In state House race, candidates want to transcend partisanship

Oct. 12—The candidates for state House District 32 — Tillamook residents Cyrus Javadi, a Republican, and Logan Laity, a Democrat — present themselves as leaders who can transcend partisanship.

Both Javadi and Laity have said they can reach out to people in the opposing party and work with them to find solutions to common problems.

Both own small businesses — Javadi has a dental practice, Laity a consulting firm — and are first-time political candidates.

The North Coast district is open in November because state Rep. Suzanne Weber, a Tillamook Republican, is running for state Senate District 16 against Democrat Melissa Busch, a home health nurse in Warren.

This year's House campaign has seen little of the acrimony and mudslinging that defined the 2020 race, in which Weber prevailed over Debbie Boothe-Schmidt, an Astoria Democrat.

The 2020 race marked the first time a Republican had won the district in nearly 20 years. It was also Oregon's most expensive state House race that year, with a combined $2.7 million pouring into the campaigns.

So far this year, the candidates have taken in only about $255,000 in total contributions. As of Tuesday, Javadi had raised more than $190,000, Laity more than $64,000.

The House district covers Clatsop and Tillamook counties and part of Columbia County.

Support for business

During the campaign, Javadi has stressed his support for the business community, saying he would advocate for their interests in Salem and watch out for government regulations that would hurt them.

Asked what distinguishes him from Laity, he pointed to the value of having life experience and the perspective that comes with it.

"What we need are legislators that don't have an agenda, are open-minded, are willing to put personal politics to the side if it means providing something for the greater good, but also understanding with firsthand experience what those policy decisions are likely to produce," he said.

Javadi said that he is in a position to empathize with a new restaurant owner who has trouble finding workers, a fisherman who has invested his savings into a boat he may not be able to use, or a logger wondering whether the state will pass an energy program that renders his equipment obsolete.

He has pressed for local control of school districts and their curricula.

He would like to see a bill that brings back penalties for hard drugs, counteracting the effects of Measure 110. The measure, passed by Oregon voters in November 2020, decriminalized possession of small amounts of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine, replaced drug arrests with tickets, and, in lieu of a small fine, created a voluntary path to treatment for offenders. So far, however, little funding has found its way to treatment centers.

Javadi believes this move would also help address crime and homelessness.

When it comes to the need to build affordable housing, he said the state should take another look at land use laws, and give property owners more control over what becomes of their acreage — including the ability to sell it off to increase the supply of buildable land. "We have plenty of land we could use, but it's all surrounded in red tape," he said.

He has criticized the drift of his party under President Donald Trump and said he hopes someone other than the former president gets the Republican Party's nomination in 2024.

"We've got so many good leaders and so many potential leaders out there that we don't need to reelect Donald Trump," he said. "There's other people that can do the job."

He believes Republicans should try harder to understand the needs of union members, who he said often have conservative values and whose lives are tied up in the union that controls their profession.

"We're a blue-collar community, and I don't think the Republican Party's done a great job of listening to what they need," he said.

When people try to govern from the far left or far right, Javadi said, the solutions tend not to work long term and produce unintended consequences.

An advocate

Laity, a community organizer and political science student at Portland State University, acknowledged that Javadi has more life experience.

But he pointed to his own experience in public service and as an advocate. Noting that he and his opponent have lived in the area for a while, Laity said, "The difference is, ever since I got here, I've been fighting for us."

He lobbied for the Student Success Act, passed in 2019. As a member of the board of the Tillamook Urban Renewal Agency, he has made public sanitation a priority.

Laity also pointed to his experience working with multiple stakeholders in complex areas, such as emergency preparedness and community resiliency. He is the volunteer program manager for the Emergency Volunteer Corps of Nehalem Bay, a group that interfaces with cities and state agencies, including the Oregon Health Authority, the state Department of Human Services, the state Department of Emergency Management and others.

During the campaign, Laity has put housing, health care, education and the environment at the forefront.

He argues that prekindergarten should be fully funded, and that the state should invest in trades programs to meet the demand for workers like electricians and plumbers. "We really have a shortage of practicing tradespeople on the coast," he said.

Laity said that what sets him apart from other Democrats is his ability to communicate with people on the other side of an issue, and speak to their needs: "economic security, shelter, food, housing, and just a great life and a great society," he said.

Calling himself a "policy wonk," Laity said, "I think, right now, that's the type of leadership we need, is someone who can review tangible solutions and be able to analyze it from not just the perspective of what will work best, but what is also the positive and negative unintended consequences."

Laity said he understands why someone who drives a truck for a timber company, for example, would be concerned about new emissions standards.

"We can't just force and mandate someone to have engine upgrades and not give them any support, because that is going to directly impact their family and their ability to provide," he said.

He said that while Oregon transitions to a more sustainable economy, the state can help truck drivers by, for example, creating an engine market in Oregon that incentivizes upgrades.

"Only people with legitimate, on-the-ground experience, who've been knocking on doors since they arrived here for various issues, have the ability to actually steer those problems," he said.

Decisions to run

Both candidates said they chose to run after coming to believe the process in Salem was not functioning as it should be.

Javadi said he felt frustrated with state restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic that forced people to postpone medical and dental care. He was also bothered by the state's decision to send students home to learn without knowing when they would return to the classroom.

At the time, Javadi said, he was willing to give the state latitude as it responded to a new virus of unknown severity. "We didn't really know what it was going to be, and you needed to err on the side of caution," he said.

But it seemed to Javadi that the decisions around COVID-19 were made without the North Coast — which has one state senator and one state representative — having much of a say. Voices on the coast, a region that has different needs than, say, Portland, were drowned out by the voices of Gov. Kate Brown and Democratic leaders from bigger cities, he believes.

For Laity, the decision to run came after he knocked on doors in support of Measure 110 and later learned how little money had gone toward drug rehabilitation.

"It really struck a nerve for me when our Legislature did not implement the bill with accountability mechanisms so that the funds were actually being used in the way we voted for it," he recalled.

Backdrop

The House race takes place against the backdrop of national debates with local implications.

Measure 114, designed to toughen Oregon's gun control laws, would require gun buyers to obtain a permit from local law enforcement, undergo a background check and pass a training course in firearm safety. In addition, the measure would ban ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. The measure would also close a federal loophole that allows people 18 and older to purchase a gun if the state-required criminal background check takes longer than three days.

Javadi opposes the measure, calling it unconstitutional and ill-conceived and liable to lead to litigation.

Laity said he agrees with the measure's basic goals and called the restriction on magazine capacity a "no-brainer."

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a move that removed the constitutional right to an abortion.

Javadi identifies as "pro-life" and has said people should consider the life of the unborn. He does not oppose abortion across the board, however, and said he can see the need for exceptions in cases of incest or rape or to save the life of the mother.

Laity believes that Oregonians' access to reproductive health care — codified into state law by the Reproductive Health Equity Act of 2017 — should be protected and expanded.