Nichols

Two Baker County residents encouraged county commissioners to continue discussing the possibility of moving counties east of the Cascades, including Baker, into Idaho.

Commissioners Christina Witham and Bruce Nichols had a required meeting about the Greater Idaho concept Wednesday morning, Nov. 13, at the courthouse.

Commissioner Chairman Shane Alderson was participating in another meeting and was absent.

Baker County voters in 2021 passed a measure, with 56.5% support, that requires commissioners to meet at least three times yearly, on the second Wednesday of March, July and November, to discuss the Greater Idaho proposal.

The measure doesn’t require commissioners to take any action.

In the Nov. 5 election, Baker County voters rejected a measure, put on the ballot by commissioners, that would have allowed commissioners to schedule Greater Idaho discussions whenever they wanted, rather than on the three Wednesdays listed in the 2021 measure.

Voters rejected the schedule change by 56% to 44%.

Voters in 12 other counties have also passed measures since 2020 requiring commissioners to discuss Greater Idaho.

The movement’s executive director, Matt McCaw, participated in Wednesday’s meeting remotely.

McCaw told commissioners that Greater Idaho will continue to lobby the legislatures in Idaho and Oregon. Both legislatures would need to approve a border move, as would the U.S. Congress, to shift Oregon counties to Idaho.

McCaw said the Idaho House of Representatives in 2023 approved a bill inviting their Oregon counterparts to start discussions about the proposal.

The Idaho Senate didn’t vote on the bill, and the Oregon Legislature hasn’t taken it up, McCaw said.

He told commissioners he believes there is widespread support in Idaho, among residents and lawmakers, to explore the concept.

He noted that Idaho Gov. Brad Little has endorsed having officials in both states discuss the idea.

“It is the state of Oregon that is holding us back,” McCaw said.

In response to a question from David Spaugh, who lives in Sumpter Valley, McCaw said Greater Idaho is committed to ensuring that voters in the affected counties, including Baker, would have a chance, through another election, to weigh in on whether they support the actual border move once a specific, detailed proposal is available.

McCaw said he understands there are many questions related to the proposal, including minimum wages, sales taxes and other issues.

If the state legislatures end up endorsing the border move, those questions would have to be answered as part of the formal proposal.

“We would support going back to voters with a measure,” McCaw said in response to Spaugh’s question. “Our movement has always been about what the people of Eastern Oregon want.”

McCaw suggested Baker County commissioners consider sending a letter to incoming Oregon State Sen. Mike McLane, urging him to support continuing discussions about Greater Idaho.

McLane, a Powell Butte attorney, will replace Lynn Findley as senator for District 30, which includes Baker County, when the legislature convenes in Salem in January 2025.

Spaugh also suggested commissioners consider sending a letter to McLane.

Spaugh pointed out that advocating for continued conversations about Greater Idaho doesn’t commit commissioners, or Baker County, to anything.

Spaugh noted that both times Baker County voters have been asked about Greater Idaho — the May 2021 measure and the one on the Nov. 5 ballot — a majority either supported having their elected officials discuss the concept or opposed changing the scheduling requirement for those discussions.

Witham said she’s “not totally sold” on moving the border.

She said commissioners will continue to discuss the proposal, as voters required with the 2021 measure.

Witham said that although a majority of voters both approved the 2021 measure and rejected the commissioners’ request for more flexibility in scheduling Greater Idaho discussions, she believes it’s possible that some of those voters want to have discussions not because they support the border move but because they oppose it.

Nichols said he has talked to a small number of Idaho residents who told him they don’t want to add Oregon counties to Idaho.

Spaugh countered by saying he has talked with Idaho residents who do support the border move.

Spaugh said he believes that Greater Idaho has brought attention to Eastern Oregon residents’ dissatisfaction with the state’s political landscape, in which voters in a few heavily populated counties in the Portland area in effect determine the outcome of statewide elections.

“We are run by counties that do not have our values,” Spaugh said.

Multnomah County alone has almost 20% of Oregon’s 3 million registered voters.

In the Nov. 5 presidential election, Multnomah County voters favored the Kamala Harris/Tim Walz ticket by almost 79%. In Baker County, by contrast, Republicans Donald Trump and JD Vance got 73% of the vote.

Spaugh said he believes that continuing Greater Idaho discussions will help “sustain the attention” to the state’s political divide, and potentially yield benefits even if the border doesn’t move.

“We need to get tangible improvements in the representation we get from our legislature,” Spaugh said.

Bob Pierce of Baker City encouraged commissioners to endorse Greater Idaho.

Pierce said he believes that although “Willamette Valley Democrats” might listen to discussions about the proposed border move, they won’t actually change their legislative approach to acknowledge the concerns of Eastern Oregon voters.

“They don’t care about us, they never have,” Pierce said. “Let’s do this, let’s get this done.”