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Q and A with Mike Keiser, Developer of the Sheep Ranch Golf Course at Bandon, Oregon
In 2020, a fifth 18-hole course will be added to Bandon Dunes, or as Forbes put it, "A fifth course is set for the site of the mystical Sheep Ranch." Why is the Sheep Ranch property, located just north of Bandon Dunes, considered mystical?
Until now, the Sheep Ranch had no formal routing. It was an evolutionary links golf experience: play to whatever green you felt like at that moment. Golf as it used to be. Golf without boundaries.
Why did you and co-owner/developer Phil Friedmann name the property the Bally Bandon Sheep Ranch? When it opens next year, will Sheep Ranch have more of an Irish motif than Bandon Dunes' Scottish motif?
If we hadn't gotten approval to build a golf course, we would have leased it as a sheep ranch.
Golf architect Gil Hanse referred to Sheep Ranch as the best site he's ever seen for a new golf course. You have said that "the site is spectacular." What makes Sheep Ranch so spectacular? The 100-foot cliffs? The mile of ocean-front property? Should golfers who suffer from vertigo beware?
One mile of ocean frontage. Sand Dunes. Fabulous routing! Voila!
The course route calls for nine greens to be located on ocean cliffs. A double green -- 3 and 16 -- is located on Fivemile Point, a piece of land that juts out into the ocean, and that the Golf Channel's Matt Ginella has compared to the 16th hole at Cypress Point.
How long did it take designers Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore to route nine greens on ocean cliffs? Other than Pebble Beach, can you think of any golf course that has half its green located on the ocean?
We don't believe your homework on that question will produce any other courses with nine greens directly on the ocean. And only one house visible.
Bally Bandon Sheep Ranch is being designed as a links course, but a links course without bunkers. Bill Coore, who came up with the idea of designing Sheep Ranch without bunkers has said that "replacing bunkers with fescue will enhance the property visually." What did you think when Coore first suggested a course without bunkers? Did it take convincing to get you and Friedmann to agree?
The Sheep Ranch has bunkers, but the bunkers have no sand. On windy afternoons, all the sand would blow out. So Phil and I thought grass bunkers would be just as penal but easier on maintenance.
By Sheep Ranch's opening in 2020, Bandon Dunes will have hosted seven USGA events. Do you expect Sheep Ranch to be a tournament golf course where the world will be able to view countless scenic, dramatic shot locations on television?
Why not a Ryder cup?
Next August, Bandon Dunes hosts the 120th U.S. Amateur. Fox Sports is promising extensive live television coverage of the USGA championship. You have said, "I view the U.S. Amateur as a major championship and one that we're very happy to have contested at Bandon."
Do you think that hosting the U.S. Amateur at Bandon Dunes will help reinvigorate the tournament and begin its return to major championship status?
I think it'll be very popular on the East Coast in prime time, but I don't think the U.S. Amateur will ever be a "major" again; too many young players ditch their amateur status as soon as they have a sponsor for the Tour.
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Imagine
By Allen Alley
Imagine if someone came to Portland and said, "We want to locate our business here. Projections show we will become the largest employer (bigger than Nike or Intel) and the biggest taxpayer in the state. We are going to build affordable housing for our employees, pay for upgrading the airport and self-impose a tax to pay for public safety services. In addition, we will create and fund an organization to focus on livability issues, tourism, conservation, housing, child care and invasive species management. We will become an internationally recognized leader in our industry and draw visitors from all over the world so we can provide discounted services to Oregon residents."
What if that happened? What if it happened in the middle of a huge recession when unemployment and poverty were running at unprecedented levels? What if Mayor Wheeler, the City Council and the commissioners from Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas Counties were unanimously supportive?
What if that happened and advocacy groups from rural Oregon towns like Coos Bay, Burns, Joseph and Klamath Falls swept in and slowed the process to the point where it took five years to just to get the permits? What if these same groups attempted to stymie every new development and investment in the North Willamette Valley? What if they were even able to stop an expansion that would have provided a greatly expanded college scholarship program and additional invasive species control?
How would Portland feel about the folks from Coos Bay, Burns, Joseph and Klamath Falls? I would imagine "hate" isn't pejorative enough to describe how Portlanders would feel. But that is exactly what happened, with the roles reversed, in Bandon, Oregon.
Mike Keiser has spent the last 20 years perfecting a precious emerald on the Oregon Coast, Bandon Dunes Golf Resort. Bandon is now spoken, the world over, in the same conversation with Pebble Beach and even St Andrews. It is impossible to convey the beauty, serenity and almost spiritual oneness with nature that embodies everything about Bandon Dunes. It is truly a place where my grasp of the English language is inadequate to describe it.
Yet for years and years, Keiser had to fight "watchdog" groups from Portland every single day to make Bandon become a reality. He has cut and polished Oregon's perfect gem that perfectly fits what almost was, and in my opinion should have become, Oregon's motto:
"Thanks, God, we will take it from here."
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When Politicians Pick Their Voters: How To Stop Partisan Gerrymandering
By Steve Elzinga
If you thought partisan shenanigans and overreach in Oregon's 2019 legislative session were bad, just wait -- it could get much worse. How? Partisan gerrymandering is coming, and a 2020 ballot measure is the best chance to stop it.
Gerrymandering turns elections upside down by allowing politicians to pick their voters instead of the other way around. Here in Oregon, politicians with an inherent conflict of interest are currently permitted to draw "safe" districts to protect themselves and favor their own political party. This undermines our democratic system and increases polarization. Presidents Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama both spoke out against this destructive sham.
Bad actors abound in both major parties. Recent court cases have highlighted Republicans in Wisconsin and Democrats in Maryland, but there are similar stories in many states. New technologies for micro-targeting and predictive voting algorithms mean that gerrymandering in 2021 will likely be far worse than in prior cycles.
Using these tactics, Democrats could easily lock in a permanent 21-seat supermajority in the Oregon senate or Republicans could stretch their numbers to allow an artificial 16-seat senate majority. This type of manipulation should not be allowed by either party.
There is a better way. A growing number of states have enacted reforms to combat gerrymandering, many led by President Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder. Oregon should join this movement. Other states have taken a variety of different approaches, but most of them focus on taking power away from legislators and ensuring that districts respect communities of interest.
While many potential reforms would be preferable to the status quo, it is important to be strategic.
Unfortunately, Oregon stacks the deck against good government initiatives -- from arbitrary reasons for disqualifying valid signatures to a biased ballot title process. Cynical powerbrokers are endlessly creative in preventing the people from having a say in their own government. It is difficult to write a strong ballot measure since good policy is often complicated. Short and simple makes for better ballot titles and clearer campaign messages.
Fortunately, we do not need to recreate the wheel. Existing counties, cities, urban growth boundaries, school districts, and school attendance areas are communities of interest. They were not established for partisan advantage, so they are the perfect foundation for fair districts.
We can prevent gerrymandering with a one-page constitutional amendment requiring legislative districts that keep whole, and do not cross, existing government boundaries to the maximum extent mathematically possible in a defined priority order.
Tight criteria remove the discretion that partisan legislators abuse to manipulate districts. Using clear, scientifically provable, and fair redistricting criteria ensures that a nonpartisan districting process is enforceable in court. This won't favor Democrats or Republicans -- it will just ensure fairness and common sense.
Who will oppose this reform? Those who want to cheat democracy.
Many legislators and influential special interest groups want to use gerrymandering to strengthen their grip on power, so they will undoubtedly attack any good government reform. They will try to leverage political polarization and unleash a torrent of deceptive hit pieces. The best response is a clear and simple reform with objectively fair standards.
This reform proposal that keeps communities whole protects democracy, prevents partisan gerrymandering, and is clear and fair.
Redistricting will determine Oregon's political fate for the next decade. We have an opportunity to prevent partisan gerrymandering -- but only if we act now.
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Flight and Fight
As membership declines, unions ramp up attacks on Freedom Foundation
By Aaron Withe
When someone or something feels threatened, a natural response is to attack the perceived menace. That's how we at the Freedom Foundation know our work is impacting government unions. Because, boy, are they attacking.
Labor bosses and their paid harassers have circulated nasty letters and robo-calls to the neighbors of Freedom Foundation staff, leadership and board members, and posted employees' personal information on the Internet. They've stormed our offices, followed, surrounded and cornered our volunteers, harassed our staff, and, of course, they protest all of our events.
The national president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) even filmed a video instructing his members across the country to reject contact from the Freedom Foundation -- tear up any mail, hang up any phone call, and slam the door in the face of anyone from our organization.
Government unions definitely feel threatened.
It's no secret these unions are the number one contributor to liberal politicians and progressive causes in Oregon. In fact, Oregon's government unions have contributed, either directly or through political front groups, to more than 70 percent of the state's elected officials. In return for their generous campaign spending, the unions naturally expect a lot in return.
Last legislative session, the union-elected political cronies passed a bill, HB-2016, which took a direct shot at the Freedom Foundation and our campaign. HB-2016, or the union wish list as the media took to calling it, amended state law to attempt to make up for some of the union's losses since Janus and our campaign. It forces the taxpayers to pay for union shop stewards' time, it prevents unions from being liable when illegally deducting dues from people who have requested to opt-out of membership, it mandates public entities to give unions personal public employee information, and it even allows unions to mandate how one can opt out of a union but allows them to be signed up over the phone.
HB-2016 is the most recent example of the union's legislative power, and their testimonies made no secret what this bill was about: combating the Freedom Foundation (just watch the highlights). Oregon legislators are all too happy to raise taxes for programs that expand government and require more government employees. More public workers means more union members; more union members means more union dues that fill the union coffers and get redistributed to political campaigns.
It's a cycle that has gone on for 40 years. So why would the unions feel threatened now?
Perhaps it's because Oregon's labor leaders have watched their union membership numbers take a dramatic hit in recent years. While the bosses fight, the members take flight.
Between 2015 and 2018, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) lost 40 percent of its in-home care provider members.
Even more startling, nearly 17,000 government workers have resigned their union membership in Oregon since June 2018.
Oregon's largest public employee union, SEIU 503, has seen more than 26 percent of its members walk away, while the Oregon School Employees Association (OSEA) has lost a staggering 31 percent of its membership.
This drop in union membership is not an accidental occurrence. In 2015, the Freedom Foundation opened its doors for business in Oregon and immediately began reaching out to SEIU in-home care providers. The message was simple. You are no longer required to join the union as a condition of employment -- you now have a choice and can stop paying dues. That message clearly resonated, as SEIU lost nearly half of their members.
Last year, we expanded this successful operation to all public-sector employees following the Supreme Court's historic Janus decision that freed all government workers from forced union participation.
Our plan is simple, but effective. First, we conduct outreach to educate. We utilize direct mail, email, text message and social media campaigns, purchase radio and billboard advertisements, maintain a website that provides state-specific information for leaving a union (OptOutToday.com), and deploy teams of people to conduct office visits and door-to-door canvassing.
Second, we employ nine in-house attorneys and four paralegals all dedicated to holding unions accountable to the law. Our attorneys are experts in labor law and are engaged in 58 active lawsuits. One of our most recent lawsuits requests a refund of all union dues collected after a person requests to leave. This comes after the union's newest scheme to steal money from workers, in which they include deceptive fine print in a person's membership card that prevents that person from being able to cease paying union dues until a small 10- to 15-day arbitrary window within the year. This is a scheme that thousands of public employees are currently trapped in and would continue to be if it weren't for Freedom Foundation attorneys.
Our goal is to remove undue union influence over Oregon's government. Labor bosses know that what the Freedom Foundation is doing works. Government unions are desperate, and they're fighting back -- and that means calling in favors from their politician friends to game the system.
Perhaps some would be discouraged by all these constant attacks and roadblocks. At the Freedom Foundation, we are not. In fact, the attacks, combined with the number of people we've helped escape the union trap, are how we at the Freedom Foundation measure success. We are over the target and taking flack. Just where we like to be.
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Philip J. Romero, 1957-2019
Dr. Phil Romero, finance professor at the University of Oregon Lundquist College of Business and frequent contributor to the Oregon Transformation Newsletter, passed away Saturday night of a heart attack. He was 62.
Phil Romero's academic and professional credentials were extraordinary. He received his Ph.D. from Rand in 1988. In 1991, he was appointed chief economist for the state of California by Gov. Pete Wilson, a position Phil served in until 1999. That same year, Oregon philanthropist and civic leader Don Tykeson recruited Phil to become dean of Oregon's Lundquist School of Business.
Phil moved to Oregon and headed the Lundquist College of Business until 2004. From 1999 to 2009 he was a member of the BrainstormNW magazine editorial board. He is the author of five books, including "It's the Income, Stupid: The 7 Secrets of a Stress-Free Retirement" and "Health Financing Without Deficits: Reform That Sidesteps Political Gridlock."
Phil was a pure social scientist, a brilliant conceptual thinker, and passionate about problem solving and truth seeking no matter how uncomfortable the answers might be. He was generous in spirit to those with opposing viewpoints and often shared his views in an educational manner. In terms of modern day political vernacular, Phil sought light over noise.
One of Phil's recent students on "Rate My Professors" catches his essence as a person and instructor:
I loved having Professor Romero. He's kinda unclear, and the lectures are long, but it is Econ after all. He will go above and beyond to help you if you make a slight effort, participate in class, and attend his office hours. He's probably the sweetest professor I've met.
That's the Phil we love and remember.
Phil is survived by his wife of 35 years, Lita Flores Romero.?
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