By Jason Williams
Taxpayers Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

Make no mistake: all the liberties and success you and I have today are built on the political patriots and veterans who came before us.

Oregon’s Don McIntire was both.   He was a political taxpayer advocate and served in the U.S. Army.

Don McIntire passed away 14 years ago this month … but his winning ways are still alive today.

Consider:

• Don McIntire in 1990 passed Ballot Measure 5 which put constitutional caps on your property taxes.  Your property taxes would be 40% higher, if it were not for McIntire’s Measure 5.

• Don McIntire led the defeat of the Oregon sales tax ballot measure in 1993.   Thanks to this defeat, Oregon has no general sales tax.

• Don McIntire put a Constitutional Spending Limit on the ballot ( * twice* ), trying to curb out-of-control spending.  (Measure 8 in 2000, Measure 48 in 2006)

• Don McIntire joined with Jason Williams in 1999 to found the Taxpayers Association of Oregon.

Don McIntire’s Taxpayers Association has been fighting to protect your Kicker Income Tax Refund since 2001.  Don McIntire and the Taxpayers Association ran these TV ads blasting Governor Kitzhaber for trying to take the Kicker in 2001.

Don McIntire’s Taxpayers Association of Oregon has successfuly ran and won two statewide referendums.  In 2003, TAO ran a statewide referendum to stop the Legislature’s near-billion dollar income tax increase (Measure 30).  Thanks to this effort, your income taxes are 10% less every year.   The Taxpayers Association of Oregon did another tax referendum in 2026 when they were a co-chief petitioner in the statewide referendum petition against Gov. Tina Kotek’s $4.3 billion gas tax (Measure 120).   TAO’s involvement in Measure 120 wouldn’t have been possible without Don McIntire’s founding.

The defeat of Kotek’s $4.3 billion gas tax is proof that Don McInitre’s LEGACY IS ALIVE AND KICKING more than a decade after his passing.

ON THIS 14-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF DON MCINTIRE’S PASSING …

WE REFLECT ON THIS LEGEND WHO SERVED US THROUGH HIS MILITARY SERVICE

AND THROUGH HIS CIVIC INVOLVEMENT BY CUTTING YOUR TAXES BY BILLIONS OF DOLLARS.

MCINTIRE IS A SYMBOL FOR THOUSANDS OF OTHER OREGONIANS

WHO CAME BEFORE US AND WHO MADE OUR STATE A BETTER PLACE.

Thank you Don McIntire and all those who served.

— Keep the legacy alive for the next generation with a tax deductible charitable gift (checks, estate, stock, property).   Please contribute online at OregonWatchdog.com  to learn about a Charitable Tax Deduction or Political Tax Credit options and more.

The post Oregon legend Don McIntire’s tax-cut revolution lives on first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.

Washington’s Democrat Governor, Bob Ferguson, has made headline by saying, ” ‘I won’t be proposing new taxes’ — but ‘Does that mean cuts? Well of course’”.

Washington’s budget is unsustainable, just like Oregon. This is why Ferguson is stopping new taxes and start doing the responsible but more demanding task of cutting over-of-control spending. Oregon needs to do the same.  Yet, Governor signed a $4.3 billion gas tax last year and a $300+ million business this year.

No New Taxes, is not radical or impossible — but rather the popular choice of both Democrat and Republican Governors in our own neighborhood.

The post WA Gov. says No New Taxes. Why can’t Oregon? first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.

Deymon Edwards is incarcerated at an Oregon State Penitentiary. On October 1, 2022 he was inadvertently pepper-sprayed when the cell next to his had an altercation. He asked for a decontamination shower and was denied. Two days later, he filed a prison grievance form.

More than two years later, Edwards exhausted his internal grievance processes and sued. The Oregon District Court dismissed his suit for exceeding Oregon’s statute of limitations. The 9th Circuit reversed that decision on fairly straightforward statutory grounds. Under ORS 12.210 the time limit doesn’t start ticking until the prison’s internal processes are exhausted. I guess the smart folks at Oregon District Court missed that, oops.

Eric Shierman lives in Salem and is the author of We were winning when I was there.

The post 9th Circuit overrules Oregon court on inmate statute of limitations. first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.

Drazan sets the record straight on Kotek busienss statement on this social media post:

FACT CHECK: Tina says she’s already declared Oregon open for business, but the facts don’t lie. She took a top-20 business climate and drove it to the bottom 8 since becoming governor. You have to try *really* hard to fail that badly.
https://t.co/PdguXoOM4j

— Christine Drazan (@ChristineDrazan) October 8, 2026

The post Drazan fact checks Kotek on “business friendly” Oregon first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.

By Guest Submission Memes,

More memes below:

The post (5 memes) Man outsmarts Flock cameras first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.

Taxpayers Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

A flyer circulated around the University of Oregon called for the removal of  Hillel, a campus program that serves Jewish students.  It condemned their director as supporting genocide.   Once liberals call someone guilty of genocide it then opens the door to violence.  For instance, last year, a man set fire to Jewish people at a hostage-support walk in Bolder Colorado invoked genocide as justifying his actions. The man who set fire to the Jewish Governor of Pennsylvania at his home invoked genocide rhetoric.

At Portland State University, Leftist rioters wrote “Kill the Jews” on the library walls as they occupied and sabotaged the library for several days.

The post UofO flyer tries to push Jews off campus first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

Here are debate highlights from the October 7th Medford Governor candidate debate:

• Drazan mentioned that Oregon has nation’s second highest tax burden.  (That says a lot)

• Kotek said she has been successful at affordable housing saying, “We’re bucking the national trend in building new starter homes.” (Oregon doesn’t feel like a housing success).

• Kotek said “I have a record of working across the aisle”  (Biggest fib of the night).

• Kotek emphasized that we have to help people before they become homeless.  (As if government knows who is going to be homeless)

• Drazan produced the fact that 2,000 people have died on our streets.  (Great point)

• Drazan said our state budget has doubled in a decade, and that your family budget didn’t doubel in size at the same time.  (good analogy)

• Kotek on being asked about what cuts she might do,said she is not going to cut human services, education or the public safety programs. (Once you take off the table the majority of the budget, you realize she won’t cut anything which is why Kotek keeps raising taxes).

• Kotek shared on how it used to take months to get a nursing license, now it is down to a few days.  (good example. Let’s do more)

• Kotek on data centers said, “we need to stop being a cheap date”.  (said the person who tried to doubel Oregon’s data center tax break a few months ago).

• Drazan said Kotek raised taxes by $6 billion. (ouch!)

• Kotek said, “Trump tried to starve Oregonians” during the shutdown.  (It was the Democratic Party members of Congress that did the shutdown).

• Kotek said in effect,” We talk about red tape but that red tape is coming from Trump.” referring to federal benefit eligibility requirement rules.   (Trump’s red tape is work requirements for those able-bodied people that are receiving government benefits for an extended period of time.).

• Drazan said if Kotek cared about utility costs she wouldn’t have signed onto a lawsuit that raised utility costs by 6%.  Drazan also said that under Kotek during the last four years utility rates have gone up 40% to 60%. (tough facts)

• Kotek said Tribes know how to fight wildfires, we need to listen to them.

• Drazan said Kotek increased taxes on businesses by 77% in one year and said “Who does that?”  (nice statement)

• Drazan mention how Kotek raised insurance taxes, car taxes, paycheck taxes, paddle board taxes,

• Kotek said the death tax is a problem and out of snyc with the rest of the nation.  Yet, she said she wants to cut it in a way that is revenue neutral. (that is not how cutting taxes work)

• Kotek said that graduation rates are up. (It is because Kotek signed bill to lower basic graduation requirements).

• Kotek said that “school choice” is a bad thing.

The post 15 highlights from Medford Governors debate first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.

By NW Spotlight,

Independent journalist and homeless advocate Kevin Dahlgren shows a vidoe fo a former homeless man who became a comedian.  View the post below, then follow Dahlgren and financially support him.

A formally homeless man turned stand-up comedian. https://t.co/kRA1gNbCzJ

— Kevin Dahlgren (@kevinvdahlgren) October 1, 2026

The post Ex-homeless becomes Portland stand-up comedian first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.

“Today, on the anniversary of the October 7th attacks, Jewish communities in Oregon and around the world are grieving and remembering. That makes it all the more appalling that antisemitic flyers have targeted the director of Oregon Hillel and called for Hillel’s removal from the University of Oregon campus. Demanding the exclusion of Jewish life is intimidation, and it has no place in Oregon.

Jewish students deserve to feel safe and welcome on our campuses. But antisemitism doesn’t stop at the campus gate, and neither should our support. To every Jewish Oregonian, whether you are a student, a worker, a parent, a business owner, or a retiree: you belong here, and your safety and your right to live openly as Jews are worth defending.

I appreciate President Scholz’s clear condemnation, and I expect the university to follow through with concrete support and accountability. Silence and private sympathy are not enough. Those of us in public office have a duty to speak out, and I call on my colleagues, regardless of party, to do the same.”

The post Sen. Anderson condemns antisemitic campus flyers first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.

By Oregon Campaign Watch,

CNN highlights a YouGov poll that shows the top 3 Republican candidates for President are JD Vance, Marco Rubio and Don Trump Jr.

The post Poll: Top 3 contenders for GOP Prez. candidates 2028 first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.

By Jason Williams
Williams is the founder of Taxpayers Association of Oregon

On the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the Jewish people were hit with the greatest terrorist attack (per-capita) in  modern recorded history.  We reflect on heroes of that day.

Oz Davidian was living near the area of attack and woke to heavy rocket fire and messages that young people from the music festival were fleeing and needed help (Ynet). Oz drove his 4-wheel-drive pickup across back roads and open fields that he knew well.  He carried survivors to safety in Maslul and nearby Patish, sometimes under fire. He went back into the danger zone about 15 times from morning until nightfall, following locations texted to him by survivors and parents.  In all he rescued about 120 people (Jerusalem Post). He later struggled with post-traumatic stress and the people he arrived too late to save, but he still calls the survivors “my children”.  Oz says the real heroes are the young people themselves

The post On Oct. 7, this man saved 120 people first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.