GOP targets Merkley's hand in the closing of the Office of Rural Policy

The closing of the state’s Office of Rural Policy has made news this week, and now the Oregon Republican Party is trying to lay the blame on Jeff Merkley’s doorstep. 

The office was born from a 2004 order signed by Gov. Ted Kulongoski and died earlier this week, when its allotted funding ran out. Intended to serve as a liaison between Oregon’s rural areas and Salem, the Office of Rural Policy was only allotted enough funds in the 2007 budget to allow it to operate for an additional nine months.

 The GOP painted Merkley—who supported the budget—as a Portland Liberal who did little to keep the office afloat, even though in the past he has “pretended to understand rural Oregon by pledging partnership and embarking on a tour of places far, far from Portland.” 

Merkley’s spokesman, Matt Canter, has a different view of the situation. Reiterating Merkley’s rural pedigree—the Speaker was raised in Roseburg and is the son of a mill worker—Canter also believes that the GOP’s focus on Merkley demonstrates the dynamics of the race.

“This is more of the Republicans showing too much leg, and quite frankly, they don’t have very nice legs. They are clearly concerned about Jeff Merkley taking on Gordon Smith,” he said. 

Canter also said that the proposition that Merkley doesn’t care about rural Oregonians is ridiculous, especially in comparison to Smith’s record.

  “Gordon Smith has been selling rural Oregon down the river for 12 years, while he’s been focusing on his golf game,” Canter said.