Episode 5 - Blayne Soleymani-Pearson - Washington County Commissioner, District 2, Primary Candidate

Blayne Soleymani-Pearson is running for Washington County Commissioner in District 2. He's a domestic violence prosecutor and a father to kids who deserve to grow up in a county that fights for people who look like them.

When he was three or four years old, he watched his mother get attacked. He shielded his little brother. He chased the man away. He couldn't save her, but that moment moved through his whole life. It's why he became a lawyer. It's why he's spent years prosecuting domestic violence cases, connecting that childhood wound to helping the next person, the next family.

When the federal government threatened to strip funding for DEI, other counties sued. Washington County said we won't rock the boat. And Blayne watched the most diverse county in the state abandon its own people. He watched Nafisa Fai stand alone.

He's running to stand with her. Because people who look like his wife and his kids deserve a commissioner who will fight. Not compromise. Fight.

Listen to why he's in this race.

Guest:Blayne Soleymani-Pearson, Candidate for Washington County Commissioner, District 2

Hosts: Eric McGuire and Katherine Watkins

Thanks for listening to the Oregon Voices Podcast!

If this episode resonated with you, please subscribe so you never miss a conversation. Sharing the show with others helps these stories travel farther.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@oregonvoicespodcast
Instagram: https://instagram.com/oregonvoicespodcast

Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2550069/episodes/18811599

Oregon Campaign Finance Watch: https://orcampaigns.lovable.app/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:09

From the toast to the highlight. We've been talking about the same old line. Big suits taking up all our time while the ring clock and the kids ask why. Kitchen table feels like town hall. We don't fit in that shopping mall. So we built this show and we set it all.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Hello and welcome to Oregon Voices. I'm Eric McGuire and I'm joined by Catherine Watkins. Today we are pleased to be joined by Blaine Solomone Pearson, who is running for Washington County Commissioner in District 2. Thank you, Blaine, for joining us today. Thanks for having me here. You bet. So to start us off today, just tell us a bit about yourself and your story and how you've arrived at this moment running for elected office in Washington County.

SPEAKER_05 0:58

Yeah. So I am born and raised most of my life in LA County and have always kind of had a tie to Oregon because my dad had a love affair with Oregon. When I was late 20s, I wanted to go someplace new that was kind of familiar to me. So I moved up here, went to Portland State, finished my degree, and um and then met my wife up here pretty soon after moving. And I'm not going anywhere now. Now we have two kids. Uh I for the next month and a half, I'll have a two-year-old and a one-year-old. And we live in um Cedar Mill area, North Beaverton. And we love it there. We picked it because that's where just living in Washington County since I've been up here, and my wife living here since she was uh six years old, um, it's it's where we wanted to be. Yeah, so that's kind of how I got up here. And then I have uh I decided to go to law school later in life, in my later than most people, I guess I would say, in my 30s. And uh that was because I in 2018, when my wife and I got married, when Trump did the Muslim ban thing, uh it affected people from her family and they couldn't even begin to try to come here and come to our wedding. And that was, it didn't come out of nowhere that I wanted to go to law school at that point, because I had thought about it. But um it was the thing that put me over the edge where I thought, okay, forget the excuses, let's let's go to law school and do something. Let's let's fight with the law. There's there's other people that fight in other ways, but you know, that's a useful, a useful tool, useful tactic. So that's that's what um that's what started me going down that path. And I have worked at the uh Multnomah County District Attorney's Office. Uh obligatory, anything I share here today are the views of myself and not my government employer. And um, but I've gotten to work in domestic violence prosecution mostly, my most of my time there. And that's been really uh amazing for me. Uh my one of my first memories, which I didn't remember was one of my first memories until a few months ago when I started really thinking about this, is watching my mom be attacked uh and not being able to do anything. I was like three years old, four years old, maybe. I just remember my younger brother, who's two and a half years younger than me, was still on a diaper. So, you know, I I figure he was like probably around one or so. Anyway, I remember kind of shielding him from what was happening. And then um at one point I like chased this man out the out the street, out into the street. And I should also mention this was not my father, just in case my father's listening to this. My father's fine. This is not my dad. Uh, but I, you know, do I think this man was scared of me and that's why he left? No, but it it definitely instilled this even if I feel powerless, I need to try and fight back thing. And I think that thread has kind of taken me through. It's why I culminated in wanting to be an attorney in 2018, and it's why I was really honored to be working in domestic violence prosecution. I um I had to think long and hard about whether or not I wanted to run because domestic violence prosecution and domestic violence work in general, not just prosecution, is so difficult. And it's difficult for a lot of reasons. Uh, I witnessed with my mom for years her struggling with uh feeling like she could seek help, seeking help, getting out of bad situations. It's there's so much victim blaming, um, uh, and there's so much that systems aren't designed to help. So I liked doing the work. It was hard as all hell, but super, super rewarding. And just having that connection to feeling like, you know, I couldn't help my mom, but I can help this next person. So uh, but I saw what was happening in Washington County where I felt like people that look like my wife, people that look like my wife's family, and look like my kids, uh, are being abandoned by Washington County politics, uh, by government. And it started with the federal government saying that local governments, state governments had to strip out their DEI policies or there was gonna be no funding. And what some governments did, like Multnomah County, for example, I think Beaverton, even as a city, signed on, was to say to was to fight back and was to either sue or support lawsuits through amicus briefs or whatnot, and basically say, no, we're not gonna change this, and you can't, through executive order, just tell us that you're gonna strip our funding. And they fought back. Washington County took a different tactic. They said, well, we don't, we don't want to rock the boat. We we can't, we can't lose our funding. So let's just let's do whatever they want. And I wasn't made aware of it, and that's a whole other conversation about how how city and county governments make sure that the news of what they're doing is getting out to the public. But we'll put that aside for now. But I wasn't aware of that as it happened in real time, and I found out about it later. And I was just disgusted by what the chair and then the other members that supported the chair said about it, where they just were unwilling to fight. They were unwilling to even question if they could fight. And that's leaving behind one of the most diverse counties in the state. Washington County is one of the most diverse counties in the state. And um I saw that the only person fighting was Commissioner Nafisa Phi, uh, who represents District One, neighboring district, the district I'm running for. She's also running for county chair. And um I frankly, she needs an ally up there. She needs help up there. And I wanted to, even though I really believe in the work I'm doing uh at the uh at my current job, I need to make sure that there's someone in my county where I live that I call home that's fighting for the people I love and the people I care about. And I don't see that, and that's why I'm jumping into this race. Great.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

That's awesome. Thank you for sharing that. Um, can I just ask one quick follow-up question? Um, and you don't need to spend a ton of time on this, but um one of the themes of of this show is talking about identity. Um, and for people like me and people who look like us, I think it's important to have a little sense of like, you know, you you talked about growing up in Los Angeles. Like um, I lived in Los Angeles for a little while when I was older in the Whittier area. But like just giving us a sense of like what were your main influences as a kid and like what you know, just what what um as much as you're comfortable with, just giving us a sense of what it was like to grow up in LA.

SPEAKER_05 7:55

Yeah, so uh and I want to be clear if you're not from LA, I say I'm from LA, but if you're from LA, it's North LA County, not LA. Okay. Uh Magic Mountain, if anyone's heard of it. Yeah, I'm just gonna say that. Magic Mountain. That's where I'm from. Yeah. So um a pretty, you know, they call it like a purple district. Um, I I think pretty conservative district, actually, if I if I stop and think about it. But living up in that area, I'm exposed, I was exposed to so many different kinds of people. And I don't just mean by looks. Like I'm I'm a white man, uh, and yes, there's different kinds of people from different ethnicities, races, uh, different national origin, and all that. But there's also people with very different life experiences and people with different kinds of jobs and people with just different religions. I mean, there's so many different kinds of people in that area. And not so much as in where I grew up as just the greater Los Angeles area, right? But I was so close. So um that uh definitely impacted how I interface with people that are different than me and people that I disagree with. Uh and that is actually something that is missing, I think, in organ politics is you you have some people that are just really attached to the racism. Like there, there's there's those people. And then you have other people that describe themselves as progressive, liberal, progressive, whatever they say, whatever they're leftist, whatever they call themselves. And they are in philosophy or they think they are, like by reading about, oh, that sounds good to me, but because they've never been exposed to someone different, they practically don't act that way when when push comes to shove. I see that a lot out here. So um I think, you know, it could be a much longer answer if we wanted to dig into it. But I think just generally, like I that shaped me. And I I should also note like I grew up with um parents who tried to use the colorblind method of of talking about race. And they thought and it from a good place in their hearts, like they thought they were doing the best thing. And I had to do a lot of work to seek out information to see why that was problematic and and to do that work. So the work's available, the, the, the resources are available if you want to do the work. And and I encourage everyone to do the work. But um, but that also is something that I had to navigate. So, you know, I'm not saying that I came into uh where I am today. I I didn't grow up with the the perfect little leftist uh mindset. Uh I had to earn it, I had to work for it, and I had to overcome a lot of uh obstacles that it's easy to put your head in the sand. Yeah. Um, and that's what I see a lot up here. It's it's easy to put your head in the sand when you especially take into account that there is such a lack of different kinds of people in Oregon.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

Right. Yeah, that's a great thank you for taking the time to answer that appreciation.

SPEAKER_03 10:39

Well, and if I could um kind of piggyback on that whole um colorblind upraising, because you know, I see that a lot with people um where they'll they'll say, you know, I was I was raised not to see color. Um, and just by saying that, I'm like, do you hear the erasure in your statements? Right. You know, it's like, how can you not see me? You know, you see the color of the sky, you see the color of everything else, and you're seriously saying that the moment you came across me, you didn't start acting different.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:10

You know, and so, but it's really interesting because I do remember that time where they were really pushing that, you know, parents, raise your children to be colorblind. And, you know, I I always wonder about was that in like a good effort of trying to move forward somehow, or was it just a purposeful tactic of erasure? You know, but either way, it's damaging. Right, you know, and so whenever people come to me and they're like, I'm colorblind, I'm like, I can't, I can't deal with you. They make glasses for that, right?

SPEAKER_02 11:42

Yeah, you know, seriously.

SPEAKER_05 11:44

Yeah, I I don't begrudge my parents for thinking that was the right uh method, especially when considering what they what they came from. If and I think, you know, uh regard well, not regardless, yeah, there probably was some nefarious intent in creating that. Um, but uh I think people that adopted it may have had nefarious intentions or not. Like I think it seeped into just, you know, as you were pointing out, it was just kind of a time where people were thinking or saying that was the right way to handle things. But because of that, I think we because that was deployed for a period of time, we are able to very clearly now see that that why that wasn't. Plenty of people said it wasn't the right, like there were people saying that was not the right way to go about it. Um, which obviously I didn't know about when I was a child. But now looking back, I can see that that was happening. But now for sure, like there's no question that okay, we played that little experiment and it did not it it's not where we need to be.

SPEAKER_02 12:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:38

Absolutely. All right. Well, I wanted to talk to you about you being a father and being in this role. Um, we were talking yesterday on the phone, and um, I just couldn't believe you're a young father. Yeah. Um, and so my children, my son is 23, and my bonus twins are 26. And so um I'm I'm still invested in the community. I still want to do everything, but it's not dire, you know, because it's not my children in it, but you have children who are gonna be coming into the school system, who are gonna be walking the streets, um, shopping, you know, just living their lives. Um, and so you definitely have a personal stake in um this role. And so I just kind of wanted to know like, um, what would you um what would be different for your kids if you win? Like what what are some things that you're really f feeling that you need to change and move around so that they will be able to have a um more enjoyable childhood and adulthood.

SPEAKER_05 13:42

Yeah. Um also uh I'll be 40 this year, so thanks for calling me a young father. I knew what you meant. I'm I'm on the young side of uh, you know, having the young kids, but uh quick aside, I it's uh someone I went to high school with has has a child that's like 20, 21. And I just think, well, man, I can't imagine uh I was I barely am ready to have the kids I have now. So um but I think you know there's so many directions I want to go with that. But I will say the most immediate and quick thing that they would see is they would see that uh the local government would have policies in place and a system down for the community to know how police and the government are going to respond to ice. And that because that is the that is the, you know, if you're doing triaging in an emergency department, not that I'm a doctor, but I watch the pit. Um, so I feel like somewhat qualified answers this question. Um the bleeding out right now is is ice in our community and the lack of knowing what the response is going to be. So it would just be that baseline of I would be pushing to change policies on how we interact with that, with that apparatus. Um, because right now, I mean, there are people that I know that are relying on these civilian rapid response groups to know where they can go shopping. I have had to call people and say, hey, don't go to that store, which I'm not even gonna name any stores, not to give anyone ideas, but uh, don't go to that store that I know you go to to go shop because there's ice there today. We can't look, we can't stop ice from going where they're gonna go. I'm not saying that, but our community doesn't know what to expect. They they don't know what to expect. So anyway, I right now I'm afraid of, you know, are my kids gonna have family members that they won't know because they get taken?

SPEAKER_02 15:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:47

That's where I'm at right now. So I the first thing I need to do is make sure that I do everything in my power to make that as difficult as possible for them to be taken. Um, because I don't want to have to explain to my children why the people in government were too scared to act. So therefore, you don't have a family member. Um I can answer that question more broadly if you have follow-up to that, but that's like the I think the first most immediate need.

SPEAKER_03 16:12

Yeah, and I really appreciate you sharing that because I'm on um a lot of these different pages where because a lot of our officials in Washington County have not stepped up to ICE, the community is taking it upon themselves, which has been a beautiful thing. Um, and just seeing people who are willing to um go out and get um groceries for others or to pick up other children. There's just been like such um such unity.

SPEAKER_02 16:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:40

Um, but you know, I I also see a lot of parents who are sharing that their teenage children were pulled over um coming home from school or their children walking to school and um seeing something that maybe kind of ignites them of like, I think that's ice and they're freaking out. And these children are supposed to just continue walking to school. Yeah. You know, and so um there's definitely that that that component where it's like, what are we supposed to do when we're feeling threatened if we are being followed? You know, and a lot of people are calling the police, and the police are like, sucks to suck.

SPEAKER_05 17:23

That is exactly the response. Sucks to suck. Yeah. That is it. And you know, I I'm gonna use a quick example of just priorities. Because the communities had to step up, and I agree, it's like a beautiful tragedy. It's like it's so beautiful to see. It's like when you hear stories of um the community pitched in to help this family pay for their$200,000 cancer treatment. Why are we celebrating? I mean, yes, good on the people that did that, but why are we here and why are we celebrating that? How it's how I feel about this situation, too. But um, you know, because of the community, the lack of government input, local government input, and the community filling those gaps, you know, I've seen people sharing information, like pictures. Hey, it this is looking pretty suspicious. This person is operating how ICE operates. Is this ice? This culminated recently in um a Washington County Sheriff's detective, I believe, I think it was a detective, which would explain why they were in plain clothes clothes, um, that was going around and there was like a picture on like someone's ring camera or something like that. Don't use ring people. Um they're helping out ice. Uh so uh people were sharing in a group, like, hey, is this ice? And it had the the guy's face. And to be fair, he was dressed exactly how ice dresses, where black cap, uh a tan or black jacket, uh, some sort of fatigue-ish type, you know, like tan pants, like it or jeans. Like he looked like I understand the question.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 18:49

And then in one of the pictures, the guy was holding a badge. Now, the badge was very clearly a sheriff's department badge, or at the very least, very clearly not a DHS badge, because DHS badges look very unique. Like, so anyone that doesn't know, like a the local sheriff's department has like a however many pointed star, whereas DHS has more of like a shield with an eagle on it. So it you can usually tell pretty quickly. So someone posted, like, hey, is does anyone know is this confirmed ICE? And and people were probably back, no, that looks like a sheriff's badge. That's probably local law enforcement or you know, whatever it is. So that happens. Keep in mind there are community members that have been pushing for local law enforcement and cities to develop policy so the public knows what's going on.

SPEAKER_02 19:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 19:32

And that hasn't been happening. I've been meeting with with uh government officials since December 2nd, and we've not seen we've seen some movement like at the city level, some city, Beaverton and Hillsborough, for example, are like talking, but they're talking and people are being abducted or killed or whatever. So what the sheriff did in response was was record a video that was very polished, very like very high high-end stuff. And basically what a lot of the public felt was that she was threatening the public. Like, if you quote, I don't know if she said this dox, but I'm I'm saying docs. Like if you dox our people, like that's not acceptable. We you know, you you have to stop doing this. And I was just so caught off guard because uh here I know that she knows because she's taken meetings with me and a few people and seem to be very willing to engage. Like I'm not, you know, she's engaging, but the pace at which we're moving is so slow. But then a meet within days of this whole thing, with the public just trying to protect themselves, not meaning anything any harm, trying to stop harm, there was enough of a response to let's make a video, let's put it out, and let's say stop doing this. I would love to see that same energy make the same video about telling ICE to get out of here. Yeah, about telling the people, hey, I know it feels like we can't do much, but here's the few things we can and will do, and here's what to expect. I mean, let's see that. Let's do that PR push and do that. There's a real opportunity here, I think. And I know I'm getting a little tangential. I'll I'll finish up my answer to the question on this. Um, there's a real opportunity here for law enforcement to breed some goodwill with the public that they have not seen in years. This is a low-hanging fruit. Like people, people that describe themselves as police and prison abolitionists are saying, can the police do anything to help us? That is wild to me. Yeah. And and the fact that there's either, I don't know what it is, I don't know if it's apathy, I don't know if it's fear, I don't know if it's whatever. So, but something is stopping them from taking advantage of that. And it's such a shame to see because I hope we're never in a position like this again. But who knows if this position will come up again for them to have the opportunity to breathe the goodwill with the public.

SPEAKER_03 21:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 21:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:51

Well, and I've been seeing, you know, a lot of just people begging our officials. Um, I, you know, I'll look at Facebook and stuff, and officials will post things, and then you just seek Community members, what about this? What about this? You're not addressing this. And I'd seen that um video that you were talking about. And then they also uh did a video about like a robot Oh, a drone.

SPEAKER_05 22:12

Yeah. Yeah, a new drone program.

SPEAKER_03 22:13

And I'm like, again, how does this show that you're listening to your residents who are begging for protection? And with you being um a lawyer of domestic violence, children are already taught very young, you don't call the cops, right? And now they're seeing a cosmet happening all over, the message is again made. Don't call the cops, they're not gonna help for this. So it's like, what will they help with to protect property? To conserve what piece? Because if cosplay flunkies are breaking out down windows, and then people are showing evidence of being a citizen and they just throw it and they abduct them because they have a quota of$5,000 a day, then who do you call to get reimbursed for all of that damage to your car or your car? Uh, the impound fees, you know, um, the the jail where maybe you had to go pick up your children and now they're just abandoned. And are you gonna lose your children because now they're gonna say you're neglectful? I mean, it's just like so much where you're like, who is supposed to serve and protect us?

SPEAKER_05 23:31

Right. And part of what the things you just highlighted are actually specifically, I don't know if this was intentional on your part, but they're specifically things that I have asked the local government and law enforcement to I I've made a proposal to the Sheriff's Department and to uh uh uh Hillsboro City Council and to um Beaverton City Council. And in that proposal, it highlights response of police. But one of the things it touches on is what you were just talking about, where we know that people's cars are being left on the side of the road and then they have to get towed, and then we know that children are being left unaccompanied now because their parents get taken. Well, what in this proposal that I and other people, it's not just me, have been working on, is saying, hey, the police and and the cities and the county should be aware that that A, this is happening and should develop policy to go above and beyond their basic requirements. So my policy that I put forward would, which I would support once I get elected and changing, and I wouldn't have to beg and demand and organize and get people in. I could just vote and pass it. But um, it would say, hey, if you come upon this and there's a vehicle on the side of the road that that you as law enforcement will make reasonable effort. Lawyers love the term reasonable. Reasonable effort gives you a lot of wiggle room, but just reasonable effort to make contact with a family member or a friend that can take the vehicle is to avoid those impound costs.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_05 24:47

Now, there could be a lot, they could take that idea and they could roam it and they say, okay, we're gonna tow it, but if it's for this reason, we're gonna tag it and there's gonna be no cost. Right. That would be a way too. I mean, there's multiple ways to do it. I'm not saying I have the only ideas, I just have an idea. And with the kids, people uh immigration attorneys and family law attorneys are advising families hey, if you think you might be at risk of being taken, you should, and they provide them with like documents of here's what we need to fill out so that there's a directive of who should take care of your kids. And then they're advising them of where to put those documents. And I'm not gonna share that just in case I shouldn't. Um, but because of that, the other proposal I have is hey, make reasonable efforts to, you may have to call Oregon DHS for as just part of your job as a mandatory reporter. And you guys are both or have been mandatory reporters, I'm a mandatory reporter, so I understand that. Not saying to not do that, but also contact, look, know that the child might have the document, might be in a vehicle somewhere, look for that, make reasonable efforts to place this person with the kid, the parent, the the new guardian.

SPEAKER_03 25:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:45

And if you still have to call ODHS, that's fine, do that. But do this other thing to reduce the trauma on the child. Yes. So you you hit on things that like it would be so easy to just add one extra piece just to show a little humanity. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

So yeah. You're running against Felicita Felicita Monteblanco, who is a Democrat, also a newcomer. Um, she got eight years of actual government experience. Um, and you have legal credentials and criminal justice experience for a voter in District 2 trying to decide between two progressives, what's the actual difference? Uh, not resume, not background, but what would Washington County look like differently under your uh under your leadership versus hers?

SPEAKER_05 26:29

Action. It like if I could just sum it up real easily, it's action. Um, you know, as we were we were chatting, just kind of uh uh warming me up so I wasn't awkward during the interview, you know, we were talking about uh kind of um uh establishment and people kind of taking it easy, or or you know, are people progressive or you know, all of that. And what I have seen, the whole reason I jumped in, like the thing that was the deciding factor was seeing that my opponent is A endorsing I mentioned Commissioner Nafisa Phi earlier in this episode, um, endorsed her opponent. So that tells me that she doesn't align with all of the attempts that Commissioner Fai has tried to take to take action and to make changes and to fight against the things I mentioned earlier about the federal government. So that was number one concern for me. Number two was her being endorsed. Now, people get endorsed by people they don't agree with 100% of the time. That, you know, not the issue, but when I combine her lack of endorsing Commissioner Fai and then um her uh endorsement of her opponent, and then being endorsed by Catherine Harrington and Pam Treese, who the the current chair and then the person running. So that I mean, they were the architects for were too scared to take any action. So that tells me that she would be more of the same. And that is unacceptable for me and my family. And so that that is what ultimately made me decide, is it worth it? Because, you know, and this wasn't directly your question, um, but I think it it is a natural flow to this. Um I did not take lightly the fact of thinking, do I want to run as someone who knows that I take up a lot of space? And I've been given a lot of permission to take up a lot of space. I'm white, I'm a man, I'm tall, I'm I'm straight. Like all of these things I've been given permission my whole life, implicitly or otherwise, to take up space. Do I want to run against a woman of color who has experience? Because the other thing is men always think they can just run for office. They're just like with no experience. And it takes women, and I don't know the statistic, but it takes women a lot longer to feel like they can run. So I'm not uh I'm aware of this and I thought long and hard about it, and I consulted with a lot of people I love and trust to make sure I was not off base in thinking this was necessary. And I ultimately asked myself, do I trust anyone else that's currently put their hat in the ring to protect my family, protect the community that I care about? And the answer is no, I don't. And so that means I have to do it if no one else is gonna do it. So that's that's why I'm jumping in.

SPEAKER_00 29:15

Thank you. Yeah, that's great. Um, did you want to follow up with anything?

SPEAKER_03 29:20

Or I I just love that answer because you know, I mean, really, it really does come down to action. And so you could have all the experience, you could have all the credentials, but if you are working in how do I stay in this position, how do I keep my paycheck, how do I stay safe and screw everybody else? You you've burnt out your welcome. Yeah. You know, we need action.

SPEAKER_05 29:45

I I want to quote one of my recent heroes. Uh, and I will say he says his name Zoran, and I know everyone else says Zoran, so I'm gonna go based on how he says his name, uh Zoran. Um, uh Mom Donnie, the mayor of New York City. I remember watching uh I watched all the pre-election stuff. My wife would walk in late at night from going to like the gym or wherever she was. She'd go, Are you watching more uh Mom Donny stuff? Uh but anyway, in one of the debates, the the question posed to him was about experience versus no experience. Um, and not that he had no experience, but uh but uh Cuomo was touting all his experience. And and Mom Donny said, Uh, yeah, we've all seen your experience. And what is all of the knowledge and experience if we know exactly what you're going to do is not going to help us? And and that's how I view it. And I'm not comparing my opponent to to Andrew Cuomo. Like that's that is not what I'm trying to get out of that at all. Um, but what I'm saying is the common thread there is, yeah, she has experience, but what uh what good is that experience? To your point, Catherine, like what good is that experience if you're not going to use that experience to help the people in need? And so that is that is what I am going to do uh is I'm going to push uh for these systems to change. It it can be done. We just have to do it. We need people in the positions of power that are willing to take a chance and take a risk. And I have that background in the law that I may not have the background in county policy. Uh and I will point out neither does my opponent, right? She has done uh THPRD, which we love THPRD. Okay, don't get me wrong. Like, I love that park system, I utilize it all the time. Um, but but I have the legal background to know how to use the law as a tool. And if you remember back when I said, like, what was the reason I went to law school? It's like, let me use the law as a tool and as a weapon and to fight back against these systems and to to uh turn these systems on their heads. Um, and I same, I'm getting a little off topic here, but the same thing when I decided to go to the DA's office. I again also didn't take lightly, knowing that systems of government have been used to oppress and keep down groups of people, whether it's black Americans, whether it's immigrants, whether it's the queer community, like whatever that is, uh I didn't take that lightly. But I also knew that it's not an either-or. And as long as I'm pushing from the outside to make change, and I know that I have allies and friends pushing from the outside in to make change, it it takes both. I truly believe believe it takes both.

SPEAKER_00 32:16

So yeah. Um, so just kind of to follow up with that, I think that there's a dynamic here that's really essential to understand, I think, for voters, because voters of Washington County, uh, and I'm my experience is specifically with the school district in Beaverton, but folks in Beaverton um are um I I don't do I want to use the word progressive. They're they're they they're good voters, they they think about what they're voting for. Um and I think when they're presented with a choice between a white guy and a woman of color, and I'm speaking from my experience here um as a candidate, um, they have a almost a default that they don't feel like there's anything else for me to know. Uh and so what I wanted to give you a chance to talk about is um because what what my experience told me is that as you run for an office, you kind of get access to behind the curtain. And when you look at a school board as is in this case, um what you find is that status quo and and power doesn't know um color. Like you can get into that position and be a person of color and you just automatically grasp on to that power and you don't want to let it go. And so, like, how does Washington County fit into this discussion about trying to disrupt status quo um thinking in in Washington County to be more um supportive of the common person in Washington County?

SPEAKER_05 33:45

Uh I think you really hit the nail on the head. I mean, that has been the thing that has been gross to me is take getting a peek behind the curtain and seeing how not progressive Washington County politics is. Yeah. I mean, it is I mean, whether we're talking about Palestine, which better not in Washington County, talk about that, you'll be a pariah, which is shocking to me where we where we live and where we are. Like we're supposed to be the progressive bastion. We're supposed to be able to talk about the fact that Palestinians are human beings too. But you can't talk about that. People, I have Palestinian friends who have said, don't talk about this, please. Wait. I feel like now it's I've I've put, you know, people know about me enough now that I can I can talk about it. But um, but like that's how entrenched it is for that to to have people that are affected that want their elected officials to speak up, to, to um not be willing. I mean, I'll use uh uh even uh my opponent with you know, back in 2023 when she was on the board, um, you know, uh she was asked to to you know speak up on a a ceasefire or something along those lines. And her response was something like, um, you know, my voters, they care about uh Cooper Mountain and pickleball courts. Wow. And that I mean, look, I don't think in her I I don't know what was in her head at that moment. Uh, you know, I don't think she necessarily meant ill will, but I think it's that exact thing you're talking about, where it's this like position of power, like already now, like how can I move? I need to make sure that I'm not giving up this power because it's so rare for people in my position to have this power. So I don't begrudge that fear or that calculus. Um, and I should also point out like different people have different risk tolerance for various reasons. Like this the immigration thing is something I'll speak to just because I'm very intimately familiar with how the immigration process works in this country, which is one of the most dehumanizing things you can go through as like an elective process.

SPEAKER_02 35:45

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:46

Um, so uh, and that is ooh, I got I got distracted. My mind went like four more places uh talking about status quo and power. Oh, so risk tolerance or uh risk tolerance. So, you know, I can say things about immigration and and railing against Donald Trump and things like that. But I recognize that someone with uh, you know, uh in quotation marks, if you're listening to this foreign sounding name or with brown skin or black skin, they would have a different risk of speaking up in those ways. And so this isn't, I want to be clear too, that this isn't about saying everyone has to speak up in exactly the same way. But if your response to someone asking you to do something in a humanizing way and and asks you to look at the humanity people, and your response is such a cold answer like that, like uh equating like a ceasefire in a genocide to pickleball courts, I'm like that that's not it. That's not it. I would have preferred a no comment over. Well, I'm not ready. I'm not you know, it this is unfolding. I mean, it was 2023. Like, I'm not gonna begrudge someone who wants to take their time on like figuring out unpacking all this, especially if they haven't done the work to I'm not saying she hasn't, but just if someone hasn't done the work on educating themselves around that topic specifically, if you want to take your time, that's a better answer.

SPEAKER_03 37:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:14

But it's like again, it it's just it's just so problematic because Cooper Mountain is a very wealthy neighborhood. Pickleball is an elitist sport. You don't see common everybody doing that, you don't see poor people doing that. So it's like again, what is your focus? Yeah, because we have a lot of poverty in Washington County. We have a lot of people who are not even thinking of pickleball. You know, so it's like, even if you can't even think in the realm of another country and the genocide that's happening, it could have been I'm dealing with the fact that there's 17 acre, 1,700 acres being uh, you know, stolen pretty much, um, and deforest for data centers. Like there's there's actual things that could have been uh really a strong statement. Yeah. There was like, oh, okay, I'm sorry, I'm not gonna bother you on that because I see you're working for the people. Yeah. But Cooper Mountain and Pickleball is just egregious.

SPEAKER_05 38:14

It is well and to your point on the on the uh the Hillsborough uh bill, the the 1700 acres, you I think just more to your point, when people have brought up, like you just brought up data centers, and the response is, well, no, data centers are banned. It's it that's misinformation. And it's okay, are we really gonna have to break down the c the conversation this much? Like I'm using a sh we're using a shorthand to say data centers because what does it say? It says no standalone data centers.

SPEAKER_03 38:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 38:40

Right. Well, I mean, look, I know I'm not an English major, but I have learned how to read the law, and no standalone data centers would infer that uh you can have non-standalone data centers. Right. So uh just to to misrepresent or to uh to malign someone and say, like, well, no, there are no data centers. What are you talking about? You're spreading this information. It just goes to show that, like, not willing to engage in changing the dynamic, changing the paradigm, it's just status quo. It's how do we just focus on this short-term gain, which uh we're gonna take away environmental protections. We're not gonna offset those with new land because we're supposed to have this protected land for 50 years total. We're 12 years in, doing great. Uh, and then uh and then we're not gonna also butt beef this up uh with transportation. What are we doing for transportation out there? What are we doing for housing out there? What are we doing for other non-industrial buildings and and work out there? Or are we just building another doing another plot of land with acres of RD plus data centers? Right.

SPEAKER_03 39:43

So well, I have to say that that kind of goes perfectly into this next question, if you guys don't mind me broaching it.

SPEAKER_05 39:50

Almost like I planned it.

unknown 39:52

Right.

SPEAKER_03 39:52

Um, but you know, both you and your um opponent are running on housing, um, and you um you want to um change zoning for duplexes, tripex um triplexes, tiny homes. Um Oregon's been talking about housing density for years and rent keeps coming um going up. What's one specific block or specific area in District 2 where you would change zoning um in your first six months, uh six months? And what do you say to the neighbors who are going to fight you on it?

SPEAKER_05 40:23

Yeah. Uh so you know, I don't know that I have a place picked out right now where I would want to do it because I think that's gonna take a little bit of access from the inside of like the information that I maybe am not privy to. I mean, I can obviously go out and look and like, oh, this should change over here. Um, I will say that um to your second part of your question, there's no perfect way to deal with NIMBY's. Um, you can't write off NIMBYism because it's going to be really loud and aggressive in your face. Uh, and you can't uh you can't do exactly what NIMBY's want because that means you're never gonna build the thing to help the people. So, what I have found is the best alternative is you do have to engage with the people in the community and make them feel heard and a part of the process. And you have to be honest that, hey, there's going to be something built here that is not single family housing or is not your next retail shop. Okay, there's going to be middle housing put here. It could be option one is maybe it's the new duplex area. Option two is maybe it's some retail on the bottom and some multifamily on top. Option three is, and you know, you lay out these things and you can get input from the community of, hey, this is definitely happening, but you can have some input on what kind of thing happens here. Um, so I think that's the way to do it is to go out and approach those air people that are going to be affected. Because what I hear, you know, there's a it's not direct directly related to housing, but NIMBYism, but there's a new uh transition housing that's being put in right across the street from the Oak Hills neighborhood. And a lot of community members are ups the common refrain that I'm hearing is I'm not against transitional housing. And then it goes one of two ways after that. It's either but I'm against it being here, is probably the more common. And again, not for look, I'm a parent. I worry about my kids. You guys were teachers, uh, our teachers. Um uh a lot of people say, well, this is very close to a school, and they have concerns about drug use or you know, whatever else. Um, so I'm not saying that the concerns aren't valid concerns, um, but just the well, just don't do it here thing is like, eh. And then the other one I heard, which is more rare, but I appreciate was uh in favor of this in principle. I'm in favor of this being here, but I would like more restrictions than what you are proposing. And and part of this is the big thing with this housing was they were not going to do back your criminal background check status, uh your criminal conviction history was not going to be a factor on whether or not you could be housed in this transition housing. Instead, they were doing a sober living requirement. Now, I'm uh just through personal experience with family members, I I know a little bit about addiction and addiction services, uh, but I'm no expert. I'm not in that field. But I will say I was actually more turned off by the sober living requirement, because as we know, like those kinds of conditions are not helpful to people remaining in housing. But people were very concerned about the criminal background aspect. And what was happening was people talking past each other, where the the at these uh uh CPO meetings, the the people living in like the Oak Hills and surrounding neighborhoods were very upset that they were their input was just being ignored essentially. And then on the other side, you had the the organization that was in charge of like acquiring the land and putting up the building and all that that were just saying, uh, essentially, you know, I hear you, but we're not doing anything about it.

unknown 43:59

Thanks for

SPEAKER_05 44:00

But we're not doing anything about it. That is not the approach that you can have if you want these things to be successful. Because you won't get everyone on board, but you'll get some people on board, or you'll get people to um maybe they bring up very valid concerns where you can address that. Like for this Oak Hills thing, you know, would it make people feel appeased if during school drop-off and and and let out time? I mean, it's high school, so I was gonna say pickup, but I guess not pickup. But when school starts and school ends, maybe there's a uh would they feel better if there's a sheriff's patrol parked right out in front of the thing? Now, I'm not saying that's the best solution, but or even one that I would support. But I'm just saying that's you can start having that conversation where you go, okay, would you feel better if there was some sort of safety apparatus here? If there was, you know, whatever, maybe there's a uh community-based organization that would be willing to have volunteers that would post up and they would during these hours. Let's start a uh a walking bus, you know, for high school students and you have adults that are there to supervise. And hey, everyone that's walking past this area, walk past. You you can't just tell people like their fears are just not based in reality, and then that's it. You have to, because a lot of time fear is not coming from rationality.

SPEAKER_02 45:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:03

So you have to get under the root of what their fear is and try to find things that will make them feel better. It may not be the most efficient use of resources or money, but it is efficient and useful if you're gonna get people on board that would otherwise be fighting against it tooth and nail.

SPEAKER_00 45:17

Awesome. Thank you. Okay, we got two more questions. Okay. Quick, quick, rapid response. All right. We've got four rapid response questions. I'm ready. And then our last question is when we ask everybody.

SPEAKER_02 45:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 45:32

So um, these are just really rapid fires. As as rapid fire as you can do. You know what?

SPEAKER_05 45:36

I'm not even gonna look at them. I'm just gonna go.

SPEAKER_00 45:38

I'm like so number one. Biggest threat to Washington County in the next four years.

SPEAKER_05 45:44

Ice until that gets taken care of. Hopefully that's not for four more years, after ice uh uh housing availability and cost.

SPEAKER_00 45:52

Okay. One thing you'd fund that isn't currently funded.

SPEAKER_05 45:56

Uh refunding um emergency uh mortgage and rental uh services. A lot of that dried up from the st from the state, so you but uh I think that needs to be prioritized. Excellent.

SPEAKER_00 46:07

Uh one thing currently funded that you'd defend you'd defend or cut defund or cut.

SPEAKER_05 46:14

Um one thing I would currently defund um so I would prioritize funding from a uh criminal justice standpoint. I'll talk I'll focus on that a little bit. I would prioritize funding for services related to uh victims of person-related crimes and uh supervision of people convicted of crimes so that we reduce our reliance on jail and prison.

unknown 46:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 46:42

So that that'll be my short, my short answer. Okay.

unknown 46:45

I like that.

SPEAKER_00 46:45

Uh last question Who's one person or organization in District 2 that's doing the work but not getting the credit?

SPEAKER_05 46:52

Ooh. I feel like so many people. It's so hard to nail down just a few. Um, I will say that uh Counselor Nadia Hassan in in Beaverton and Commissioner Nafisa Fai, Washington County, are both um doing the work. Commissioner Fai gets a little more credit, uh, but I mean uh Counselor Hassan definitely does not get credit for the things she's doing and how she's fighting. She's she's amazing. So from an elected official standpoint, I'll I'll say I'll say that. And there's so many private people that are doing so much work. I'm only not going to name them in case they don't want to be named, but but but there are so many of you, and you know who you are. Uh I've talked to many of you. A lot of you are doing rapid response work. Thank you. Um uh you're you're doing uh amazing work.

SPEAKER_00 47:39

Awesome. And final question um, who is one individual or organization that you would recommend um visit us and do an interview on the podcast?

SPEAKER_05 47:50

Oh, so again, right now, I'm gonna sound like a broken record or anything related to immigration, right? But uh if you can have a representative of PERC or um uh uh Issa Pena is uh with Innovation Law Lab and she um is someone who could at least direct you if I don't know if she would speak, but but uh Innovation Law Lab or uh or someone from their group, um, they are doing such important work right now that I think they would be great, uh, great for you to talk to and just know kind of what is what is the landscape, the legal landscape, because they're fighting back legally against all of this overreach and and unconstitutionality. Uh I think they'd be great. Awesome. That's a wrap.

SPEAKER_00 48:30

Thank you, Blaine, so much for joining us.

SPEAKER_03 48:32

Thank you so much. This was amazing. I am just so ready to see you step into it and do amazing stuff. And you can always call on us to come back and do some things.

SPEAKER_05 48:44

Hopefully I'll come back and I'll be uh the next Washington County Commissioner in District, too.

SPEAKER_03 48:47

I mean, believe it, believe it, you can achieve it.

SPEAKER_00 48:51

All right, that is a wrap for this episode of Oregon Voices.