Today In Oregon

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KPOJ's Heidi Tauber Vanishes

UPDATED BELOW

Portland progressive radio station and Air America outlet KPOJ has been missing a host from its local 6-9 morning show, which featured Heidi Tauber, comic Carl Wolfson and national Air America personality Thom Hartmann (who joins the team at 8 a.m.).

Co-host and newsperson Tauber is conspicuously absent from the morning show. I say conspicuously absent because the other on-air personalities, Wolfson, producer Paul Pimentel and Hartmann, haven't mentioned her name once during the entire three hours Thursday or Friday. I also noticed that her name has been scrubbed from the website and her station e-mail address no longer works.

The morning show has also been re-branded as "Mornings with Carl Wolfson and Friends," replacing "Mornings with Thom, Heidi and Carl."

I listened to the podcast of Wednesday's 8 a.m. segment (featuring Willamette Week editor Mark Zusman), and Tauber cheerfully closed the show by saying she'd see everybody tomorrow.

If it's the case that Tauber's been dropped, it all seems kind of sudden and silent. It's eerily like Stalin trying to remove all references to Trotsky. Well, not quite like that, but you get the idea.

Why the silence? Do they think listeners wouldn't notice? Is it more budget cuts by corporate weasels who lack the simple decency to own up to their decisions? Who knows?

The complete lack of information only draws attention to the act.

During today's "Weasels of the Week" segment, somebody called up and tried to nominate the "KPOJ station mana ..." but was cut off in mid-sentence.

Clearly Tauber is missing. And it's also clear that the powers that be at KPOJ are consciously trying to avoid acknowledging that fact.

It's pretty insulting to listeners to pretend that Tauber never existed. You'd think a "progressive" radio station wouldn't behave so corporately creepy, but apparently you'd be wrong.

UPDATE:

Oregon Media Insiders has a post about Tauber. She's definitely gone. This comment from "Bill Cooper" sums it up:

HEIDI IS OK
I spoke with Heidi this evening. She told me to tell everyone she is ok. I won't go into the details of what happened. Bottomline, this business can often be brutal. This is one of those times. Broadcasters know that the ax is always overhead and it can fall at any time for any reason, or no reason.

I have been told that no one has been hired to replace Ms Tauber at this point, although there are those who are speculating that the move was made to make room for the return of a well-known female morning show news anchor who recently faced a situation similar to Heidi's.

When the brain trust at Clear Channel escorted Heidi from the building they immediately scrubbed all trace of her from the company, including killing her email and voicemail. Heidi is setting up a gmail account and I will post it here soon so her friends can get in touch with her.

on a side note...there are reports that several KPOJ sponsors have pulled their accounts because Heidi was let go. Maybe Clear Channel will see the error of their ways if their wallet gets hit hard enough!

It appears I was right. This is about corporate weasels who lack the personal integrity to own up to their decision-making. What's really sad about this episode is having to witness people you respect look the other way -- or actively participate -- when powers that be "disappear" someone right before their eyes.

First they came for Heidi, and I said nothing ...

DSCC Ad Attacks Smith

The wait is over to find out where the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is putting its money in the U.S. Senate race for Oregon. The DSCC ad takes on Republican Gordon Smith and doesn't mention either Steve Novick or Jeff Merkley, the Democrats vying for the chance to unseat him.

Mapes Weighs In On Merkley's Negative Attack

Oregonian reporter Jeff Mapes picks at the festering wound that Jeff Merkley's U.S. Senate Democratic primary campaign has become.

From Mapes' blog:

Negative advertising is always tricky in a primary race since it's sort of like a spat among members of an extended family. But the Merkley folks may feel they need to do this with the race seeming so close. The last public poll showed that it was essentially tied, although with Merkley gaining ground on Novick.

The Merkley ad goes after Novick for his year-and-a-half old blog posts that vivisected Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, among others. At the time, Novick was not a candidate and he was using his sharp wit as a regular commentator on Blue Oregon.

Novick has always insisted that nobody particularly cared about what he wrote then - and that was the theme that his campaign manager, Jake Weigler picked up on Wednesday after he saw the ad.

"It's a pitiful reflection of how much their campaign is running on empty," he said. "No one has evern brought up these comments or objected to them except for Jeff Merkley...The one dividing Democrats here is Jeff Merkley."

Merkley spokesman Matt Canter said the ad merely points out one of the big differences in the race - the different leadership style of the two candidates. "This is not an attack ad," Canter insisted, adding that "these are [Novick's) words."

Okay. Well, I guess you have to say that kind of stuff when you're trying to convince the extended family of Democrats. It's not the same as taking on a rival clan.

Read Mapes' entire post HERE.

New Merkley TV Ad Goes Negative On Novick

UPDATED BELOW

I just saw a new Jeff Merkley ad while watching the 4:30 segment of KATU news. Complete with the typical "going negative" announcer voice that Al Franken used to mock, the ad dredges up some of Steve Novick's blog posts from BlueOregon, the Democratic website published by Merkley consultant Kari Chisholm.

Unlike all of Merkley's previous ads, this negative one isn't posted on his website. I couldn't find anything on YouTube, and Chisholm's BlueOregon hasn't posted it yet, either. I guess Merkley's not so proud of this one.

In light of this latest turn of events, folks might find THIS helpful.

UPDATE, 8:20 p.m.:
The Oregonian's Harry Esteve found and posted the YouTube Video:



BlueOregon has also posted the YouTube clip and a link to a new Merkley campaign smear website that repeats the anti-Novick attacks, which focus almost exclusively on posts he made years ago on Chisholm's website.

I wonder who built that anti-Novick site anyway?

My Old Friend Bill Clinton Just Called

Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, just took time out of his busy schedule to call me at home and remind me of all the things his wife has done for the rural folk "in Arkansas and New York." He wanted me to consider these things as I cast my ballot in the May 20 Oregon primary.

I'm honored by this attention but not really surprised. Bill and I go way back. Here he is (below) pulling a quarter out of my ear 16 years ago on a sunny spring day in Eugene.



Unfortunately for the former prez, this personal touch is too late. My ballot's already in the mail.

(And I must say, he's not really much of a listener. I couldn't get a word in edgewise. He just kept prattling on until he finished what he had to say, then he hung up).

D.C. Dems Buy TV Time In Oregon Senate Race

Eugene Register-Guard reporter David Steves says the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has bought $44,000 worth of air time at one Portland TV station and is reportedly in for more than $100,000, including buys at other stations.

From Steves' blog:

What we don’t know: what kind of ads they’ll use to fill that air time: counter-attacks against the Republican they’re trying to unseat—Sen. Gordon Smith—make the most sense. Since Sunday, the DSCC’s hand-picked candidate, Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley, has been paying for his own ads criticizing Smith. Merkley’s ads ran in response to those put on the air Friday by Smith, who went on the attack against both Merkley and his fellow Democratic Senate candidate, Steve Novick.

It is possible the DSCC wants to get directly involved with trying to promote Merkley or go after Novick. But given all its efforts to deny involvement in a contested primary—even while giving $93,000 to Merkley last fall and certainly helping him line up endorsements and access fund-raising Rolodexes—they’re not likely to come in with an independent expenditure that makes such an effort so overt.

DSCC spokesman Matthew Miller declined to comment on the ad buy at all.

The Oregonian's Harry Esteve contacted the Merkley and Novick campaigns for reactions:

"All I know is that a purchase has been made," said Matt Canter, spokesman for Merkley's campaign. He said he learned about it from news reporters and TV stations that sell the advertising time. "I don't have any information on these advertisements."

Novick's campaign manager Jake Weigler said he couldn't comment about the ad without knowing its content.

If the DSCC's ads are going to be attacking Smith and his pseudo maverick record, that's a great thing and a sure sign that the group is taking seriously Oregon's effort to oust the Republican incumbent.

From The WMD Stockpiles: Off To A Bad Start

Feb. 22, 2004

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CONTEXT
This cartoon is based on the World Press Photo of the Year for 2003, taken by Jean-Marc Bouju of France for the Associated Press in An Najaf, Iraq, on March 31, 2003. An Iraqi man comforts his son at a holding center for prisoners of war.

Novick Wins BlueOregon Straw Poll

You can mark this one down in the irony category: Steve Novick, insurgent candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Oregon, out-polled the hand-picked party establishment favorite, Jeff Merkley, on the state's largest pseudo-official Democratic Party blog.

Novick garnered 308 votes (47.3%) compared to Merkley's 293 (45%). Candy Neville received 16 votes (2.5%)

The poll included 653 ballots from 179 zip codes representing 33 of Oregon's 36 counties.

Check out the full statewide results HERE.

Ballots for the May 20 primary are in the mail now.

Tuesday Tune: Gabriel's Horns

Saxton Swats Write-In Idea

Ron Saxton stuck a knife in the idea circulating that GOP voters should write him in for attorney general because no Republican has filed for the seat.

Any eventual Republican nominee would face one of two Democrats, John Kroger or Greg Macpherson, in the November general election. But Saxton made clear Monday that he doesn't want to be that nominee.

From Oregonian reporter Jeff Mapes' blog.

Saxton, the 2006 Republican gubernatorial nominee, is "flattered, but not interested," writes Angela Wilhelms, who served as Saxton's spokeswoman during the '06 campaign. Saxton, who lost two well-funded races for governor, has talked about wanting to move out of the public eye. He's left his legal practice and now works for Jeld-Wen, the big window and door manufacturer.

With the Republicans failing to field a viable candidate, the Democratic primary winner will most certainly be Oregon's next attorney general.

Today In Oregon

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Video: The Empire Strikes Barack

Hat Tip to The Daily Dish.

CARTOON: Synchronized Diving

An Olympics Year Preview

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Blumenauer Says Gas Tax Holiday DOA

Oregonian reporter Jeff Mapes says despite all the hype surrounding the gas tax holiday that Hillary Clinton and John McCain are pushing on the campaign trail, it's never going to happen.

From Mapes' blog:

Or so says Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and a member of House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over taxes. Blumenauer is not an unbiased source, being that he doesn't think much of the idea anyway and he's a supporter of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. - the one presidential candidate opposed to the idea.

"The good news is it won't happen," he told me over the phone today. "I think it's a non-starter in terms of it being enacted."

The big hangup in Congress is that no one wants to give up the $3 billion a month the gas tax brings into the highway trust fund, he said. The fund is already going into the red, he said, and members are besieged with demands for more projects than they can approve already.

"What's Ted Kulongoski's No. 1 or No. 2 priority?" he asked of the Oregon governor. "I think it's getting more money into the highway trust fund." If the fund loses more money, Blumenauer points out, the feds will have to cut back on projects, reducing the number of construction jobs and exacerbating the recession.

So the big Gas Tax Holiday of 2008, promised by the politicians, turns out to be all show and no go. Voters will be shocked, shocked I tell you, when they discover another empty promise -- or just plain bad idea -- has been pimped on the campaign trail and in the media.