Democrats for Smith? Not so much.

Carla Axtman

Taking a page from his same old boring playbook, Gordon Smith's campaign sent out a press release today on the "Democrats for Smith". This is of course Smith's way of trotting out his faux moderate cred--which he does every time he's up for reelection. We've all see this movie before.

As I perused the release, I noticed that the campaign had highlighted some of the office-holders from their list, to beef up the release. One of the names on the list caught my eye: Mayor Sally Harrison, Vernonia.

Back in early September, I rode along with the Merkley campaign when they were road-tripping around Columbia and Clatsop County. Vernonia happened to be one of our stops that day. Here is what I wrote about the Vernonia stop:

We arrive in Vernonia--pull up to City Hall. The mayor is here. She's all smiles. "Have you got more of those Merkley yard signs? I can distribute every one that you brought." Wow. There's a small group in front, waiting with the mayor. This is billed as a "main street walk" to give the candidates a chance to check out the town. Vernonia is tiny--3 blocks in the whole downtown, tops. Its lovely here--the trees are incredible. We begin the walk as the mayor and the rest of the group talk about their burg. We stop in front of a shop that has photos in the window of the devastating flooding in Vernonia last winter. The feds haven't been especially helpful in the recovery, they tell us. FEMA isn't so snappy.

This doesn't seem to me like someone who's on the Smith bandwagon.

I dialed up the Merkley campaign this afternoon, reminding them about that stop. They've called Mayor Harrison. The campaign just told me that Mayor Harrison said she is DEFINITELY NOT supporting Smith. Hopefully we'll be hearing something directly from the Mayor/Merkley campaign in the next day or two.

In addition, Mayor Mary Schamehorn of Bandon also appeared on Smith's list. She has been on Merkley's website as a supporter since early October. She told the Merkley campaign:

We need elected officials who will represent our entire state and who will work for Oregonians regardless of where they live. Gordon Smith is trying to divide our state by pitting residents of Coos County against residents of Portland. That's wrong. While I used to support Gordon Smith, I now stand firmly with Jeff Merkley because he has a plan to help rural communities and urban areas and, unlike Smith, he'll follow the tradition set by Ron Wyden and visit every county, every year.

By Carla Axtman Oct. 22, 2008