By DANA TIMS/YachatsNews.com
The race for Oregon House District 10 pits Democrat incumbent David Gomberg, who is seeking a sixth two-year term, against Republican Celeste McEntee, a Newport restauranteur who is making her first bid for state office.
Both candidates say they are more qualified than the other to represent the recently redrawn district, which now extends from Lincoln City south to Florence and inland to Philomath.
“There are plenty of legislators working on issues like housing, child care and crime,” said Gomberg, who is now retired from the kite-making company he founded years ago. “But there’s only one legislator out here on the coast working on the challenges we have right here. My job is to make sure our unique needs are being addressed.”
McEntee is equally as succinct in talking about her run for office.
“I’m proud to tell you that I’ve been out in the district talking to the constituents, to the families that are really struggling right now,” she said in an interview with YachatsNews. “I never wanted to be a politician, but I care far too much about my community not to do everything I can to help.”
In terms of campaign contributions, Gomberg is easily outraising his Republican opponent. Of the $225,000 he has amassed so far, the largest contributions have come from public-sector unions, construction trades, homebuilders and realtors.
Much of McEntee’s $71,500, according to Oregon Secretary of State campaign-finance records, has come from groups directly affiliated with the Oregon Republican Party.
Democrats in the district hold about a nine percentage point registration advantage over Republicans.
Due largely to that registration edge, Jim Moore, an associate professor of politics and government at Pacific University and longtime observer of Oregon politics, has the race going to Gomberg.
“I’ve got it in my ‘certain’ Democratic column,” he said. “And, at this point, I don’t see Republicans doing anything to change that calculus.”
Noting the sizable campaign contributions from the Republican Party, Moore added, “It’s interesting to me they would give her that much money. Do they think she has something to say? Regardless, it doesn’t look like it will be successfully spent money.”
McEntee said she is not bothered by the financial discrepancy.
“I’m not worried about money,” she said. “I’m the right person to be running for this job and no amount of money is going to change that.”
Both candidates have been campaigning or advertising extensively, but only made their first joint appearance Tuesday night at The Horn restaurant in Depoe Bay.
But, McEntee and her son, Carter McEntee, who is running for Lincoln County commissioner, have declined to participate in forums where questions are asked of participants. Celeste McEntee has also struggled with some state rules – with a complaint filed this week over voters pamphlet misstatements, earlier incorrectly claiming endorsements in her voters pamphlet submissions, and getting a written warning last spring from the Oregon Government Ethics Commission for failing to file requirement financial paperwork on time.
Who can best serve district?
McEntee and Gomberg have also sparred often about who is better suited to represent the district’s interests.
“He might have more money than me, but it’s not coming from the fishermen, not from timber, not from agriculture,” McEntee said. “I have the support of regular people, which is why I’m going to win.”
Gomberg responded, in part, by noting that more than 200 people have written checks ranging from $10 to $1,000 to his campaign.
“My largest group of contributions is from people who live in the district,” he said. “You really have to be struck by the diversity there.”
As far as legislative accomplishments, Gomberg pointed to “substantial” sums he has helped direct to his district from state and federal infrastructure legislation. Included in that spending is $4 million for water and sewer issues in Waldport, $3 million to repair docks in Depoe Bay and $6.5 million for new housing construction in Lincoln County.
“One of my challenges as a coastal legislator is to make sure that the infrastructure Oregon is spending is spent fairly in our part of the state,” he said. “We are really focused on the various niche industries that are important to our area and it’s really paying off.”
He also underscored his work in helping support rebuilding efforts in his hometown of Otis, which suffered catastrophic damage in 2020’s Echo Mountain Complex wildfire.
“One-third of the houses on my street were destroyed,” Gomberg said. “We went to Salem three weeks later and worked hard on legislation responding to the fire.”
One piece of the legislation negated the need for Otis residents to pay property taxes on a house that burned, he said. Another eliminated construction excise taxes for those seeking to rebuild primary dwellings.
McEntee praised Gomberg’s work on behalf of fire victims, but added, “I’m grateful he helped people in the wildfires, but you know what? That’s his job. He signed up for that.”
She also pointed to her own work helping provide food to area residents affected by restaurants ordered closed at the beginning of the Covid pandemic.
“For 12 weeks we took food out, which helped both our employees and the families we were able to help support,” McEntee said. “We did that for weeks until state funding got going to get our employees back to work.”
Legislatively, McEntee said she would work to at least temporarily freeze the state corporate activity tax, which is applied to taxable Oregon commercial activity in excess of $1 million. As currently structured, only taxpayers with more than $1 million of taxable Oregon commercial activity have a payment obligation.
“That’s a huge issue for me,” she said. “It affects far more businesses than you might imagine.”
She also cites dealing with the county’s homeless population and associated mental health issues as two of her top priorities.
“There is so much that needs to be done and done right now,” McEntee. “Unfortunately, not enough people are moving in the direction we need to go. I’ll change that.”
Gomberg, making his own final pitch, said, “I don’t live in red Oregon and I don’t live in blue Oregon. I live in purple Oregon. I’m a centrist Democrat with a long record of getting things done.”
- Dana Tims is an Oregon freelance writer who contributes regularly to YachatsNews.com. He can be reached at DanaTims24@gmail.com