3 absent items from Trump-Oregon-ballot feud

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

The Sunday Oregonian ran a helpful story about the ongoing controversy about Trump and the Oregon ballot —  a news story so out-of-control that the Oregon Secretary of State had to shut down their phones to deal with runaway rumors and outright death threats.   It started when the Trump campaign surprised everyone when they did not submit an Oregon Voter Pamphlet Statement in the Oregon May Primary and then again in the General Election.  Trump was indeed listed on the ballot for people to vote for, just no Statement in the Voter Pamphlet.   This caused some to speculate that the Secretary of State blocked Trump or pulled his Voter Pamphlet Statement.  Other incorrect rumors implied that Trump was not even on the ballot. The  article chronicles the misinformation and how it spread.

Here’s what is missing from the media’s analysis:

1. Government sometimes participates in the misinformation.  The idea that the Secretary of State would pull a Presidential candidate from the ballot seems ridiculous … until you realize that this is exactly what happened earlier this year when Colorado and Maine’s Secretary of State pulled Trump from the ballot.  I give credit for The Oregonian at the time for running a guest Editorial criticizing the Colorado/Maine decision when it occurred.   What the Secretary of State failed to consider was that the issue was going to be volatile for the rest of the year — especially when voters would at some point receive their Voters Pamphlet and notice that Trump was missing.  Then came August, where RFK JR. suspended his campaign but decided to remain in the Oregon Voters Pamphlet.   The Secretary of State failed to take into account these two never-seen-before events happening at the exact same time and the confusion and problems they would create.

Notice that the final Oregon Voters Pamphlet on Presidential candidates had a blank page.

That blank page could have been moved to the end with a disclaimer that said, “All candidates not listed in the Voters Pamphlet either declined to be featured or did not submit one. For more questions go to our webpage at …”.   It was a blown opportunity not to use this empty space.

We say this because politicians can condemn misinformation and social media all day long, but they need to be more pro-active.

The Secretary of State running cartoons ads touting how safe and secure Oregon elections are, as seen below, is not a replacement for communicating directly on explosive subjects.

#2. About the death threats.  As The Oregonian articles notes, once the story spun out-of-control people from around the country began to call the Secretary of State and overwhelm their office.  It included death threats.   The Taxpayers Association condemns any political violence regardless of Left or Right.   Death threats are everywhere!   A Portland school was closed last week due to an anonymous death threat and a Springfield school was closed over similar vague conditions.  In a single week in September both an Oregon school and nearby Washington school were closed over anonymous death threats.  In August, an Oregon man was charged with making false threats to Jewish hospitals.  That is just 60 days of local shut-down stories.

The Taxpayers Association would like to see some investigation or hearings into how many of our institutions are being shut down due to anonymous threats.   What is the standard of an anonymous call or email threat causing a shutdown?   When the Oregon Secretary of State was deluged with angry calls and threats, most appeared to occur from out of state.  Are bad actors in other states holding us hostage?   Can a 10-year old hacker in Russia make an untraceable call to Oregon and shut down our schools for a week?   Is there technology that can block untraceable calls?  Should it be used by a government body?

#3. The cure for mis-information is more information:  For 25 years, the Taxpayers Association of Oregon provides a news comparison service on their webpage OregonWatchdog.com.  Look below:

Every single morning, our team assembles news headline links from 20 different news sources.

If there is a news story that your local media left out — we have it!

If there is another side to a popular news story — we have it!

By showing people ALL THE NEWS the public is less likely to be derailed by media bias or false stories.

People can either visit the website daily or they can sign up to receive either the daily email or the weekly top stories by email.

BONUS MENTION: For the public to trust the media more they need to better improve problems of media bias.  Check out this example of media bias as pointed out in the Wall Street Journal this very morning:

“Americans don’t like being condescended to by a media that denies everyday realities. Until Mr. Biden’s disastrous debate in June, the media insisted the president was sharp as ever. Ms. Harris still does. One-sided “fact checks” fuel the distrust. The Washington Post last week gave four “Pinocchios” to Mr. Trump’s ad saying Ms. Harris “supports EV mandates, killing Michigan jobs.” Writer Glenn Kessler declined to address the substance of the claim, ignoring that the Environmental Protection Agency has imposed rules requiring automakers to produce increasingly more EVs and that Michigan has lost 9,500 auto- and parts-manufacturing jobs in the past five years amid ramped-up EV production. Mr. Kessler relied on statements from Kamala Harris and the United Auto Workers, which has endorsed her.Or consider a USA Today “fact check” this month of an Instagram post about a Biden administration broadband program. “Kamala Harris and Joe Biden promised to use $42 billion . . . to expand internet to the entire country and not one single house or business received service,” conservative strategist Joey Mannarino wrote. That is accurate, but fact-checker Chris Mueller labeled it false because some money has been spent on “planning.”

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