Skip to main contentWhen former congresswoman Elizabeth Furse endorsed Republican Sen. Gordon Smith's re-election bid in October, she set off a feud with the Oregon Peace Institute--the nonprofit group she founded in 1986. Now the dispute has gotten so ugly OPI has offered to bring in a mediation specialist to help settle their differences, says OPI board member Tom Hastings.
Furse's endorsement of Smith shocked peace and abortion-rights advocates, who had long supported her. It came just three days after she spoke out against war with Iraq at a Portland peace rally, and just days before Smith voted to give President George W. Bush authority to go to war.
Furse was scheduled to speak at a Nov. 23 panel discussion on peace sponsored by OPI and KBOO, where she was expected to explain her endorsement. At the last minute, however, she called to say she couldn't make it because her car had overheated on the way home from Seattle.
OPI responded by posting a series of angry questions for Furse on its website, orpeace.org.
Hastings also wrote a letter to WW, calling Furse's explanation for her no-show "an excuse that a high-school senior would be embarrassed to give. Furse is a sellout and a cop-out and many of us are vastly disappointed."
WW was unable to reach Furse last week, but in an earlier interview with the paper she expressed exasperation with OPI's criticism. "Oh, for crying out loud," she said, upon hearing about their comments to the paper, "I don't know what's got into those people."
In hindsight, Hastings, who teaches conflict resolution at PSU, says OPI may have reacted too quickly and with too much emotion. Still, he's uncomfortable with OPI being linked to pro-war candidates via Furse. "The main thing I want to do is distance OPI's good name in the peace community from any politician like Gordon Smith," he says.
Hastings says he has not yet heard from Furse on whether she will agree to mediation.
WWeek 2015