Lew Frederick, who is running for new state senator Chip Shields’ vacant house seat, says he is “astonished” by remarks made to the Mercury this afternoon by Oregonian editorial page editor Bob Caldwell, justifying the paper’s endorsement of Karol Collymore for Shields’ vacant house seat without even calling Frederick, first.
“Caldwell and I have known each other for years,” says Frederick. “I’m absolutely shocked that that came from Bob because we do know each other. Maybe he’s decided I’m simply not valid for whatever reason, but I’m still surprised they didn’t even call. There’s a basic level of courtesy there that one would expect.”
Caldwell initially told the Mercury that his editorial page writers had not mentioned Frederick because Frederick had been eliminated from the race for the senate, this afternoon. “But I have never run for the senate,” says Frederick. When questioned on this, Caldwell stuck to the editorial page’s guns, saying he still wanted Collymore for the house seat, and that Frederick is a “known quantity,” which is why he never got a phone call.
“But this sounds like somebody becoming defensive because they got caught on bad facts,” says Frederick.
Frederick was beaten by Jeff Cogen in the race for Multnomah County Commission by only 4000 votes. “I was also outspent four to one,” says Frederick. “The fact is I have been very involved with the party and I think I am a credible candidate.”
The Oregonian “knew I was running for the house seat, not the senate seat,” says Frederick, “because their reporter actually asked someone. Now, whether the editorial writers thought to ask the reporter, I don’t know, but my candidacy was in the Mercury, the Tribune, the Sentinel, so for me it’s the Oregonian‘s way of saying ‘we’re not really interested’.”
Frederick says he feels the Oregonian “developed this meme, which was that they needed an African American woman to run for something, but the fact is, we’ve not had a black male in the state legislature since 1998, or a black person in the city or county offices since 1992,” he says.
“What’s going on there, I really don’t know,” Frederick continues. “Something I’m really concerned about is that one of the responses in the past has been an immediate attack on whoever has brought it up. I’m sure the Oregonian can find someone who doesn’t like me to say so. But that’s a fear that a lot of black men in Portland have, frankly, is the attack by the Oregonian on anybody who sticks his head out.”
“I’ve been dismissed by the Oregonian in a number of other ways over the years,” says Frederick.
“Frederick says he feels the Oregonian “developed this meme, which was that they needed an African American woman to run for something … “
Why, WHY does every single issue lately that has not a shred of evidence that it is about ‘race’ become about race not because of reality, but because of someone’s projected ‘feelings’? And then the debate shifts to race.
The word ‘racism’ is very close to losing all meaning
Fredrick also has a Facebook page for Shield’s seat and has had one for a while now. I don’t know whether it’s a black male thing but it certainly does seem that the Oregonian was very specific in that they ignored mentioning him at all.
Does the Oregonian regularly make endorsements without interviewing all the candidates, or was this a one-off?
Either answer presents more questions.
Ha! Oregonian are hacks. This podunk town. Sigh.
The fact that the Oregonian endorsed Collymore for the House seat is ridiculous on so many levels. First, they endorsed her BEFORE Shields won the Senate seat, meaning there wasn’t even a vacancy for his house seat at the time of the endorsement. Second, she is not even running for the House seat. She probably is now, but you don’t endorse for someone who isn’t even running for something yet.
Oregonian, YOU SUCK.
” … developed this meme, which was that they needed an African American woman to run for something”
I’m not sure the word meme means what he thinks it does.