Oregon, My Oregon

At the Gates of Vienna, Oregon Drags its Feet on Greater Idaho

For the past two and a half years, I’ve been covering the Greater Idaho Movement, which aims to detach certain counties from eastern Oregon and annex them to Idaho, with which they have a great cultural affinity. Despite votes in the affected counties, the Oregon state legislature has so far failed to respond to the wishes of its eastern residents. One might be tempted to assume that those eastern counties deliver more tax money to the central government than they extract from it, and are therefore too lucrative to let go of.

The account below was sent out as a press release today by Greater Oregon:

LaPine, OR — Proponents of the Greater Idaho Movement released the following statement regarding the close of the Oregon Legislative Session.

“The failure of the Oregon Legislature to move either of the Greater Idaho bills in this session is an affront to the people of Eastern Oregon, as well as the democratic process in general. For five years the people of Eastern Oregon have been making their wishes known at the ballot box. Those wishes are to have elected leaders investigate letting our counties separate and join Idaho. Eastern Oregon representatives sponsored bills in this session to do just that, but were completely ignored by the Democrat majority in Salem. This failure to listen to the people of Eastern Oregon or our elected representatives only reinforces why Eastern Oregon counties need the governance of Idaho, a state far more in line with our values and way of life. After five years of hearing from voters and advocating with legislators to respect voter wishes, it is clear to our organization that Oregon leadership is intent on holding Eastern Oregon counties captive as part of a state we no longer wish to be part of and that federal engagement is necessary to achieve self-determination for the people Eastern Oregon.”

The Greater Idaho Movement seeks to convince Oregon to relocate the Oregon/Idaho state line westward so that the traditionally conservative eastern counties would join the state of Idaho, which the movement says better matches eastern Oregonian values. Since 2020, thirteen counties have passed their measures. The movement believes that moving the border would create a win-win situation for both Oregon and Idaho by better matching voters to state governance and would lower political tension across the state. State lines can be moved through a process called an interstate compact. In January, Greater Idaho bills were introduced in both the Oregon House and Senate requesting border talks or study. Neither of those bills received hearings despite the co-sponsorship of numerous eastern Oregon legislators and a joint letter requesting a hearing from all three state senators whose districts are affected by the proposal.

In 2023 the Idaho House of Representatives passed a resolution inviting the state of Oregon to begin border talks, and the Governor of Idaho has publicly supported border talks as well. The movement has previously reached out to the Governor of Oregon, as well as President Trump asking for support in getting border talks between the two states started.

The Greater Idaho statement may be found here.

I've always thought that that as long as you're going to ask for the politically impossible, you might as well simply seek secession from the remainder of Oregon. Call yourselves Right Oregon, maybe they'll take the hint and become Left Oregon.