Thirteen counties in Oregon have voted in favor of measures to begin negotiations on seceding from the state and joining neighboring Idaho.
The latest county to endorse the initiative was Crook County, where voters approved the “Greater Idaho Measure” on Tuesday. The proposal aims to move Oregon’s border approximately 200 miles to the west, which would place 14 counties and several partial counties under Idaho’s jurisdiction.
“The Oregon/Idaho line was established 163 years ago and is now outdated,” the movement’s website says. “It makes no sense in its current location because it doesn’t match the location of the cultural divide in Oregon.”
The organizers of the Greater Idaho movement argue that residents in eastern Oregon feel increasingly alienated by the state’s progressive policies, which they say contribute to high crime rates. Their website says becoming part of Idaho would offer lower taxes and improved representation and governance for the communities.
“We want an economy that is not held back by Oregon regulations and taxes, including environmental regulations,” Greater Idaho executive director Matt McCaw, said, according to the Daily Mail. “We’ll still have federal and Idaho regulations, and that’s plenty. Idaho knows how to respect rural counties and their livelihoods.”
Legislatively this is a bad deal. Two blue states become a red and a blue. Let Idaho properly compensate Oregon for the land, and let them also take over taking care of all those many miles of rural roads, civic services, emergency services and whatnot with 1/2 the tax base. I hope the folks in Eastern Oregon also understand that this means weed goes away, so the people in Ontario who have enjoyed all the Idaho cash should be prepared to switch gears. Oh, and Oregon Health Plan goes away. To my understanding, Idaho doesn’t have an offering like OHP.
One red and one blue is a wash. Let these people suffer.
Losing a blue to red is not a wash. If Idaho wants to the territory they can pay a fair price for it and the infrastructure on it.