Verne Duncan Sale & Items

This weekend I was able to attend the estate sale of Verne and Donna Duncan. They have recently downsized and moved out of their long time residence. I was able to add a few Duncan items I never had the chance to get over the years. Duncan was the longstanding Superntendent of Public Education in Oregon. He was elected in 1974 and served until 1989.

Kitzhaber's 1998 Opponents

Kitzhaber 1994

Bill Sizemore 1998 Campaign Pin

This is a follow up to our previous post on the political opponents of Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber. After winning his first term in 1994, it what was generally seen as a Republican year. The Gingrich Revolution never really seemed to hurt John Kitzhaber politically. He beat back Denny Smith and entered the 1998 race with strong prospects to being re-elected.

Had he been able to foresee the future, he might not have taken Sizemore as lightly as he did. After all, he would go on to beat Sizemore by over 300,000 votes in the general election. That was the widest margin a candidate for governor had earned in half a century. While Sizemore lost the 1998 election, his agenda seemed to prevail and derail Kitzhabers own agenda. A string of anti-tax ballot measures would soon follow Kitzhaber into the 21st century. He would continually have to sideline his own policy initiatives in order to fight off Sizemores anti-tax agenda.