Thread by @JMShumway

Opening statements:
- @senbetsyjohnson won't sign bills that aren't bipartisan
- @TinaKotek says she's a leader who can solve problems, shouts out housing projects #inBend
- @ChristineDrazan asks whether anyone is better off now than four or eight years ago

https://twitter.com/JMShumway/status/1574924360544288768

Q1: Do you support Measure 114, the gun measure?

Kotek: Yes
Drazan: No. Bend Safeway shooting was caused by mental health challenges.
Johnson: No. It places a burden on small police departments.

Q2: How will you deal with homeless populations who illegally use public lands?

Drazan: will declare state of emergency on her first day. You have to hold people who choose homelessness to account. Homelessness should be rare and temporary.

Johnson says she's the only person on stage who did anything about homelessness, citing her support of a repurposed jail in Portland. Says Measure 110, which decriminalized small amounts of hard drugs, is exacerbating problems.

Kotek: Cities should have health/safety reasons to restrict where people can live outside, and eventually no one should be living on streets. Mentions Project Turnkey, which repurposes old hotels to shelters.

Q3: What will you do to increase housing inventory and access to affordable housing?

Johnson: "We're better at pitching tents than we are at pulling permits." Need to remove regulations, review Oregon's urban growth boundary law.

Kotek: "I'm glad Senator Johnson has come into the party because I've been working on this." Oregon needs to build 36,000 homes annually for the next decade, need to get more people working in construction.

Drazan: Kotek supported regulations that make housing more expensive.

Kotek: Drazan and Johnson fought against tenant protections during the pandemic, and letting people get evicted adds to homelessness crisis.

Q4: Give Gov. Brown a grade for her pandemic performance and tell us what you would do if faced with a similar crisis.

Kotek: Brown's not on stage, but she'll "be generous" and give Johnson and Drazan a D+. If faced with something similar, she'll listen to experts.

Drazan: Not surprised that Kotek didn't hold Brown to account. She's giving Brown an F, because of keeping schools closed.

Johnson: Also giving Brown an F. The worst thing in Covid was closing schools. Johnson also wouldn't let teachers get vaccines before seniors.

Kotek: She wishes schools weren't closed as long, and she disagrees with Brown's decision to vaccinate teachers without also opening schools.

Drazan: Both Kotek and Johnson voted against opening schools.

Johnson: There wasn't a bill that specifically let schools open.

Q6(?): What changes would you make as governor to improve student outcomes?

Johnson: Raise standards and focus on core competencies. Teachers' union wants to lower standards; Portland Public Schools wants to go to 4 days/week.

Kotek: Test scores are unacceptable, but not terribly surprising given the past two years. Students she spoke to want smaller classes, more mental health support and more career and technical education options.

Drazan: She's the only parent on the stage and watched schools decline in 10 years between her oldest and youngest. Need to restore graduation requirements, get parents back in classroom and engaged.

Q: What do you think the role of higher education is and what are your funding priorities for higher ed?

Kotek: Focus going forward is making sure community colleges have a stable and sustainable funding, and making sure students have income-based financial aid.

Drazan: Community colleges are very important, also need to make sure universities can help students finish in four years and credits transfer.

Johnson: Everyone agrees. Community colleges are important; universities need to be fully funded and stop cannibalizing each other.

Q: When does life begin, and based on that, does Oregon law need to change?

Drazan: Thanks to her opponents, everyone knows she's "a pro-life woman." She will uphold the law, but Oregon's laws are extreme.

Johnson: She's pro-choice. Not a doctor, so won't opine on when life begins. Abortion is a medical decision.

Says Planned Parenthood, which endorsed Kotek, didn't give her a chance to vie for endorsement.

Kotek: Not enough to just say you're pro-choice. She'll make sure Oregon stays the course on protecting abortion rights.

Says Planned Parenthood did let Johnson vie for endorsement, and that Drazan could do a lot of damage even with laws on the books protecting abortion access.

Q: Do you support repealing Measure 110?

Johnson: Yes
Kotek: No. It's imperfect, but that doesn't mean throwing the whole thing out.
Drazan: Yes

Q: What will you do to protect land from wildfires and droughts?

Kotek: Can help communities be more climate-resilient, also need to stay focused on reducing carbon pollution that exacerbates climate change.

Drazan: Need more water storage and conservation. Identify lightning strikes and stop fires quickly before they become megafires. Need to manage forests better.

Johnson: Climate change is real, stopping the megafires will help reduce Oregon's carbon footprint. Put fires out early.

Kotek: She finds it interesting that conversations about climate change always go back to forest management. she hasn't heard what they want to do other than tearing up Brown's cap-and-trade executive orders.

Q: How will you manage water as a resource?

Drazan: Kotek held drought funding hostage last year until special session to extend the eviction moratorium.

Johnson: There are water problems all over the state, but they're not the same. Need to listen to locals and make sure state agencies function.

Kotek: Water will be her top natural resource issue. Was just in southern Oregon talking to farmers about this. Agree with Johnson that state needs to work with local communities.

Q: The perception in central Oregon is that Portland and the Willamette Valley get all the attention. How will you balance needs throughout Oregon?

Johnson: She's from central Oregon! An independent governor can bring people to the table.

Kotek: Governor needs to spend a lot of time outside of Salem listening to people around the state. Who are you appointing to your stakeholder groups? Having a diverse group gets the best policy.

Drazan: She's a small-town girl from Klamath Falls, knows how to fight for balance. Bend, a former logging town, has had an extraordinary ability to reimagine itself, but other towns haven't.

Q: Out-of-state companies get incentives to come here. What are you doing for small, local businesses?

Kotek: Redid unemployment trust fund so small businesses weren't paying as much in payroll taxes when people lost their jobs in the pandemic, working on tax breaks.

Drazan: Biz owners are crushed by Oregon's regulatory environment. She'll review rules and roll them back.

Johnson: Small farmers are punished and regulated. Portland can pump raw sewage into the Willamette River; dairymen can't clean out ditches.

So our livestream just cut out and went to a commercial for a singing competition show, then started over. We're missing the end of the debate.

Taking that as a sign to stop tweeting and focus on writing. Peeps #inBend at OSU or watching an actual TV, if anything wild happens in the last few minutes please let me know!

Fin: oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2022/09/27/ore…