New county OKs secession plan, U.S. Senator pushes back

By Oregon Campaign Watch

The plan to move towards secession was approved by voters in the County of Wallowa this week.

At the same time, United States Senator Jeff Merkley pushed back at the idea.

Fox News reports, “Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., over the weekend spoke out against a campaign to have the rural eastern part of his home state of deep-blue Oregon effectively secede and join more conservative Idaho.Speaking at a town hall at a local high school, Merkley said the idea of moving the Idaho-Oregon border raises important issues about Oregon’s internal situation that need to be addressed but argued the project has essentially no chance of coming to fruition.”There are a whole set of barriers that would make the process very difficult,” Merkley said in response to a question about the so-called Greater Idaho movement, which seeks to incorporate about 13 Oregon counties, or 63% of the state’s landmass and 9% of its population, within Idaho’s borders. “I would not want to see the state carved up. I love every part of it.”