A campaign to have rural eastern Oregon effectively secede from the blue state and join more conservative Idaho is gaining steam as leaders from both states express support for relocating the border between them.
Former Oregon House Speaker Mark Simmons penned an op-ed in the Idaho Statesman, a daily newspaper, over the weekend to explain why he supports the so-called Greater Idaho movement, which seeks to incorporate about 13 Oregon counties, or 63% of the state's landmass and 9% of its population, within Idaho's borders.
"Idaho would have the satisfaction of freeing rural, conservative communities from progressive blue-state law," wrote Simmons. "We are dismayed by the manner in which Oregon government has marginalized our values and villainized our resource-based livelihoods. This is why our counties voted 75% Republican last year (Idaho voted 67% Republican)."
Simmons' op-ed came after Idaho's House of Representatives earlier this month passed a resolution not to move the Idaho-Oregon border but rather to call for formal talks between the states' legislatures about relocating the boundary line...more
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