When A Dove Lies

[June 25th, 2008]

A mini shitstorm rained down from Democrats on Elizabeth Furse last week after the peacenik and former congresswoman crossed party lines to endorse U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) for a second straight election.

In a new TV ad airing in Portland, Furse—a 71-year-old Democrat who represented Oregon’s northwestern district from 1993 to 1999—stretches the truth to praise Smith as “one of the first to stand up to George Bush and other Republicans to end this war.”

A co-founder in 1986 of the nonprofit Oregon Peace Institute, Furse spoke out against the Iraq invasion as early as 2002. In contrast, Smith waited until right after the November 2006 election, by which time nearly 2,900 U.S. soldiers had died, to question the war publicly.

“[Furse] has been consistently antiwar,” says Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.). “I don’t know why she’s saying what she’s saying.... But I know exactly why the Smith campaign is putting it on the air. They’re trying to rewrite history.”

Off the air, Smith and Furse are on the same page on another matter altogether—one that could raise up to $1 million in federal taxpayers’ money by establishing a foundation to support Furse’s pet project at Portland State University, the Institute for Tribal Government.

On April 30, a little more than a month before Smith’s campaign began airing the ad with Furse and state Sen. Avel Gordly (D-Portland), Smith introduced Senate Bill 2949. That measure authorizes the creation of the Mark O. Hatfield Scholarship and Excellence in Tribal Governance Foundation, a move that would then allow Congress to fund the project.

Furse stepped down as the institute’s $60,000-a-year executive director in August 2006 after five years in the post, but she still keeps a hand in teaching one or two courses a term at PSU. The school pays all of her salary these days, which was nearly $30,000 in 2007. Asked if the bill influenced her endorsement, Furse said Tuesday, “Why would it?”

Smith opponents have a long history of questioning Furse’s support for Smith, which predates both the latest ad and the 2008 bill. “A lot of people like the guy personally,” says Steve Novick, an unsuccessful candidate in the May Democratic primary to choose a challenger to Smith. “That should not be enough to endorse a candidate with whom you disagree on a wide variety of important issues.”

To be fair, Smith is not alone in Oregon’s congressional delegation in supporting the institute at PSU’s College of Urban and Public Affairs. But none of the other backers is getting Furse to cut an ad for him or her, either.

Launched in 2000 to train Native American leaders in good governance, the institute started with a $1.3 million federal grant and substantial help from Rep. David Wu, the Democrat who succeeded Furse.

The institute is a single office no bigger than four cubicles. It has two employees and one window. But over the years, it’s received enough federal money to send at least 15 high-school graduates to Harvard for four years at no cost.

(Among its original funders is the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, a tribal agency where Furse’s husband, John Platt, is a longtime employee.)

The bill Smith introduced in April follows two pieces of similar legislation he introduced in 2004 and 2005. Both those bills, which died, differed only from the 2008 version because they were named for Furse as well as Hatfield. In all three cases, Wu introduced companion bills in the House. Blumenauer and fellow Oregon Democratic Reps. Peter DeFazio and Darlene Hooley also co-sponsored the 2004 and 2005 versions of the bill, but only Wu has signed onto the 2008 legislation.

Smith spokeswoman Lindsay Gilbride rejects any link between the bill and Furse’s ad, saying, “Senator Smith’s bipartisan effort with Congressman Wu on behalf of the Scholarship and Excellence in Tribal Governance Act is aimed at boosting education opportunities and fostering understanding of tribal self-governance.”

Roy Sampsel, the institute’s current director, also denies any connection between Smith’s support for Furse’s project and her endorsement.

“She’s not on the payroll [of the institute] anymore, and she’s been endorsing Gordon Smith for a while, so people can say what they will,” Sampsel says. “I don’t see a relationship between the ad and the legislation.”

Furse said in her ad that she supports Smith because he acts independently and voters can trust him. And she told WW, “I’m proud of my endorsement.”

^Endorsement Video