Like the rest of the country, Newberg and Yamhill County have a unique opportunity to turn the page on controlling, grievance-filled politics by rejecting politicians who have refused to work with any “outsiders,” taking their positions as a mandate to do as they please.  

Since Linsday Berschauer burst upon the scene to run for county commissioner, Yamhill County has seen the rise of partisan dominated politics for community-based issues. With the election of Berschuaer came the rise of two far-right political groups seeking to control all politics in Yamhill County: Newberg Dundee Strong and Mac We Are. 

These groups are both affiliates of Strong Town, USA, an organization that advocates “for cities of all sizes to be safe, livable and inviting.” 

Sounds good, but despite being affiliates, the agenda of Strong Town, USA, is not really the goal of Newberg Dundee Strong and Mac We Are. Instead, the local organizations are fueled by the identity politics of MAGA. 

Thus, voters in our county are faced with low-knowledge candidates who exhibit a lot of confident wrongness. 

• We see it in the giant signs that liter our beautiful country roads. 

• We see it in the passive-aggressive signage of city homes.

• We saw it with a “100% MAGA” Newberg-Dundee School Board that made national news for its racist policies, then fired a popular and competent superintendent in the Newberg-Dundee School District superintendent and hired their candidate, Dr. Phillips. 

• We saw it with the lavish praise poured on the new superintendent and chief financial officers by the 7-person board, all members of Newberg Dundee Strong. Their hand-picked leaders for our district repeatedly lied to the community, hiding the fact that they bankrupted the school district, then sued the district for their own incompetence.

• We see it with the aggressive smearing of any outsider by Carey Martell, whose “Yamhill Advocate” operated in conspiracy theories that made his targets in Newberg feel unsafe.

• We see it with the exclusionary, biased and prejudiced reporting of Becky Wallis, member of NDS, conflict resolution officer for Yamhill County Republicans, and editor of Yamhill County News

We want to take a moment to point out the end result of Wallis’ multiple complaints to the Newberg School Board. Confident wrongness that cost the district (and therefore the taxpayers) time and money. Board member Nancy Woodward and Finance Committee chair Kat McNeil spent countless hours responding to the complaints. One of the board lawyers also gave hours of time. Becky herself seemed to take pleasure in the time and money she caused the district to waste. 

On Friday, November 1, all three complaints that made it to the Oregon Ethics Commission were dismissed. All of Wallis’s complaints were protective of Dr. Phillips, insisting that the board and the chair of the finance committee were breaking the law by hiring an interim superintendent and pointing out financial issues, respectively. Confident wrongness at work.

We have the opportunity to put this kind of partisan politics behind us. We need politicians that are knowledgeable and skilled, not blinded by purity partisan politics. We need politicians willing to work with ALL citizens of Yamhill County for the common good. 

Please vote for: 

• Bubba King for Yamhill County Commissioner
• The only non- Newberg Dundee Strong city councilor, Elise Yarnell Hollamon
• Newberg-Dundee School District psychologist, Dr. Jeri Turgesen  for Newberg City Council
• Experienced conflict mediator, Tyson Butler for Newberg City Council.