It isn't an accusation. It is a simple fact. He is a Republican.
He is hiding it.
Randy Sparacino is a candidate for Oregon State Senate. What is happening here in Oregon is part of a pattern taking place all across the country. Republican candidates are scrubbing their websites. They are pretending not to be Republicans. They are taking the unpopular stuff out.
No photos with Trump. No "Trump won!" graphics. No advocating that state legislators overturn elections. No talk of criminalizing abortion. No photos of the candidate with an AR-15. Nothing about climate change being a big hoax. Nothing about prosecuting Antony Fauci. Nothing about Bill Gates and micro-chips and George Soros. Nothing about ending "Obamacare." No promise to "take our country back" once "we" get a majority.
It isn't merely a kinder, gentler GOP, as depicted in their ads. It isn't Republican at all. Locally, the GOP laid out the Party line: The 2020 election was stolen, Trump won, Biden is illegitimate. There was no peep of disagreement from Sparacino. He is a team player--not that one would know it from his ads or website.
Here is a link to his website.
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Look it over. The word Republican is nowhere. Zero. His supposed "issues" are vague complaints without solutions. He is against inflation, crime, illegal drugs, homelessness, and "runaway spending." Who isn't? Besides, right here in Medford, where Sparacino is mayor, we have inflation, crime, illegal drugs, homelessness, and critics of the city's supposed "runaway spending." If those problems are easy to fix, why hasn't he fixed them here? (I am on the city's Budget Committee. I don't think we have "runaway spending" in Medford. I do observe that it is easy to complain about runaway spending, homeless encampments and other problems if one is on the outside, poorly informed, and has no real idea what is already being done.)
There is nothing wrong with being a Republican. Traditionally, there have been a lot of good, public-spirited Republican voters and officeholders. There is nothing surprising about Sparacino receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from the campaigns of Republican officeholders hoping to add a reliable Republican to the state senate team. He also gets hundreds of thousands of dollars from businesses regulated by Oregon's government. Republicans get money from Republicans. It is the way of the world.
Sparacino should stop hiding. Put the Republican label back on. Will he support the Republican agenda if elected?
***If he will vote to criminalize abortion, say so.
***If he thinks life begins at fertilization and he wants to ban IUDs, say so.
***If he wants to end mail-in voting in Oregon, say so.
***If he believes Republican legislatures should overturn elections of a Democratic president, say so.
***If he will vote to end the "Obamacare" expansion of Medicaid--the Oregon Health Plan--say so.
***If cutting "runaway spending" means he supports even more cuts to the DMV, so that the lines and wait-times are even longer, say so.
The 2022 election will pit a Democrat, Jeff Golden, against a Republican, Randy Sparacino. If Sparacino is so embarrassed by what Republicans stand for that he needs to hide his party affiliation, then he should announce new positions or a new party. Be honest. Sparacino may well be be a full-on MAGA Republican. He isn’t saying. He isn't disagreeing with full-on MAGA policy resolutions. He gets money from full-on MAGA people. If he agrees with Republicans on issues, then he should say so and defend those positions.
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7 comments:
One of the worst things Republicans have done in Oregon is repeatedly shut down the government by walking off the job in order to avoid addressing climate change. They’re apparently too blind to see that failing to address it is far more costly and destructive.
Jeff Golden is doing a fine job, so there’s no good reason to replace him. He also refuses to be beholden to special interests by accepting their PAC money. Sparacino has no such qualms: https://www.portlandrecord.com/state-campaign-finance/pac/20676.html
i wish Jeff Golden would have some advertisements on the TV networks like Randy Sparacino does. I see those adds over and over, and Sparacino just looks like a nice guy running for office. No real positions shown there either.
I followed the link to Randy Sparacino's campaign site and was shocked though obviously not surprised to see that the word "Republican" is indeed absent altogether. He is apparently trying to finesse certain crucial positions with obfuscation and platitudes. A pledge to protect "fundamental rights", for instance, could mean aught but the kitchen sink.
It's rather interesting, though, that the Sparacino site's list of prominent endorsers includes Greg Walden and Alan DeBoer. Regulars here will recall DeBoer recently featured for his explicit rejection of area Trump Republican 2020 election idiocy. I wonder if DeBoer (and Walden) would expect something affirmative on this important subject from their endorsee?
I have urged reasonable Republicans (e.g. Alan DeBoer) to suggest that Sparacino show some leadership. Sparacino is in a good place to do it, as a current mayor and a guy in a Democratic tilting district. There is one problem. He needs to walk the tightrope between his Trump-y voters and the Chamber of Commerce people who care about taxes and smashing unions, not about abortion and the 2020 election and putting up F*** Joe Biden flags. He cannot dare disappoint his GOP base. So he is hiding out and assuring the upstate Republican Leadership PAC that he is a good, compliant boy who follows orders from the people paying the bills.
Peter Sage
OF COURSE Sparacino is hiding that he is a closet Republican. Senate District 3 results have been extremely close in recent years. E.g., a 0.5% difference elected Alan Bates in 2010 and Alan DeBoer in 2016. Rs are split because many don’t like Drazan and the party Chairman recently endorsed Johnson. Ds may be energized by the abortion issue. NAVs have the plurality statewide. Golden is gambling that he doesn’t need TV, which is expensive. He will be vastly outspent again.
THE FOLLOWING EXCHANGE BETWEEN ALAN DEBOER AND HERB ROTHSCHILD TOOK PLACE ON THE SUBSTACK SITE FOR THIS BLOG. TO CLARIFY. THIS SITE ON BLOGSPOT IS THE ORIGINAL AND HOME BASE FOR MY BLOG. I USE SUBSTACK TO REPUBLISH MY BLOG, WHERE IT GOES OUT IN EMAIL FORM. PEOPLE COMMENT ON BOTH SITES.
FIRST, ALAN DEBOER. THEN SIX HOURS LATER, A COMMENT BY HERB ROTHSCHILD. DEBOER IS A REPUBLICAN ACTIVIST, DONOR, AND FORMER LOCAL AND STATE OFFICEHOLDER. HE SPOKE OUT AGAINST THE LOCAL GOP ANNOUNCEMENT THAT THE ELECTION WAS STOLEN. HE DEFENDS SPARACINO. HERB ROTHSCHILD, WHO SOMETIMES HAS GUEST POSTS HERE, IS A RETIRED PROFESSOR AND DEMOCRATIC ACTIVIST WORKING ON BEHALF OF CIVIL LIBERTIES, RACIAL EQUALITY, THE ENVIRONMENT, AND WORLD PEACE.
PETER SAGE
ALAN DEBOER
15 hr ago
Really, you need to drop the whole election issue. It is over, we just keep Trump in the news. This is working well for the upcoming election cycle by the political game. The bigger question is who is the best candidate for my old Senate seat and is the super majority something that is good. What has Jeff accomplished in his 4 years, nothing on campaign finance reform. The forest bill which is so controversial, he never asked our commissioners for their input not the City of Ashland which has their own map. I would oppose the super majority no matter what party is in power, Democrats have abused that power. I loved Betsy Johnson’s replay to how to stop the walkouts with “ I would make it clear that without both parties involved I would not sign the bills. Makes you think of how that would affect the attitude of both parties. Back to Randy, here is a person who quietly does his job, he has a long track record of capable service and leadership both as Mayor and in the Medford Police Department rising to the rank of Chief. I don’t recall problems such as Jeff as County Commisioner years ago. We need to elect capable leaders such as Betsy Johnson and Randy Sparricino.
Alan DeBoer Former State Senator, Ashland Mayor, School Board Member ect,
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HERBERT B. ROTHSCHILD:
It is a matter of personal integrity, Alan. You reflected integrity in all your public actions, Alan. You told people exactly who you are and what you stand for. Why do you think it amiss to ask Sparacino to do the same? Talk about playing the political game? He won't go to any debates because all the questions he'll be asked are lose-lose for him. Do you believe in climate change? Do you believe in reproductive freedom, do you believe in the Big of of 2020? Answered one way, he erodes the hardcore of his Republican base. Answered another way, he is revealed as a Trump ideologue. Your defense of Sparacino does you no credit, Alan. Neither does your review of Golden's record, which is full of achievements (though, yes, he couldn't get the Democratic leadership to enact campaign spending limits).
Just saw a Randy Sparacino television spot. Pretty anodyne, even to point that he could seem a centrist from either party. No mention of substantive stances on key issues, nor of opposition, nor of party affiliation.
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