarter also stated:
Rural counties have become increasingly outraged by laws coming out of the Oregon Legislature that threaten our livelihoods, our industries, our wallet, our gun rights, and our values. We tried voting those legislators out but rural Oregon is outnumbered and our voices are now ignored. This is our last resort.
State Rep. Judy Boyle (R-ID) supports this expansion plan on the grounds that it will help stop the flow of drugs into Idaho. Boyle represents Idaho District 9 on the Idaho-Oregon border. Oregon’s recent move to decriminalize a multitude of drugs has reportedly resulted in a new wave of drug law violations in Idaho.
Boyle told the Idaho Press that she voted to incorporate the aforementioned Oregon counties to “get those drugs away from us.”
Democratic elected officials in Idaho have been the most vocal opponents of this resolution, arguing that it will only ignite social tensions.
“We should not be self-segregating by ideology like this,” said State Rep. Ilana Rubel (D-ID).
Rubel said:
I think we’re on a path to civil war if we keep going down this path. We have got to learn to get along better and work together better. The answer cannot be to carve up the country and redraw lines that have been in place for a century or more, just so we can only be surrounded by people that perfectly agree with us.
The “greater Idaho” initiative now heads to the Idaho Senate for approval. For the plan to be fully realized, Oregon elected officials must also approve it and then send it to the United States Congress, where it must be approved by both the US House and Senate.
Eleven rural Oregon counties have already signed onto the petition for expansion. If this measure is enacted, Oregon is expected to lose one congressional seat and one electoral vote owing to the population change this redrawing of borders would bring about.
