Tax vote mirrors east-west split

Oregonian/OregonLive.com ^ | 06/04/2003 | Scott Learn

[B Knotts]

Multnomah County's new income tax passed largely on the strength of yes votes from inner-city Portland, voting records show, while the eastern part of the county voted strongly against it.

The final vote tabulation from the county elections office shows a majority of voters in almost all the precincts west of 82nd Avenue voted for the three-year, 1.25 percent tax. It passed with 58 percent of the vote countywide.

The pro-tax campaign did manage to win six precincts east of 82nd Avenue, the county's traditional tax dividing line. But a large majority of voters in the rest of mid- and east Multnomah County voted no.

Overall, voters west of 82nd Avenue voted 66 percent yes, while voters to the east came in at 42 percent yes -- a spread of 24 percentage points.

Don McIntire, a Gresham tax activist who led the group opposing the measure, said the results illustrate that east Multnomah County is "completely out of sync" with the rest of the county, which he said is dominated by liberal women leaders.

"There was chatter in Gresham before, and maybe there should be again, about getting out of Multnomah County," McIntire said.

[B Knotts]

I'd really like to see East County secede from the freaks in Portland.

[San Jacinto]

Don't worry -- it's only a three year tax.

By the way, were the teachers' unions for or against the tax?

[B Knotts]

By the way, were the teachers' unions for or against the tax?

*chuckle*

I'm guessing you're being facetious.

In case you're not...basically the teachers' union drafted the tax measure.

[B Knotts]

Another interesting nugget is the county hasn't figured out yet how they're going to collect the tax.