News A question WW always asks Republican candidates for Congress is whether there are any tax loopholes they would like to close, or any taxes they would consider raising. It's a way of getting them to show how they think (or if they think) or if they are simply reflexive anti-government candidates.Similarly, we always ask Democratic candidates for Congress what cuts they would consider making in the federal ...   More

News When U.S. Rep David Wu resigned his seat in August, he did something pretty unusual in Oregon these days...   More

News On Tuesday night, the three main Democratic candidates in the Nov. 8 1st Congressional District special election will face each other in their first televised debate—unless there's a last minute cancellation, as there was last week for a scheduled debate on KPTV Fox 12. The three Democrats—Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian, state Sen. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Beaverton) and State Rep. Brad Witt (D-Clatskanie)—will ...   More

News The National Journal is reporting that a Sept. 26-28 poll on the First Congressional District Democratic primary finds State. Sen. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Beaverton) far ahead of her two principal competitors, State Rep. Brad Witt (D-Clatskanie) and Bureau of Labor and Industries Commissioner Brad Avakian. The poll reportedly shows Bonamici leading with 34 percent of those polled supporting her; 10 percent ...   More

News Over the weekend, the Associated Press ran a long profile of Bureau of Labor and Industries Commissioner Brad Avakian, who is one of three candidates to replace U.S. Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.) in the November 8 First Congressional District Democratic Primary (Avakian faces State Sen. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Beaverton) and State Rep. Brad Witt (D-Clatskanie)). The profile provided a useful introduction for ...   More

 State Sen. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Washington County) made it official today that she’s in the running for the congressional seat vacated by David Wu. And she says she's entering the campaign with a big financial edge— $240,000 she’s raised in cash and pledges in just five days. Her campaign won’t release the actual campaign reports (they aren’t due yet), but Bonamici says the donations ...   More

News Paul Evans, formerly the mayor of Monmouth and Gov. Ted Kulongoski's military advisor, is "very seriously considering" running for seat the House District 31 seat Rep. Brad Witt (D- Clatskanie) is vacating to run for Congress. Evans told WW that he moved to Scappoose in June, when his service on the Monmouth School board ended. That relocation is related to his work for High Impact Technologies, which ...   More

News Oregon may soon join Hawaii and ban the sale and possession of shark fins, giving new energy to an environmental campaign that was galvanized by a story that appeared in WW last year.  Late last month, Oregon's House of Representatives voted unanimously to pass House Bill 2838, which would have the effect of removing shark fin soup from the menus of Chinese restaurants in Oregon. Shark fin soup ...   More

News The competition to challenge embattled U.S. Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.) in the 1st Congressional District's 2012 Democratic primary is far from over.As The Oregonian reported this morning, State. Rep. Brad Witt (D-Clatskanie) will likely join Bureau of Labor and Industries Commissioner Brad Avakian in taking on Wu. But at least two other Washington County Democrats continue to look at jumping in. State ...   More