 EYE FIVE This sign just north of Woodburn is one of many for Republicans along the I-5 corridor.
IMAGE: THOMAS COBB |
There's a reason Republicans have such an advantage in political signage along Oregon highways, and it's not Democratic incompetence.
Last week, Oregonian columnist Steve Duin lit into Gov. Ted Kulongoski's campaign for its failure to get lawn and roadside signs printed in a timely fashion. But even if Kulongoski had his signs ready to go, the man who dominates Interstate 5 between here and Salem, along with many of the busiest thoroughfares in Clackamas and Yamhill counties, wouldn't put them up.
"I just do this for people who can further the conservative Republican agenda," says Cliff Zauner, a retired two-term state representative from Woodburn. "I wouldn't do it for Kulongoski for any amount of money."
Except for a single Kulongoski sign and eight that Democratic House candidate Chuck Leesnuck placed near Salem , Zauner has given Republicans a lock on the well-traveled central I-5 corridor.
Zauner, 72, grew up in Woodburn and has come to know many of the farmers who own land along I-5, and highways 99W and 99E. His legislative district also formerly stretched to Newberg, which helped him build contacts along Yamhill County's busiest roads. The signs Zauner erects along I-205, and highways 224 and 212 in Clackamas County, are the result of a long friendship with one of the area's largest property owners, Terry Emmert.
Zauner ascribes his initial affinity for highway signs to financial necessity. When he first ran for the Legislature in 2000, he had little money for campaigning so he erected a series of humorous signs along I-5 such as, "Politicians are like diapers, they need to be changed from time to time."
Zauner says politicians noticed the signs and began asking him how they could get their names in the same space. Although some political consultants roll their eyes at the mention of signs, Zauner says nearly 100,000 vehicles go past Woodburn daily on I-5. "There's not a whole lot else to look at when you're driving, so the signs get attention," he says.
After winning his race in 2000, the former broadcaster and radio-station owner soon began putting up signs for others. In the current election he's putting up signs for Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron Saxton, a handful of GOP legislative candidates and Measure 43, which would require parental notification for girls between 15 and 17 who seek an abortion.
Zauner says he puts up the signs as a service to the conservative movement, not for profit. He rents equipment from State Rep. Kim Thatcher (R-Keizer) and her husband, then bills the various campaigns for his work at the end of the campaign.
He says he put up about 250 signs for the May primary and another 200 or so for the general election. Simple signs with bright colors work best, he says. Republican gubernatorial candidate Jason Atkinson used yellow in the primary and sunlight made it hard to read. (Contested Republican primaries pose a dilemma for Zauner; this year he agreed to put up signs for Saxton, Atkinson and Kevin Mannix. "I tell them I'll treat 'em all the same and don't want to hear any complaints about placement," Zauner says.)
He does not pay the farmers for allowing him to put up signs on their property, although he always seeks permission.
"If I give them a bottle of whiskey, they appreciate it," Zauner says.
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It's a reflection of our divided times. If you're already a Democrat, no sign is going to convince you to vote Republican (and visa/versa). Besides, as the rural I-5 areas get smashed out and developed in the ever-growing race to make a dollar, these few Republicans are going to get exactly what they deserve: incorporation into some county. Then, the county will re-zone their property into a less profitable designation, snatch it up under "eminient domain" for far less than retail value, and then re-zone it to very profitable commercial property. Ha! There's Republican values.
But in the end, truly my only hope has nothing to do with any of this... nothing to do with Mr. Zauner convincing a fence-sitter to vote Republican. No, my hope is that he lives to see the day that the very belief system that he holds dear comes to eventually impact his family.
Fuck Republicans, and FIGHT them in every avenue that you can. Alternatively, you can just sit back and watch... as they slowly drag themselves (and their hapless families) down (along with the rest of us), as their unsustainable belief system extinguishes our planet with their hatred of sensibility, humanity, and compassion.
And, often enough, because of their belief in Christ. How hateful is that?
I drive back and forth to Salem daily, and not once have I seen a sign stating that terrorists attacked New York on 9/11. I have, however, seen several professionally produced signs nestled amongst the Republican faithful proclaiming 9/11 "an inside job" -- so it must be true! Again, contrast that with not a single sign from here to Salem with the "official story" that terrorists attacked the World Trace Center. That's gotta mean something too, right?
I-5: definitive proof that the one-worlders can't fool us Oregonians!
Probably excited by the opportunity to work on his vineyard, I mean, cherry orchard!!
The Dems have aborted their legacy over the last 30 years, if the polls are correct about kids following parent's lead in party affiliation. You can't DINK it (double income-no kids) be gay, stay single, whatever, and have your demographic sustaining itself and be a dominant majority in elections. Numberz. It is all about numberz. If immigrants are the Democrat salvation, and Bradbury acts as if it is, you also have to know that Mexican women have reduced their birth rate to less than half of what it was a generation ago. That will continue to drop. And, as they make more money, the less they will want to share with government, their having a life experience of running from bad government, which would make them Republicans over time.
Many came to Oregon to work in reforestation, which the liberals ended on public lands which are two thirds of all forest land in Oregon. Mexican immigrants have a dog in that fight.
The announcement yesterday that Swartzenegger and Kulongowski, will meet in Danzig to settle the Klamath province salmon and water problems before the end of the year is a commentary about how nuts our governor really is. I talked to a biologist who said the Klamath die off of three years ago was not out of the ordinary for early arriving fall fish in drought years, and said that Oregon's Rogue River has them periodically, and up to 85,000 adults have died in those events. Evidently, it is a Native American issue in as that is the only difference in the constituency of the two rivers. If Saxton is elected, does he get to go? Who thinks these things up? I can see the headline: Lame Duck confers about Dead Salmon..sounds like we need a vet.
All farmland is in a county, and its use designated by the LCDC administered by a Republican (RINO--republican in name only)PERS whore who took Kulongowski's job offer, and attendant big state benefits package, and resigned from the Senate, which allowed the Democrats to be the majority. It would follow that the Democrats administer the LCDC program through the governor's office, and money can buy most anything.