Bonamici Meets the Wayne Morse Test

As I watch the special election campaign unfold in Oregon’s First Congressional District—the seat I captured for Democrats for the first time 38 years ago—I think of advice the iconic Senator Wayne Morse gave me in my first race in 1974.

In the darkness of his car at the end of a long day of campaigning, the old warhorse tapped me on the knee and said:

“Young man, always remember who you are and what you’re willing to lose an election for! The one who cannot will do anything to win. And that’s a dangerous man (sic)—because he will always put politics above principle and self above country.”

The reason the memory returns is that the Wayne Morse standard so perfectly distinguishes the Democrat in this race, Suzanne Bonamici, from her contortionist Republican challenger, Rob Cornilles. Bonamici is an unapologetic Democrat who will put government back on our side—to create “trickle up” policies, to protect the environment, to safeguard Medicare, to stop wars of choice rather than necessity, and to make the very rich pay a fair share of taxes to help reduce the deficit.

Her weather vane Republican challenger is posing as a moderate, for this season at least, because he knows it’s the only way he has a chance against Suzanne, a former Federal Trade Commission lawyer and state legislative star. So he talks about a flat tax when only 16 months ago—in a different political season—he supported the Bush tax cuts that added $2.5 trillion to the deficit to benefit the 1%.

Bonamici has explicit ideas for cutting the budget deficit: cancel Bush tax cuts for millionaires, bring the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan and close loopholes for established industries like Big Oil.

Cornilles? His plan is to—ta da!—pass a Constitutional amendment to outlaw that darned red ink. Of course, he was instantly criticized because ratification of the amendment as part of the basic law of the land would in all probability force higher taxes and draconian cuts in the Pentagon. But wait! There seems to be no problem that Cornilles can’t solve with pixie dust; thus, he now says enforcement of the Constitutional no-no, once passed, (I’m writing this through tears of laughter!) would have to be “phased in” so as not to be too sudden of a jolt to taxpayers or the generals and admirals.

The differences go on: Bonamici, the steady adult, protected consumers as a lawyer with the Federal Trade Commission; Cornilles, the artful dodger, exploited his workers by failing to pay his share of their payroll tax, for which the government slapped him with a $83,000 federal lien. Bonamici will protect Social Security and Medicare; Cornilles told the Daily Astorian (January 2010) that he would cut those programs before he’d cut the Pentagon budget. That was before he said he’d save them with “reforms” he refuses disclose but sound like “optional privatization” to me.

The January 31 election should be a no-brainer. But it will have implications far beyond my former congressional district. As that day’s only federal election, pundits and prognosticators from across the country are ready to declare the outcome a national omen.

I agree, and trust me on this: should Cornilles win, he’ll bask in the warm embrace of House Speaker John Boehner and his Tea Party obstructionists as they use the election as a mandate to step up their war against the middle class, the environment, civil liberties, and safe abortions. (But the way, on abortion, the Artful Dodger wants us to believe that abortion is an issue in which the House “has a very limited role to play.” Which is sort of a surprise to me because, well, I could swear I spent hours in debate on the House floor, protecting women’s reproductive freedoms against Henry Hyde and his anti-choice acolytes. If elected, given his bobbing and weaving, where do you suppose Rob Cornilles would land?)

A Bonamici victory, on the other hand, will be an unmistakable call to stop the rise of Republican Religious Ayatollahs and Wall Street flimflam artists who almost destroyed the U.S. banking system and created our current economic mess.

With the memory of Wayne Morse as my witness, I assure you that Suzanne Bonamici is the only candidate in this race who puts “principle above politics.”

Disclosure: 14 months ago, my wife and I moved to Bozeman, Montana to spend our remaining good years close to our granddaughters. But having started the Democrats’ 38-year hold on Oregon’s First District, I have one last duty to my former constituents—to help Suzanne Bonamici give them the representation they deserve.