Tillamook County has just experienced a new low in political campaigning. A person, who wishes to remain anonymous, has paid for a push/pull telephone survey in our County regarding the proposed 1% construction excise tax. This telephone survey has been described to me by those who responded to it as biased, unethical, sleazy, and a total distortion of the truth. In other words, it was done to force people to come up with a predetermined answer by Mr. or Mrs. Anonymous.
I have lived in Tillamook County my entire life and participated in many campaigns. Never have I seen our politics brought down to this level of a moral and ethical low. This is definitely not the Tillamook Way! Whether you support or oppose the tax is not the issue. The issue has become do you support an honest and fair democratic process in our County, State, and Nation, or do you support Mr. or Mrs. Anonymous, someone who does not believe in an open, transparent, and democratic process in our country.
When you lose faith in the political system, you put into jeopardy all of our American core beliefs. I challenge Mr. or Mrs. Anonymous to disclose him or herself so that we can see who opposes workforce housing for the Creamery, hospital, schools, lumber mills, farmers, and almost all other industries in our community. Full-time workers in the tourist industry should not be living in their cars due to a lack of housing. I have taken the lead on finding solutions to our workforce housing crisis and on proposing the 1% tax as a step in the right direction. I believe it is my role as a County Commissioner to improve the quality of life for all in the County. I have also taken the political abuse for supporting a tax that 90% of our population will never pay! I encourage you to talk to me if you have questions on the workforce housing crisis or the 1% tax on new construction.
I am not asking any more of Mr. or Mrs. Anonymous than I ask of myself. If you want to be a leader, then lead, don’t hide behind anonymity. I ask our political parties, both Republican and Democrat, to write a letter to the editor outlining their stance on biased, unethical, and sleazy push/pull surveys. I am also asking those who supported putting the workforce housing issue on the ballot to write letters to the editor outlining their thoughts on why they think it is unethical and wrong to hide behind being anonymous for negative advertising. Lastly, I encourage the public to weigh in with letters to the editor with your opinion of negative advertising paid for by Mr. or Mrs. Anonymous in our County. Tillamook County, we are better than this!
Bill Baertlein, County Commissioner
