The Skinner family has called on Jamie McLeod-Skinner to quit using photos of their ranch in her campaign out of the belief that she is “misleading” voters by claiming ties to Eastern Oregon that she does not have.
“It’s time to clear up this nonsense about Jamie being part of our ranch family,” stated Bob Skinner, former president of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association and current officer of the National Public Lands Council, in a press release distributed last week.
“She’s a California liberal who came out to the ranch a few months back and got a selfie under our sign. Her wife may share our last name, but they’re a distant branch of the family. We’re asking her to stop using our ranch sign in her campaign and stop misleading voters. It’s not how we do things out here.”
Skinner said he wanted to make it clear that his family supported McLeod-Skinner’s opponent, Rep. Greg Walden, a Republican, who has held the Second Congressional District seat for 20 years.
McLeod-Skinner told the Chronicle she was surprised at the hard stance taken by Bob given the cordial meeting she had with him last fall, where he told her upfront that he supported Walden.
Although her wife, Cass (Skinner), has not lived on a ranch or been involved with farming operations, McLeod-Skinner said she comes by the claim of having ties to the Jordan Valley honestly. Cass’s father grew up on a farm run by her grandfather.
McLeod-Skinner said Bob and Cass are third cousins and both trace their ancestry back to Silas Skinner, a prospector who was one of Oregon’s early settlers. “She is from a ranching family,” said McLeod-Skinner.
To reiterate their point about supporting Walden, three generations of Bob Skinner’s family posed with the federal official for a photo under the same ranch sign that McLeod-Skinner posted on Facebook last fall with the following caption:
“As Cass (Skinner) and I prepare for Thanksgiving, we are grateful for our family, our friends, and this amazing journey we have undertaken with you to build healthier communities and to rebuild trust in government…”
McLeod-Skinner then talked about traveling around the district to speak with ranchers, retirees, farmers, teachers, waitresses, gas station attendants, small business owners, union workers, community organizers, and others about their concerns and issues.
The Second Congressional District is the largest in Oregon and the seventh largest in the nation. Covering roughly two-thirds of the state, the district encompasses Wasco, Hood River, Jackson, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa and Wheeler counties, as well as part of eastern Josephine County.
Walden distributed the Skinner family’s press release online at their request and is quoted as saying: “I deeply appreciate the more than 20 years of friendship with the Skinners, and greatly value their strong support of my campaign.”
McLeod-Skinner said she “worked in California but is not from California,” as Bob has stated.
“I set a track record for the 800-meter race at Ashland High School and you can still see it there,” she said. “It’s really hard for him to claim that I’m not from the district when I have something that’s still longstanding to prove that I am.”
Jamie grew up in Wisconsin and her family came to Oregon when she was a teenager. Following high school, she earned a bachelor’s in civil engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and a master’s in Regional Planning from Cornell University.
From 1996 to 1998, McLeod-Skinner was a reconstruction and program manager in Bosnia and Kosovo and led a Lutheran refuge services organization from 2000 to 2002. She believes her experience in a war zone enables her to relate to veterans and better understand some of their struggles.
McLeod-Skinner was a planner for two government entities in the Silicon Valley of California from 2003 to 2013, developing public policy to address climate change and affordable housing.
She ran for a city council position while in the Silicon Valley as the underdog and won. She served eight years with a constituency of 120,000, comparable to a state-level rep, while working full-time.
Not only is she proud of her work in California, McLeod-Skinner said that she believes her prior work experience will benefit Eastern Oregon, which could use a boost in economic development.
“The connections I have are potentially very valuable,” she said. “I worked with a lot of high-tech firms and those relationships could benefit our district.”
In 2013, McLeod-Skinner said she returned to Oregon and settled in Eugene to study law.
She said recent letters to the editor in the Chronicle and other newspapers have questioned whether she and Cass, her partner for about five years and wife for two, still live in Eugene, which is outside the district. That claim has been made because two of her four step-children are enrolled in school there.
McLeod-Skinner said she and Cass reside in Terrebone, a small town within the district, and they have visitation with the children, who live with their father in Eugene. The other two children are grown.
“Most people I’ve met are more concerned about their families than mine, and that’s really the bottom line,” she said.
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