Rep. Ed Diehl, candidate for Oregon governor, is not giving credit to Jason Williams of The Taxpayers Association of Oregon who has been doing this work for 20 years.

People want fairness. Candidate Ed Diehl hyping himself up as the hero in the 250,000 signature win at Christmas time while staying silent on a true Oregon hero like Jason Williams is not fair. The Oregon Catalyst extolled Jason Williamsgood character and creative history in this 2024 article. Williams success in beating back taxes for all Oregonians should be commended, not hidden. To be commended as well are Don McIntire and  Bill Sizemore. "In 1999, Jason Williams reached out to McIntire to form the Taxpayers Association of Oregon and then the Foundation soon after. Oregon hasn’t been the same since TAO’s founding."

https://oregoncatalyst.com/78664-taxpayers-assoc-big-25th-anniversary.html 

 Ed Diehl supporters appear to have a calculated game on social media, attempting to take out the Salem outsider, Chris Dudley with "What has Dudley done in the last ten years for Oregon?!"  What has Ed Diehl done in the last ten years? Nothing? Came into the legislature in 2023. Diehl's only chief bill sponsor "win" was in 2026. 

Researching shows Diehl with only one win as a chief/primary sponsor:

"HB4047 (2026) — Relating to rural emergency hospitals — is the only bill where Ed Diehl served as the chief/primary sponsor that passed and was signed into law during his time in the Oregon House (2023–present)" - GROK AI

 

Perhaps Diehl's on-line social media supporters are naive? Being in Facebook echo chambers can give a reductive impression. Diehl's supporters are not doing Get out the Vote (GOTV). There's no discussion as to how an Ed Diehl campaign would fit into the General Election to an audience outside the Oregon Republican Party. The Non-Republican votes that any candidate must have to win.

 

Rep. Diehl took the "No Tax on Gas" win being on the Primary ballot as a reason to file a lawsuit on "policy" as opposed to "law", paying out $45,000.00 of that PAC money to attorneys. TPNW has long asked since 2020 as to why Salem legislators who make the laws can't read the laws? Aside from that when people were happily and energetically signing the petitions in December, they weren't asked, "Do you want to vote on this in May or November of this year." There was no evidence that those 250,000 wanted to wait until November to vote. Diehl's loss in court was just reduced to a "bad liberal judge" did us wrong.

 

Now instead of doing GOTV, Diehl's supporters are now to man tables to get signatures for something called "Clawback". "Clawback" what? Who's affected? The "No Tax on Gas" was clear and direct. Three million Oregonians who drive a vehicle. TPNW had to dig to see what and who this effected. 

 

160,000 Oregonians who buy new cars if they buy an American car they get a tax deduction. 500,000 Oregonians a year buy used cars. There's no deduction for that. The other is 418,000 small businesses regarding using a deduction on equipment in the first year rather than deducting over 5-7 years.

 Given the importance to small businesses and if there are 418,000 why didn't Diehl just have 100,000 of those small business people sign it and be done with it quickly and efficiently? Why does the poster present like it is everyone in Oregon (4.2 million population) who are impacted?

 

Ed Diehl told the Willamette Week in an interview if the legislature does not listen to him on taxes, he'll have every tax bill go through the referendum process.