Nicholas Kristof's Governor run stumbles before it starts

When I heard that Nicholas Kristof, a former columnist for the New York Times, was running to be Oregon's Governor, I was enthused. 

Wow, a non-politician who, unlike Trump, was intelligent, knowledgeable about the world, and obviously a sophisticated communicator.

I started following Kristof on Twitter. I enjoyed his cogent well-written tweets, along with appealing photos of his family at their Yamhill County farm.

But now I've soured on Kristof.

Yesterday the Oregon Secretary of State, Shemia Fagan, ruled that Kristof didn't meet the residency requirement to run for Governor. The Oregon Capital Chronicle, a great news source, said in its story:

Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan said Thursday that deciding former New York Times columnist Nick Kristof didn’t qualify to run for governor “wasn’t even a close call.”

Fagan’s staff notified Kristof’s campaign on Thursday morning that he didn’t meet a constitutional requirement to be a “resident within this state” for three years prior to the November 2022 election.

Fagan outlined findings by the state Elections Division in a Thursday morning news conference, citing the Democrat’s ties to New York and his failure to produce documents he said made his case.

Hours later at his own news conference in Portland, a defiant Kristof vowed to fight the ruling, calling it an act of self-protection by a “failing political establishment.”

If Kristof had simply said he disagreed with the ruling and would appeal it, that would have been fine by me. But when I saw this tweet by Kristof, I had to reply to it.

Note: It seemed obvious to me that "My candidacy was stolen by the Deep State" was my made-up quote to sound like something Trump would say, but a few people who can't appreciate literary subtlety somehow thought I was quoting Kristof. 

It's unlikely that a Republican will be elected Governor next November. But Betsy Johnson, a moderate Democrat, is running as an independent. It's unclear whether she'd pull more votes from the Democratic or Republican gubernatorial candidate. Regardless, I want to see a Democrat win.

If Kristof somehow were to win both his appeal of Fagan's ruling and the Democratic primary, he'd be saddled with carpetbagger "not really an Oregonian" epithets throughout the general election campaign.

So that's another reason I no longer support Kristof. Plus, the Capital Chronicle tried to get the documents that Kristof claims show that he truly has been an Oregon resident for the past three years, but he refused to share them.

With legal opinions by private attorneys and in a 15-page sworn affidavit, Kristof defended his right to run on two prongs. One is an analysis by his lawyers and others that concludes that Kristof meets the constitutional requirement to run for governor. The second is referring to a string of documents ranging from tax returns to incorporation papers he maintains show he has been an Oregon resident.

A long-time journalist, Kristof didn’t submit these records to the Secretary of State’s Office and rejected a request for them from the Capital Chronicle. Kristof also didn’t answer questions about other public documents obtained by the Capital Chronicle or about his sworn statements regarding his farming operation outside the rural community of Yamhill. He also didn’t respond to an email sharing elements of this story to check for accuracy.

On Dec. 23, the Capital Chronicle requested redacted copies of his New York and Oregon driver’s licenses, his 2018 and 2019 New York and Oregon personal income tax returns, the Yamhill County property tax bill for Kristof Farms for the past three years and the farm’s 2019 corporate tax return and workers’ compensation insurance policy. 

Kristof’s campaign didn’t respond with any documents or an explanation for why they weren’t being provided.

Instead, Kristof and his campaign basically say that because he feels like he's always been an Oregonian, that means he's a long-time Oregon resident. Which is absurd. I've grown accustomed to Trump elevating his feelings over facts, but I expected a lot more from Kristof.

He's appealing to the state Supreme Court. That Capital Insider story includes the 185 page brief his attorneys have filed. Which is really quick work, given that Fagan issued her ineligible-to-run ruling only yesterday. Sure seems like Kristof expected that to happen.

Glancing through the brief, it looks like some solid arguments are being made, along with, I'm sure, some dubious arguments. 

Like I said, even if Kristof wins the appeal, the way he handled the Secretary of State ruling leaves a bad taste in my political mouth. Sure, Kristof isn't a member of Oregon's Democratic establishment. But I find it hard to believe that Fagan was out to tank Kristof's candidacy when she made her ruling.

If the Oregon Supreme Court issues a scathing reversal order of Fagan's decision, that would help to rejuvenate Kristof's campaign. But I still think he's too wounded to win the Democratic primary.

Comments

[Walker]

I could have liked the guy — despite my deep skepticism of people who have never even been elected to their neighborhood association board thinking that they are gubernatorial or senatorial materials (like Chris Dudley and Bud Pierce) — but the more he talks the less I am reachable, at least until 2024 or later.

And his latest bit is pure Trump — as Wonkette says, it’s pretty Trumpy of him to think that he and he alone determines his residency, just as Trump said that his net worth depended on his feelings at any given moment. Why doesn’t he just run for State Senate or House and show us that he’s capable of working in public office even if it isn’t in a starring role? Maybe he’d be good at it. But maybe he’s more ego than anything else, and he’s convinced himself that he’s what Oregon needs, even if Oregonians are too dumb to appreciate that. It’s just not a good look.,

When Knute Beuhler thought he was SoS material, I said “Come back when you’ve shown something more than your own self-regard,” Hat’s off to Beuhler, he actually did. Kristof should do the same.

And of course, his tax returns are the tell (as in refusing to produce them). You know that if he had been classifying himself as an Oregon resident all these years, we’d be seeing those tax returns on every channel night and day.

[W S]

Betsy Johnson is heavily donated to by gas & oil companies, the fishing industry, and the timber industry. All three industries are ruining our state and causing harm internationally. We have cities who no longer have clean water, or are incurring huge costs to offset the damage the timber industry has to their water supplies.

She’s a Republican in all but official affiliation and is being funded by them.

There is a lot of political Tom foolery that happens in our government. I’ve witnessed enough to know there are back door deals which are not done in good faith. Unfortunately this happens as the heads of government agencies are appointed by elected officials who get their position based upon their network and the supporters of their network.

That’s not a “deep state” that’s just how organizational structures work. My recollection is that “deep state” refers to a shadow government or some such nonsense, usually it’s insinuated that it’s run by federal intelligence agencies. Similar to Russia and their KGB.

Regarding Kristoff, he didn’t say “deep state” and it’s not really a fair thing to cast his comment as such. Is he a viable canidate? Beats me. I’m not entirely sure I want to vote for somebody funded by the Melinda Gates when she and her folks Used to donate to ALEC, the foundation responsible for writing stand your ground laws/honor killing laws.

Residency is much more complicated of a legal matter than a drivers license or voter registration. I don’t have enough facts about the situation to form an educated opinion myself. It’s certainly controversial though and it removes a serious outside competitor of the business as usual crowd. Without regard for whether it is a politically motivated government action, it’s pretty convenient for Kotek.

So to end my rant, I don’t think your portrayal is totally fair. I do enjoy your writings though.

[Tendzin]

As others here pointed out, Nikolas Kristof never said "Deep State."

It's end-state TDS when progressives peg Trump rhetoric to other progressives.