Feature

Elections 2022:

When the election is over, we’ll all still live here.

This campaign season, we’ve interviewed dozens of candidates in city, county and state races to help you make your decision Nov. 8. Read on to see who we believe will serve voters best—and also learn what candidates have to say when we ask them to praise the other side.

Melanie Kebler for Bend Mayor

The last time Bend voted for its directly elected mayor, the candidate list was large, with two sitting city councilors among a slate of candidates vying for the job. This time, there are just two— one of whom is a current city councilor elected in 2020; the other, a former city councilor who was appointed to the post and subsequently lost his bid for City Council in 2020. Both candidates are quality people who undoubtedly care about Bend and would serve admirably, but we believe the one who’s been on the council during a tumultuous—and also productive—time is who Bend should elect as mayor.

Melanie Kebler has the background, experience, community support and mettle to tackle the challenges that persist for Bend, and she’s proven during her two years on council that she understands the city’s biggest needs and is willing to stand up to the powerful and vocal forces on all sides of the political spectrum who can’t quite see the forest for the trees.

Some will have you believe that the current council, in place for less than two years, is to blame for the tent encampments and the rise in homelessness we see on the streets of Bend today. We see the opposite—that past councils, including the one Chris Piper was appointed to, also faced these issues and did very little. Kebler has served on a council that, while not pleasing everyone, has ushered in the formation of a dedicated low-barrier shelter with a navigation center attached. This council also made the difficult and sometimes-unpopular decision to convert motels into more shelter space. Without adequate shelter beds in place, it would be legally impossible to do what the council is poised to do next: to put rules in place about where people can—and cannot—camp in the city, and on what grounds the city can move people from encampments, thus avoiding the cumbersome approval process that sees camps languish at present.

Kebler, a lawyer who grew up in Bend and returned to raise her family, is proud of these accomplishments, and Bendites should be, too, because they point to a gutsy public servant who’s willing to do the hard work and solve problems.

Kebler and challenger Piper both talk about the need for workforce housing, but it was while Kebler has been on the council that the city officially launched its Stevens Road project—a project that the current council ensured would include deed-restricted affordable housing and public employee housing. That project got off the ground thanks to Central Oregon’s bipartisan delegation in the Oregon House and Senate and was championed by this council. Piper talked up another housing development, Petrosa, as an example of something he helped usher in during his time on council. Palisch Homes, which owns Petrosa, has been among Piper’s biggest donors this election cycle, along with a host of other real-estate-related donors. Kebler, supported largely by small donations, seems just as attuned to housing needs, without the special-interest buy-in. Kebler appears to want to address these issues through focusing on things like middle-income tax exemptions to make affordable housing a reality for more folks. Piper leans more toward making development easier through changes in land use policies.

On another housing-related issue— permitting times at the City of Bend Development Department—Piper talked about the need to streamline the permitting process, an issue for developers for quite some time. Kebler, by contrast, pointed to actions she has actually taken, including bringing developers’ concerns about permitting times to the city manager, who then directed staff to do an internal review of its permitting processes. That led to the creation of a dashboard that brought more accountability around permitting times.

Kebler has an edge given her focus and track record on some of the toughest challenges the city faces. Her aim to get middle-income tax exemptions for homebuyers seems a better use of resources for folks who work in Bend and want/need to live here than Piper’s aim to bring more and more land into the Urban Growth Boundary for what he calls “managed growth.” While it’s true that Bend’s UGB will need another look again soon, the example points to a difference in philosophy.

Whoever Bend elects this time around, either candidate will be ready to serve, but our bet’s on the person who’s already won one election and is ready to build on the reputation and responsibilities she’s already shouldered. Vote Melanie Kebler for Bend mayor.

Where you’ll find them on a Friday night: Chris Piper:

Food carts for date night

Melanie Kebler:

East side food carts or at the movies

What Piper said about Kebler:

He gives credit to anyone who runs for office and has to find the balance between family and politics.

What Kebler said about Piper: He’s friendly and cordial with a great laugh.

Ed Fitch for Redmond Mayor

With longtime mayor George Endicott not running again, four men have stepped up to vie for the position of Redmond mayor. Jay Patrick, a long-serving city councilor, is running to “Keep Redmond Redmond” and is focused on nuts-and-bolts issues including public safety, building a new sewer plant and the expansion of the Redmond airport. Charles Baer is a self-described libertarian whose priorities include environmentalism and transparency, and wants to see Redmond adopt a “one woman, one child” policy. Ed Fitch, also a sitting councilor, is focused on transportation, sewer and water, and wants to see Redmond open up its dialogue to listen to the concerns of all residents. Ben Schimmoller is focused on affordable housing, water management, infrastructure growth and creating family-wage jobs for Redmond.

We believe Ed Fitch is the best choice in this race.

We give kudos to Schimmoller, who a few years back, in the primary for the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners, espoused some far-right views that appear to have been tamed while working in the office of Republican Oregon Sen. Tim Knopp and in his family’s real estate and development business. While he had good ideas, they were less refined than some of his counterparts who are currently serving on the council. And while we admire Baer’s environmental spirit and creative if not sometimes outlandish ideas, he’s not ready to lead Redmond. This leads us to a contest between Patrick and Fitch.

Fitch, while also realistic about the more mundane, roads-and-sewer type of governance that is required for the mayor and council positions, has a more forward-thinking view of what Redmond could be. He’d like to at least open up a dialogue once again about allowing dispensaries in Redmond. Patrick is OK following along with federal law. Fitch believes the city needs to get more aggressive in addressing homelessness and finding solutions, and believes the city’s attempt at a safe parking program only paid lip service to the issue. He wants to implement a safe camping program to offer people a place to go. He wants to pursue public-private partnerships to help get more housing built, and advocated for creating a task force to help build more affordable housing. Patrick, while he admits that it is not illegal to camp on the streets, would like to see more enforcement of low-level crimes at homeless encampments. He doesn’t want to see the city build “a bunch of apartments,” and maintains that it’s not the city’s role to build housing.

On transit and active transportation, we liked

Schimmoller’s philosophy: add more jobs on the west side where people actually live, so that everyone has to commute less in general. Fitch wants to see more of Redmond add sidewalks and wants better bike paths to and from recreation areas, and wants the bus system to grow faster to help alleviate congestion. Patrick, the vice-chair of the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council, told us he doesn’t want to “bust anything out too fast” as it pertains to this issue. With the departure of the current mayor and the sweeping changes coming to the Redmond City Council, the Hub City is going to look very different after this election. Redmond’s demographics are changing by the day, and we believe someone forward-thinking should serve as mayor to help usher in this new era. Vote Ed Fitch for Redmond mayor.

Where you’ll find the candidates on a Friday night:

Charles Baer: At a café or bar in downtown Redmond Ed Fitch: Hanging at home, playing golf or with his four grandkids

Ben Schimmoller:

Watching college football or hunting with friends and family

Jay Patrick:

With his wife golfing or on the couch asleep

Ben Schimmoller on Jay Patrick: He’s served a long time and that’s impressive.

Jay Patrick on Ed Fitch: Thankful for Ed giving voters a choice in this race. Ed “thinks more liberally” than Jay, which is a political choice.

Charles Baer on Ben Schimmoller: Ben has done a good job as a young person in politics, as it’s important for young people to get involved.

Ed Fitch on Charles Baer: Charles is a visionary. Someday there will be a need for a bypass around Redmond, and a light rail to La Pine—someday.

Ariel Mendez for Bend City Council Pos. 5

In a race with no incumbents for the Bend City Council, we find Ariel Méndez, a current member of the Bend Park and Recreation District board and a college instructor of political science, poised to meet the moment. A regular e-biker and an avowed supporter of active transportation, Méndez knows more about the subject than nearly any other local we know, and that experience and knowledge base can serve Bend well as it begins to usher in the first years of a multi-year transportation bond with plenty of dollars allocated toward active transportation. Méndez’s vision for a safer, more walkable and bikeable Bend aligns with the hopes and 25-year vision of this editorial board, and we’d like to see that vision have yet another champion on the council.

Candidate Sean Sipe is a knowledgeable candidate with a background in real estate and a love for the Bend he grew up in. He wants to see Bend become more of a thriving economic center with a focus on job growth— not unpalatable ideals at all… but ones for which Sipe didn’t display the depth of expertise that we’d like to see from someone tackling such problems.

The same goes for the biggest issue of this campaign: homelessness. It’s easy to say “we need to enforce the laws and prosecute crimes being committed in the right of way”—nearly no current elected official or candidate really disagrees with that in theory—but it’s in the lack of any real policy positions or plan that we find fault with Sipe’s approach. Like some other candidates in the Bend city races, he appears to be repeating the talking points of “we need to categorize each type of homeless person so we can stratify resources” that seem canned and lacking teeth. We believe more time in the political arena will serve Sipe well. While it’s not sexy nor always politically popular, Méndez understands reality: that Bend, like other West Coast cities, by court decree needs to expand shelter capacity before it can do more to address camping in the rights of way, and that building more affordable housing will help to alleviate some of the most glaring problems. But that also takes time. In this race, Ariel Méndez is most ready to lead.

Where you’ll find them on a Friday night:

Ariel Méndez: Family movie night

Sean Sipe: Hiking, fly fishing or on a date night at Brother Jon’s

Sean Sipe on Ariel Méndez:

He appreciates Méndez’s dedication to his cause.

Ariel Méndez on Sean Sipe:

It’s important for voters to have a choice, and he appreciates Sean giving voters a choice.

Mike Riley for Bend City Council Pos. 6

Voters have three candidates to choose from in this race, but one of them is clearly more prepared and more up to speed on the reality of the issues facing Bend: Mike Riley. As the head of The Environmental Center and a co-chair of the committee that helped to see the transportation GO bond pass during the last election, Riley already has plenty of investment in city politics to contribute meaningfully to the council from the get-go. But Riley has more bona fides than simply advocating for environmental causes and transportation. In him we found a candidate who’s invested in the community and has done the work needed to hit the ground running on topics including affordable housing and homelessness, growth and more. Riley’s vision for Bend is to help make Bend more livable, affordable and safe. By contrast, opponent Rick Johns wants to control growth, reduce traffic congestion and “make Bend how it used to be,” a sign that he’s not necessarily realistic about the challenges Bend faces. Sure, we agree with him that Bendites can and should say good morning to one another—and many of them still do—but we don’t agree that looking back is the right vision to move Bend forward.

Candidate Julia Brown has some good ideas, too, including advocating for active transportation and for complete communities where people can live, work and play—a notion that’s clearly already been embraced in Bend, with two complete communities already in the works in east Bend, thanks to past councils and the developers doing the work. That’s something of the rub with Johns; she had decent ideas, but didn’t add a lot of depth to what’s already on the table. In both Johns and Brown we also find their approach to homelessness out of touch and too myopic. During our interview, Johns was convinced the homeless population is dominated by people “coming from other states,” which is untrue. Brown expressed interest in only offering services to people who passed some type of deservability test. That’s just not realistic and won’t help alleviate the humanitarian crisis we are facing on our streets.

We agree with Johns that permitting times within the city’s development department can improve to make housing get built faster, and we appreciate Brown’s support for bike transportation, but neither had the type of fully formed ideas that Riley presented. Johns, with a background in construction and

engineering who said he is a pro at spotting waste in a budget, should use those skills on the budget committee; Brown could lend her lived experience in the tech sector and as a cyclist on any number of city committees. Both have ideas and experience that could add important perspectives to the community, but for this City Council position, Riley is the candidate who’s ready for the challenges ahead.

Julia Brown on her opponents:

She appreciates that Mike is a cyclist and that Rick has a manufacturing business as she knows it can be tough keeping a business afloat.

Mike Riley on his opponents: He respects Rick’s tenacity as a small business owner, and Julia’s effort in going through the naturalization process—something he, too, went through.

Julia Brown:

Riding around talking to people or watching a movie and having tea

Mike Riley:

Chilling at home with a gin & tonic, walking the dog or eating at a local place serving Vietnamese or Mexican food

Rick Johns: Nine out of 10 Fridays, at Brother Jon’s downtown

Barb Campbell for Bend City Council Pos. 4

With four candidates running in the race for Bend City Council position 4, there’s no shortage of knowledge, expertise and community spirit to choose from in the race. Among them, candidate Bill Olsen opted not to participate in our interview, so we won’t comment further on his candidacy. Among the three women in the race— Barb Campbell, Karon Johnson and Erlin Taylor— we find no serious concerns around any of them serving on the Bend City Council. That said, we set a high bar when opting not to re-elect a sitting councilor. With the rest of the council members possessing less than a full term of experience, re-electing Barb Campbell just makes sense. Campbell has a great deal of institutional knowledge of the processes and reasons for past council decisions, and because we believe the current council has set Bend on a path toward correcting some of the most salient problems—housing and homelessness—we face today, we need that experience on the council. She’s quirky, to be sure, but Campbell is also fluent in the issues. In Taylor, the owner of a property management company in Oregon City who built her business from the ground up, we find a relatively new resident of Bend who appears to care about her community. We’d like to see her get involved in a committee or in another fashion in local politics to help her refine some of the ideas that presently just seem too unformed to justify having her best Campbell in this race. Running on the premise of “vote for me if you want a change” just isn’t enough.

In Johnson, we find a more invested public servant who has certainly dug into the issues. Ahead of the interview, she presented us with a 12-page white paper on the biggest issues facing Bend. As a former federal prosecutor and a former member of the Bend Planning Commission who’s also championed tree preservation in Bend, her experience and background certainly make her a qualified candidate. But on the topic of shelters, we find her position too extreme—advocating for only high-barrier shelters rather than a mix of services to fit the needs of a varied homeless population in the area. Johnson does her homework and would work hard on the council, we have no doubt about that, but we find her approach more combative and less collegial, and Campbell’s position on advocating for our houseless neighbors just more humane and realistic.

Voters have a great slate of candidates in this race, and we trust that whoever gets elected will serve the community well. But experience does count, and in this race, our endorsement goes to Campbell.

Barb Campbell on Erlin Taylor:

She appreciates that Erlin is a small business owner who creates jobs.

Barb Campbell on Karon Johnson:

She appreciates Karon’s love for animals and her past service on the planning commission.

Erlin Taylor on Barb Campbell: She appreciates Barb’s service to her community.

Erlin Taylor on Karon Johnson: She appreciates Karon’s passion.

Karon Johnson on

Barb Campbell and Erlin Taylor:

They’re good, honest, decent, well-meaning people.

Where you’ll find them on a Friday night: Erlin Taylor:

Conversing with neighbors, walking the dogs, having dinner downtown

Karon Johnson:

Skiing or other outdoor activities

Barb Campbell:

Walking her three dogs and talking to neighbors

Zwicker, Trumble and Osborne Are Most Ready to Lead on the Redmond City Council

If you want a sign of how quickly Redmond is transforming, look no further than the candidates running for City Council. Three seats are up for grabs, and with five people running, a majority of the people on this slate will find themselves serving Redmond come January. When we interviewed four of the five candidates, we found little reason not to support all of them. We’d like to say the same for the fifth candidate, Branegan Dixon, but he canceled his appearance on our Zoom call shortly before the meeting and did not make an attempt to reschedule. Not a good sign.

The candidates running for Redmond City Council are Cat Zwicker, a real estate broker and brokerage owner who joined the council by appointment 10 months ago; Bill Trumble, a Navy vet, small business owner and professor and with a PhD in medical physiology and post-doc training in molecular biology; Kathryn Osborne, who works in wildland fire and holds an MBA; John Nielsen, a branch manager at a local credit union and an Army veteran; and Dixon, owner of the Redmond Athletic Club who holds a degree in business from COCC.

Each of the four candidates interviewed expressed interest in addressing homelessness in Redmond more aggressively, saying the city can be a better partner in working with service providers, and thought Redmond should pursue more public-private partnerships to support shelters and affordable housing projects in the city. All expressed a need to put “all options on the table” to get more units built and to enshrine an acceptance of ADUs and other housing types in Redmond. All expressed a desire to paint Redmond as a more welcoming city that also prioritizes good planning to make the city more attractive for both residents and visitors.

Among the candidates interviewed, we found Zwicker the most up to speed on city issues and the levers of policy that can be pulled to see more housing built in the area—not surprising, noting her professional background and her service thus far on the council. Likewise, her knowledge around funding for transit was far and above the other candidates. Voters should elect

Where you’ll find them on a Friday night:

John Nielsen: At home with his twin 7-year-olds and two dogs.

Bill Trumble: Hiking or playing live blues & folk music in the pubs

Kathryn Osborne: Monitoring a kids’ sleepover and taking them to Sno-Cap. Or, on a date night at the SCP Hotel rooftop bar.

Cat Zwicker: Doing some last-minute work, reading, cooking or downtown for a date night.

Cat Zwicker on her opponents: The best race is one with opponents who have the same heart and drive. She would be happy to work with any of them.

John Nielsen on his opponents: Believes they’re all friends and knows Redmond will be in good hands.

Bill Trumble on his opponents: Everyone is running from the heart—and for the right reason: a better Redmond.

Kathryn Osborne on her opponents: We’re lucky that everyone has the heart and passion that they do.

This is Redmond’s neighborliness on display.

We have to hand it to Jo Rae Perkins; she’s nothing if not persistent. In spite of running in a number of races over the years, including for mayor and city councilor of Albany and subsequent bids for Senate and the U.S. House, winning nothing but primaries, she persists. This time around, she’s running against longtime senator Ron Wyden for the seat in the U.S. Senate. Perhaps due to her purported allegiance to the QAnon movement, even the Republican party machine in Oregon is keeping their distance from this race. Perkins holds alarmingly few endorsements of any consequence.

Wyden has been accessible and present not just in this part of Oregon, but the rest too, committed to continuing the town hall meetings in every county—something that so many other electeds seemed to abandon when the public fervor over holding town halls started to slow down. Showing up still matters. As the chair of the Senate finance committee, he holds enormous sway in Congress. He’s pro-choice, and that’s a dealbreaker for anyone we send to Washington, D.C., right now. While we’d love to see someone of his stature and position be able to break through the party politicking that stymies so much work in the Senate at present, that’s more of a pie-in-the-sky missive for all of Congress to sort through. Americans want action on a number of issues, and Congress needs to step up.

In this present race, however, the clear choice for U.S. Senate is Ron Wyden.

More endorsements!

Over the past several months, the Source Weekly’s editorial board has endorsed a number of candidates. Here’s a recap of the endorsements we announced in past issues.

Deschutes County Board of Commissioners Pos. 1 – Oliver Tatom

Oliver Tatom is a paramedic and RN—backgrounds that we think will add to his quiver when being the overseer of the county’s health department. He’s a proponent of making better use of the lands the county owns to tackle issues such as homelessness—whether that means actually using county lands for those purposes or leveraging the land to lease to other service providers. Tatom represents a more forward-thinking and improvement-oriented vision for the county.

Pos. 3 – Morgan Schmidt

Morgan Schmidt is prepared, polished and, due to her founding Pandemic Partners during the COVID-19 pandemic, we find her advocacy on behalf of women, the unhoused and those in need of resources during the pandemic simply more impressive and more aligned with the needs of a growing Deschutes County than her opponent.

Oregon House

District 55 – Brian Lepore

Brian Lepore is a pragmatic, educated farmer and family man with a Ph.D. in soils science who cares deeply about his district and who’s running because he feels rural Oregonians have been left behind. He espouses progressive values, while also having the “dirt under his fingernails” that only a farmer can possess. He’s committed to getting to know the people of his district—both the rural and suburban—and to listen to them to achieve solutions that don’t favor one political ideology or another.

District 54 – Jason Kropf

In his two years as representative for HD 54, then-freshman Democrat Jason Kropf brought a lot of dollars home to Central Oregon. Due to funding supported by Kropf, Bend now has a full-time low-barrier shelter on Second Street. Not only that, but it’s also become a navigation center that helps people experiencing homelessness access services, due to another bill co-sponsored by Kropf. He’s also advocated for the Joint Office on Homelessness and has been instrumental in getting the Stevens Road tract project approved. He’s been doing exactly the type of work we sent him to Salem to do.

District 53 – Emerson Levy

With school safety a major priority Emerson Levy, on her own time she’s already crafted a bipartisan bill that would establish silent panic alarms in Oregon schools, and sees gun safety as the “fight of her life.” It’s in this renewable energy attorney and school safety advocate that we see the most promise.

U.S. House – Congressional District 5 Jamie McLeod-Skinner

Jamie McLeod-Skinner, an attorney, engineer and Regional Emergency Coordinator, has worked to introduce herself and share ideas with not just those of the Democratic party that she falls under, but rural and conservative voters, too. Pro-choice and in favor of reasonable gun safety measures, she’s never shied away from meeting any group—regardless of political affiliation. A person who demonstrates the ability to bridge the urban-rural divide is the type of person we want representing us in Congress.

Oregon Governor Tina Kotek

Betsy Johnson jumped into this race to be a punch in the gut to the two parties, but in reality, she hasn’t shown her case to be strong enough to end up being anything but a spoiler potentially pushing Oregon in what we consider an alarming direction. Tina Kotek is a hard-driving legislator. But it’s in this drive that we’ve actually seen progress in addressing the issue of homelessness, and in correcting the problems that led to so much inequality in the housing sector over the past few decades. Oregonians have three choices in this race, and despite the fact that some of them want you to think they’ll bring entirely new ideas, each of the candidates has a track record and a history in the legislature. Betsy Johnson can’t win. Christine Drazan is good at pointing fingers, but her fabrications about the state of the state are problematic, and her antichoice views are out of step with Oregonians. In this race, our faith is on the one who’s prioritized what we believe is Oregon’s biggest challenge—homelessness and housing—and put her legislative career where her mouth is: Kotek.

Measures: • 9-148 Make county commissioner seats in

Deschutes County nonpartisan: YES • 9-152 Psilocyibin manufacturing and service centers in rural Deschutes County: NO • 9-155 Bend-La Pine Schools bond: YES

…But wait—there’s more! In the coming issues we’ll bring you our endorsement for the Deschutes County Treasurer position, and our take on Redmond measures.

Courtesy Tina Kotek

WATCH THE CANDIDATES

See our interviews with candidates for local races on the Elections tab of bendsource.com. We sit down with all candidates in a race to ask them questions in the company of their opponents. *Unfortunately, technical issues we encountered mean we don’t have a video of our interview with Bend mayor candidates Melanie Kebler and Chris Piper. Believe us, we’re bummed.

ABOUT OUR EDITORIAL BOARD

The Source Weekly editorial board—those who made the decisions in the races outlined here—is comprised of Publisher Aaron Switzer, Editor Nicole Vulcan and lawyer and former Oregon House representative Judy Stiegler. Reporter Jack Harvel was timekeeper and a non-voting member. For the Bend mayor’s race, Stiegler and Switzer recused, citing conflicts of interest, with retired journalist and community member Bruce Cummings serving as an alternate board member. Stiegler also recused in the House 54 and Deschutes County commissioner Position 3 races.