Oregon Independent Party nominates Haugen in OR-1

The Oregon Independent Party announced Wednesday that it will be nominating Joel Haugen (R-Scappoose) for Congress in Oregon's 1st Congressional District.

"Joel is using his campaign to try and raise awareness about the fact that there are many politicos in the major parties who have lost sight of the national interest in the fog of partisanship," said party secretary Sal Peralta. "We support his efforts to try and bring the conversation back to the reasonable middle and encourage all people of goodwill to support his candidacy."

Haugen, who also wrapped up the Republican Party nomination in the May 20 primary, has become a figure of interest after it came to light that the local Republican officials in the 1st district refused to support him because he endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and Democratic senatorial candidate Jeff Merkley (D-Portland).

Haugen becomes the second candidate to become cross-nominated by the Independent Party. The Independent Party also nominated Merkley last week.

The cross-nominations have led to several electoral questions as to how Haugen and other candidates must appear on the ballot. According to the Secretary of State, Haugen's name can only appear on the ballot once. If he does take up the Independent Party nomination, he will have to drop the Republican nomination, thus clearing the way for 1st district Republicans to nominate a new congressional candidate.

"The law says that if he wants to appear on the ballot as the candidate for the Independent Party of Oregon, he would have to resign the Republican nomination by August 26," said Don Hamilton, spokesman for the Secretary of State.

The Oregon Independent Party is inquiring into the law, and has taken the stance that historically, while Oregon ballots have the candidate appear only once, they can appear with multiple party nominations.

"We remain optimistic that the Oregon Secretary of State will recognize that the current practice is inconsistent with the statutory requirement," said Independent party Chair Linda Williams, who has been inquiring into the law on behalf of the Independent Party.

For now, both Haugen and the Independent Party will have to wait for clarification of the laws.

"I'm anxious to see how this turns out," Haugen said."They're supporting me, so I don't see any reason why I can't accept that."