"The Idaho House passed a resolution on Wednesday to begin talks with the Oregon Legislature about potentially expanding the Idaho border into eastern Oregon.
"Such a resolution has its roots in the Greater Idaho movement, which seeks to absorb 11 Oregon counties, or 63 percent of the state’s landmass, into Idaho. The rationale for such a move is that the leftist residents of northwest Oregon — Portland, Salem, Eugene — control the politics of the state, and therefore rural, conservative residents in eastern and southern Oregon are effectively silenced on matters of state governance.
“ 'The aspirations of Portland-area and northwestern Oregon voters force the state government toward a direction that happens to be incompatible with the values and livelihoods of my town and many in eastern and southern Oregon,” Mike McCarter, president of Citizens for Greater Idaho wrote in an op-ed for Oregon Live.
"Rural, conservative Oregonians would feel well-represented in the Idaho legislature, which is overwhelmingly Republican. Idaho politics bleed red; the state has not backed a Democrat for President since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.
"Idaho Rep. Judy Boyle supports the expansion because she wants to crack down on drugs pouring into her state. Boyle represents a border district, and because Oregon has moved to decriminalize most drugs, there’s been an influx of drugs into the region. She told the Idaho Press she voted to extend her state’s border to “get those drugs away from us.”. . .
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