OMPAC Endorsed Candidates Enjoy Election Success! By Ken Cole, Oregon Medical Association 2014 WAS THE FIRST YEAR the Oregon Medical Political Action Committee (OMPAC) allowed some candidates running for office to use the endorsement of OMPAC. The OMPAC Board made good choices with four out of four endorsed physician candidates enjoying success on Election Day. Governor John Kitzhaber, MD, defeated Rep. Dennis Richardson. Sen. Alan Bates, DO, enjoyed a comfortable win. Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, MD, had an easy road to her victory, and took over 66% of the vote. Knute Buehler, MD, was running in an open House seat in Bend, and he also had good numbers, easily defeating his Democratic opponent by over 4,000 votes. Historically, OMPAC has provided financial support to candidates but did not allow candidates to use the OMPAC name as an endorsement. This election cycle the OMPAC Board voted to allow the endorsement of physician candidates on a trial basis and will be evaluating the policy change as well as discussing expanding the endorsement process. OMPAC was also very successful with their supported candidates, only losing one race in the general election. The one OMPAC-supported candidate who was not successful was Sen. Bruce Starr. He lost to challenger Democrat Chuck Riley in a tight race. The result helps give Democrats a stronger hand in Salem. For the 2015 legislative session, they’ll control the House 35 to 25 and the Senate 18 to 12. What is OMPAC? The Oregon Medical Political Action Committee (OMPAC) is a bi-partisan, voluntary, non-profit organization whose membership is open to all physicians, their spouses and others in the medical community. OMPAC encourages members of the medical profession to take a more active role in governmental affairs. The organization makes it possible for physicians to provide financial support for political candidates for state office who understand the interests of medicine. Additionally, OMPAC was created to provide a forum for educating its members about state and national political activities affecting medicine. How does OMPAC decide which candidate to support? The OMPAC board members carefully review candidates and make their decisions on who to support based upon input from local OMA members regarding the candidate’s qualifications and background; analysis of previous election returns to determine the partisan strength of a particular district; input from the OMA lobbying staff regarding the candidate’s previous support of OMA initiatives. POLITICAL PERSUASION Rep. Knute Buehler, MD, was one of four OMPAC-endorsed candidates to enjoy election wins in November. Courtesy Knute Buehler Campaign. Key Statistics (Per the Secretary of State website as of 11/05/14) Registered Voters — 2,185,681 Ballots Cast — 1,402,326 64.16% Turnout w ww.theOMA.org Winter 2015 17
OMA Winter 2015 Magazine
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