Project Vote Smart has packed up its
headquarters and moved to free-livin' Montana, taking
a piece of Oregon's pride and some student opportunities
with it.
Project Vote Smart is a nonprofit, non-partisan information
clearinghouse founded by such strange bedfellows as
Mark Hatfield, George McGovern, Barry Goldwater and
Geraldine Ferraro. The pols hailed from the left and
right but agreed on one thing: Someone had to help voters
cut through the spin and the attack ads and pin down
candidates on the leading issues of the day.
For four years, Project Vote Smart tried to do just
that, while at the same time building its headquarters
in the small village of Wren, about 15 miles from the
Oregon State University campus in Corvallis, with which
Vote Smart was affiliated.
But the folks at Vote Smart weren't smart enough to
get around Oregon's land-use laws.
The problem was that the 43 acres the group bought
in its quest for a peaceful work environment were zoned
for farm use. Project Vote Smart was granted an exemption
by the local planning commission, but some neighbors
objected. The neighbors, some of whom were OSU faculty
members, didn't like the idea of college interns bunking
in a makeshift dorm on the Vote Smart property. The
Benton County Board of Commissioners overturned the
zoning exemption and sent the Vote Smart folks packing.
"It was a classic situation," says Adelaide Elm, Vote
Smart's public information director. "A few people were
afraid of what might follow if you make an exception.
We wanted to do something we thought was an asset to
the community and would protect the land from development
forever. Frankly, we were making OSU look good too.
We brought more national attention to OSU than any other
program."
It's true: The group was reviled by politicians, who
chafed at Vote Smart's aggressive brand of research,
and revered by reporters for the same reason. In particular,
reporters relied on the group's Political Awareness
Test, which pressured more than 12,000 candidates across
the country to answer "yes" or "no" to controversial
questions. If pols tried to duck the test, they were
publicly "outed" by Vote Smart for "flunking" the test.
Vote Smart is also popular with voters who have used
Vote Smart's Web site and 888-number to do instant checks
on the credibility of candidates' claims. In fact, when
Vote Smart decided to pull up stakes, approximately
50,000 citizen "members" came forward with average contributions
of $35 each to help the group acquire a new home.
"I thought very highly of the organization," says Secretary
of State Phil Keisling, Oregon's top elections officer.
"We can take solace that they're still continuing their
work in Montana. But it's a loss for Oregon, particularly
for students who might have gotten more engaged in the
democratic process."
Approximately 100--or about half--of OSU's political
science majors served as interns at Project Vote Smart
last year, according to Dick Clinton, acting chairman
of the political science department. Clinton says the
university didn't do enough to keep Vote Smart in Oregon.
"It's a touchy subject," he says. "I don't think the
university administration began to recognize how significant
Vote Smart is. They
didn't have a clue. It's sad there wasn't a strong show
of support for the group's effort to find a second home."
Instead, Clinton says, administrators kept Vote Smart
at arm's length--perhaps because they
didn't want to offend wealthy OSU donors. "I got the
sense that administrators felt this was some kind of
liberal group and they would get in political hot water
by supporting Vote Smart," he says.
In June, Vote Smart moved into its new headquarters
at the Great Divide Ranch in Moose Lake, Mont. A former
hunting and fishing camp, Vote Smart's new headquarters
offer 150 acres at 6,000-foot elevation near the Continental
Divide. The T-1 lines are buzzing, the hard drives are
humming, and moose are lumbering by the office windows.
The Vote Smart staff, interns and volunteers are gearing
up for next year's elections at their new combination
dude ranch and war room.
"It's regrettable that the headquarters felt obliged
to leave," says Bill Lunch, a political-science professor
at OSU. "It's also ironic. What brought them here--which
is Oregon's protection for the environment--was in the
end also responsible for the departure of headquarters."
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Willamette Week | originally
published August 25,
1999
