Hair on Fire.

Oregon State Senate candidate Julian Bell says he makes decisions based on facts, not politics.

Dr. Julian Bell

He said it at a political event.  He is outside and wants in.  And he wants to do it his way.

Julian Bell returned to a theme that he voiced at a joint appearance forum in Ashland.  He said he makes decisions based on facts and verifiable data.  He used the example of his work treating people in the emergency room based on peer reviewed experienced-based data. That is what informs his practice and that is what informs his politics. He had presented himself as the scientist among the 4 Democratic contenders. 

Julian Bell is an environmental activist with an appealing presentation. He hosted the event dressed in a suit and tie and acknowledged that he had "spiffed up" in order to answer questions from about 25 people. He was accompanied by his wife and three year old son. Bell is at his most appealing while holding his squirming son and trying to answer questions.  Bell is saving the planet for young people.

Hair on Fire Oregon

Julian Bell has been at the work of environmental activism for several years. He said he helped start the group Hair on Fire Oregon, which calls itself in its mission statement a "micro-group of activist citizens working outside the constraints of bureaucracy to alert sentient humans to the clear and present danger of climate change."

No use trying to convince the resolutely closed minded, but the facts are the facts. Bell and his group are on a mission to share the facts.

A hot local issue is the Jordan Cove pipeline, which would bring fracked natural gas from the intermountain west to the Port of Coos Bay, Oregon. The subject dominated the discussion. He said the pipeline is wrong and dangerous on multiple counts.

He is frustrated with the Democratic Party of Oregon. We have long had a majority, he said, yet they haven't irrevocably stopped the pipeline. "The Democratic Party isn't as environmentalist as it could be."

He is frustrated with Governor Kate Brown. "You never hear Kate Brown criticize Jordan Cove."  He said she is attempting to accommodate the unions who support the project, so she is mealy-mouthed.

He is frustrated with Democratic Senate Majority Leader Peter Courtney. The Democratic Senator Arnie Roblan from Coos Bay supports the home town project, and Courtney does not want to estrange Roblan.  

The Democratic Party establishment frustrates Bell balance competing interests among constituency groups. "Oregon is an extraction state. We claim to be Green, but our politicians are beholden to extraction industries."

His presentation Thursday demonstrates the limitations of being the scientist among politicians. He appears to see issues as primarily a matter of truth versus falsehood, rather than a matter of different interests and goals in conflict. I told Bell that it made him seem un-empathetic to the interests and goals of other people. I asked,  Didn't Coos Bay Senator Roblan have an local interest to defend, didn't Courtney have a need to accommodate Roblan, didn't Governor Brown have a need to recognize the competing desires of those people hoping to get the pipeline work?  Don't people disagree with you, perhaps for reasons that are sufficient to them?

No, he said. 

It is a matter of facts and simple science. Bell says those people in opposition are wrong, and why should he or anyone weigh equally the thinking both of people who are right and who accept scientific fact, and people who insist on staying ignorant?  We cannot represent the sentient and the ignorant equally.

"I am an excellent team player," he said, "but that is with people on my team. I am willing to work with people who believe in science, but not with people who won't accept fact-based science." 

It was tough talk, and it appeared to be well received by some of group that attended. Some people see this a fearless independence and unwavering commitment to a position they favor. 

But it puts him at odds with political leadership. They may consider him a better activist than incumbent Senator. He did not get the endorsement of the Sierra Club and League of Conservation Voters.. It could have been a good source of credibility and financial support. 

Some people will register Bell as extreme and inflexible, but he will get some votes precisely because of this, not despite it.  Environmental activists are one of the key pillars of the Democratic voter base. Bell himself voted for Jill Stein for president, he told me, and there is a significant number of Bernie Sanders supporters in the District who respond warmly to criticism of Democrats as being no better than Republicans. A lot of people who will vote in the Democratic primary are openly frustrated with Democrats from the perspective of the environmental left.  

It might be a good strategy for the primary, but he risks looking extreme.