The Bridge by OR360

Gratitude from The Oregon Bridge podcast (and a sports teaser) | EP 84

It's the week after Thanksgiving, and we're taking a break from politics! This week, Ben and Reagan offer some thoughts on what they're grateful for, metrics on how the podcast is doing, highlights from their Thanksgiving, news from the weekend's sporting events, and a few other hot topics.    To all of our listeners, viewers, and supporters--thank you. We love creating this podcast and we're grateful for your continued support. 

Why did the red wave miss Oregon? An election debrief with John Horvick | EP 83

John Horvick is one of the top pollsters in Oregon. In this episode, John provides expert analysis to help explain the results of the election—and the implications for Oregon’s future. We talk about why the red wave didn’t hit Oregon, how national factors impacted Oregon results, the importance of candidate quality, and bright spots for both parties. We cover the governor’s race, congressional races, the legislature, and what the results from Portland mean about how voters are feeling.  As always, we highly recommend following John on Twitter for poll results, political analysis, and interesting historical comparisons: @Horvick. 

The government’s role in growing Oregon’s news ecosystem, with the Agora Journalism Center | EP 82

This week’s guests are Regina Lawrence and Andrew DeVigal from the Agora Journalism Center at the University of Oregon. We talk about the state of Oregon’s news and information ecosystem—and some of the innovative ideas from across the state. This conversation is about journalism, but specifically for a more politics-focused audience.  If you haven’t yet, we highly recommend you read Agora’s recent report (or at least the Executive Summary!): Assessing Oregon’s Local News & Information Ecosystem 2022. Oregon’s information ecosystem plays a huge role in our politics—if you care about a healthy civic culture, you should care about access to state and local news.

Secretary Shemia Fagan on election integrity and how Oregon counts ballots | EP 81

This week, we are excited to have Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan as our guest! We all knew that there were going to be many close races this election--from the top of the ticket on down, so we thought it was important for our listeners to understand how Oregon's election system works. In this episode, Secretary Fagan explains her role and the protocols that county elections follow to ensure ballots are counted accurately. We also discuss what she sees as the greatest threat to election integrity in Oregon, how the roles of the Oregon Secretary of State vary from the roles in other states, how the audit function of her office works, and her advice for how to make state government work better. Secretary Fagan also gives a tip for how to manage the anxiety of election night--you'll want to keep this in mind for next cycle! As a bonus, after the pod was recorded, Ben Morris shared that about 10,000 folks were on the SOS results website on the primary election night--so you can bet there were a lot more on November 8th!

What Tobias Read learned running for Governor | EP 80 Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read

In this episode, State Treasurer Tobias Read reflects on his experience running for Governor, provides updates on some hot topics at Treasury (e.g. the “work from home” dispute), and muses on what his future might look like after he is term-limited in two years. We talk about his recent New York Times op-ed (A Sneaky Form of Climate Obstruction Hurts Pension Funds), PERS, crypto/blockchain, and more.

DA Kevin Barton on Measure 110, the public defense crisis, and Betsy Johnson

Kevin Barton is the District Attorney of Washington County. First elected in 2018, he previously served as a career prosecutor in the same office. Both of Barton's elections for DA made state and national headlines, with millions of dollars raised from wealthy donors on both sides (including Phil Knight and George Soros).    In this episode we cover Barton's elections, the philosophy behind his national media appearances (including Fox News), how Multnomah County impacts his work in Washington County, and why he supports Betsy Johsnon. We also cover two high-profile issues that will be facing the state legislature in 2023: Measure 110 and the public defense crisis.    Here's a link to the Oregon Judicial Department Dashboard that Barton mentions in the episode, and here's a link to Barton's DA website. 

Representative Raquel Moore-Green is running for one of the most competitive seats in Oregon | EP 78

State Representative Raquel Moore-Green is running against Deb Patterson for one of the most competitive state legislative seats in Oregon, and has been serving the South Salem community for decades. As a veteran politician, Representative Moore-Green was appointed to the state senate in senate district 10 after working on a number of campaigns as a legislative and campaign staffer, including campaigns for Representative, then Commissioner Kevin Cameron, and the late Jackie Winters. Raquel is a passionate leader and in this episode we dive extensively into the effects of Measure 110, the housing and homeless crisis, and mental / behavioral health issues, as some of the top issues on the forefront of voter's minds this cycle. You can check out Rep. Moore-Green's work and campaign here. https://rmgsd10.com/ She also gave out her email and phone number in the episode so tune in for that!

Building a future in a shifting Oregon economy with GOP candidate Daniel Bonham | EP 77

Aviation, trees, Maupin, and Betsy Johnson. Daniel Bonham  is a Republican member of the Oregon House of Representatives representing district 59 in Central Oregon and is currently running for Oregon State Senator. Stay tuned for the interesting anecdote about Bonham's first encounter with 22' Oregon gubernatorial candidate Betsy Johnson.