08.09.06
Teachers support Cowan
Newport News Times May I correct a misleading impression the Alan Brown campaign may be communicating to readers? The misleading impression is found in Alan’s yellow campaign flier that was included with the Aug. 2 edition of the News-Times. In his flier Alan includes a gracious and respectful quotation from me. The use of my name and affiliation, however, may cause the reader to believe the school teachers’ association endorses Alan for re-election. The truth is that the teachers’ association endorses Alan’s opponent, Jean Cowan. Here is what happened. On Jan. 20 I wrote a letter to Alan, informing Alan the Oregon Education Association (OEA) had decided to recommend Alan’s opponent, Jean Cowan, for election to the Oregon Legislature. Both Alan and Jean had sought OEA’s recommendation. Both Alan and Jean had completed OEA questionnaires and participated in our interviews. My Jan. 20 letter contains three paragraphs. The first paragraph thanks Alan for participating in our candidate interview process. The second paragraph contains just one sentence. The sentence reads, “This letter notifies you that the Council has recommended Jean Cowan for the Oregon House of Representatives, District 10.” The third and final paragraph says some nice things about Alan, thanking him for supporting public education in Lincoln County. I was trying to be as gracious and respectful as possible to Alan, even though I was the bearer of bad tidings. Then, over six months later, Alan’s campaign decided to use my Jan. 20 letter in their Aug. 2 newspaper flier. Instead of quoting my entire letter, however, the Brown campaign quoted just my third paragraph, where I write nice things about Alan. By omitting the first two-thirds of my letter - the part where I explain the teachers recommend Jean Cowan - the flier may leave the impression that OEA endorses Alan. We don’t. We recommend Jean Cowan. OEA decided to recommend Jean Cowan because she will bring leadership to Salem that will be good for Lincoln County public schools. We also believe that Jean would not manipulate a person’s attempt to be gracious and respectful. Thank you for allowing me to set the record straight. Steve Kenney, Field Representative Oregon Education Association
