Your voice: Aug. 19, 2026

With much gratitude,

Mary Jo Commerford and family

The Dalles

Vote Lisa Gambee

We TRUST Lisa to LEAD on her first day in office, as Lisa does not need to learn the county systems, having already served for a decade as our county clerk.

We know Lisa will GIVE ALL RESIDENTS a voice. She has a “commitment to ensuring the people who live here are served first.” That is a perfect stance — support those who live here first! From The Dalles to Antelope, from Maupin to Mosier, Lisa will make sure no community is left behind. After all, about 40% of the county lives outside The Dalles. She gets small towns, having lived in one for so long.

But most importantly to us in the rural areas of the county — water! Residents who live in rural parts of the county have intimate knowledge on the topic of our aging water systems. We have heard Lisa talk about water systems for as long as we have known her. It is not just a talking point for her. Her ideas to have the county help us is what is needed. As she says, “Wasco County has a responsibility to help small systems secure funding, technical expertise and long term stability their residents deserve.”

Please vote Lisa Gambee so all of the county is considered in every decision.

Mary and Dennis Beechler

Tygh Valley

Critical bill

Times are tough for Oregon’s cherry and pear farmers. Between 2017-2022, Oregon lost 29% of its sweet cherry farms and 27% of its pear farms. That decline continues.

What does this mean? Fewer farms mean fewer jobs and less economic activity in rural communities like ours, affecting everyone from farmworkers and local hardware stores to restaurants, grocery stores, and school districts.

It also means less local produce. Oregon is the nation’s top pear-producing state and third-largest sweet cherry producer. Continued losses leave Americans with fewer domestic options when shopping for fresh fruit, vegetables and meats, replaced by imports or absent from grocery shelves.

Many factors contribute to this alarming decline, but escalating labor costs under the federal H-2A visa program are a big factor. H-2A is a costly and complex government program, and is used only when growers cannot secure enough U.S. workers to grow and harvest their crops.

Until last year, H-2A minimum wage rates had risen so high that making a living as a farmer became difficult — and, in some cases, impossible. Oregon’s was $19.82/hour last year. The Trump administration’s commonsense reforms last October, including excluding bonus pay and overtime when calculating the next year’s minimum wage, brought Oregon’s required H-2A wage closer to a level the market may support, depending on crop and market conditions.

Unfortunately, these regulatory reforms remain vulnerable to litigation and changes by future administrations. Growers are still exposed to potential sharp and unpredictable swings in labor costs.

Rep. G.T. Thompson of Pennsylvania introduced the Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act (SAWA) to make the first comprehensive reforms to H-2A in 40 years. SAWA would codify the wage changes and give growers and workers greater predictability. The bipartisan bill would also allow packinghouses facing labor shortages to use H-2A and help small growers share major administrative costs, including housing, transportation, and visa processing.

I thank Reps. Bentz and Newhouse for cosponsoring this critical bill and urge Congress to pass SAWA immediately. Further delay will mean fewer American farms and greater economic strain on rural communities.

Mike Omeg

The Dalles

Catering cart

So the president got trundled out of harm’s way on a catering cart as he scurried aboard an alternate plane and left the other 100 people aboard Air Force One to unwittingly become a decoy target. All to ensure his own safety. The only person in Donald Trump’s world who counts for anything is himself. And don’t think for a moment he would have cared if Air Force One and those 100 sitting ducks were blown out of the sky. Not as long as he was safe. This is our president. Does anyone else hear a chicken clucking?

Kathy Evinger

Hood River

For Gambee

Lisa Gambee protected the foundation of our democracy for nine and a half years when she was Wasco County Clerk. She ensured our elections were secure, transparent and safe. Now Lisa is running for Wasco County Commissioner, and we need her experienced leadership now. Lisa will thoughtfully and intelligently represent all citizens of Wasco County. She understands the needs and concerns of all areas of our county and will be able to address these needs from her first day in office.

To learn more about why she is the most qualified candidate to serve as a commissioner in Wasco County, visit votelisagambee.com.

Please join me in voting for Lisa Gambee for Wasco County Commissioner!

Marolyn Wilks

The Dalles

Priorities

I just saw an ad for Gov. Kotek that her priority is to fight President Trump. What about fighting the fires in Oregon as a priority? What about listening to native Americans asking for prescribed burns?

We need a leader who can look at any lawsuits preventing these burns, bring everyone together and make them happen. We don’t need someone whose ego will prevent her from making peace with the president. She needs to put her ego aside, earn his respect and receive his help in preventing and stopping these fires.

Will history show that her ego and unwillingness to work with the president of the United States led to the worst fires in Oregon’s history? Many of the fires are destroying the homes and lives of people who didn’t vote for her. Will history show she let them suffer as a result, or will it show that she was a true leader and representative of all Oregon residents?

Jon Nigbor

Hood River

Huge thanks

I want to thank every Republican who voted for the current occupant squatting in the White House and at Mar-a-Lago like a giant toad; especially for the prompt release of the Trum ... Epstein Files and for the end of forever foreign wars.

I am super grateful for all the money I am saving on gas and groceries. What a relief from President Biden! I am truly indebted to you for the detention, torture, and occasional death of those nasty immigrants. How else would we Make America White Again? Thank you for all the spectacular demolition, I mean renovations, on the White House grounds and around D.C. Those ratty rosebushes and lawn had to go, and now the reflecting pool is such a lovely shade. Thank you for voting for a president that pays his taxes and spends ours so wisely. Those old people, snotty-nosed kids, and disabled veterans won’t be able to cheat the welfare system any longer!

Also, please accept my heartfelt gratitude for gutting, I mean restructuring, the efficiency of all the government departments meant to serve the people: the Department of Education, the Department of Health & Human Services, the CDC, NIH, FBI, NSA, DOJ, the Department of the Interior and The National Park System. We don’t need all those silly things for our children’s futures. We certainly don’t need any experts in their respective fields running those departments. The loyalist minions are doing a bang-up job! I mean, a little diarrhea lettuce or some measles outbreaks are no big deal.

However, I never want to hear you say “that’s not what I voted for.” Be proud of your decision. All of the chaos and destruction and cruelty is exactly what Republicans voted for! Let’s not forget the spineless GOP lawmakers at every level of government; they deserve some recognition, too. Thank you, Cliff Bentz. Really, all of America owes bigly thanks to you, the Republican voters, for not listening to your friends and family when they told you what a reprehensible piece of excrement you support. Well done, guardians of pedophiles!

Debra Lutje

The Dalles

Hold ICE accountable

White House Homeland Security Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller demands that ICE agents arrest at least 2,000 people a day. To meet this goal, agents are detaining and mistreating citizens and non-citizens (ProPublica, Oct. 16, 2025).

Immigrants who have pending immigration petitions are pulled away from their jobs and lives, even when they have valid work permits and no criminal records (“Argentine soccer player who plays in Miami and was to travel with his team is in ICE custody,” NBC News, Aug. 10, 2026).

Excessive force is used on detainees, and medical care is often denied. In January of this year, a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis was “dragged out of her car and denied her needed medical treatment while she was in custody” (NPR News, April 19, 2026).

Agents hide their faces behind masks and fail to identify themselves. They drive unmarked vehicles when they pursue drivers, break windows, and routinely accuse those they arrest of “weaponizing” their cars so they can justify their violent responses. They fail to use body cameras to document events (“Lack of body cameras on ICE agents fuels more uncertainty over fatal shootings,” CNN, July 14, 2026).

Adding to these unethical tactics is the plan to invest millions in special gloves that give agents the ability to administer electric shocks to people they capture (“ICE plans to outfit officers with electric shock gloves,” NPR, Aug. 12, 2026).

Civil rights in our country are under siege, threatening the safety of all who live here, citizens and non-citizens alike. I urge you to call your representative, Newhouse in CD 4, Washington State, Cliff Bentz or Maxine Dexter for CD 2 or 3 in Oregon, and ask that they support H.R. 8154, the Hold ICE Accountable Act; H.R. 4004, the No Anonymity in Immigration Enforcement Act; and H.R. 4667, the VISIBLE Act.

Call your senators (Murray and Cantwell, Washington, or Merkley and Wyden, Oregon). Urge them to support S. 3891, the ICE Accountability Act; S. 3745, the ICE and CBP Constitutional Accountability Act; and S. 2212, the VISIBLE Act.

April George

White Salmon