I have voted Democrat for decades, including for Val Hoyle. I live in Eugene’s City Council Ward 1, a short walk from City Hall and the federal building, so what happened downtown in January was not something I watched on a screen.

In the weeks before January 30, I saw vandalism at nearby hotels and in public spaces. I told one group their cause had merit but the damage did not, and a protester called me MAGA. I am not MAGA. I was a Democrat asking people on my own block to knock it off.

On Jan. 28, the city posted on Instagram about how to tell a Eugene officer from a federal one. I went to City Hall and asked them to take it down. The security guards there told me they were scared of exactly that, because they don’t wear those identifiers either. 

Rep. Val Hoyle, Eugene Mayor Kaarin Knudson and Gov. Tina Kotek were calling the Eugene protests peaceful. I tried to get someone to hear that peaceful did not match what I was seeing.

Two nights later I could see and hear the riot at the federal building from my home. I called Eugene police and was told officers had been ordered to stand down until federal authorities arrived. Then the windows went, with workers inside. 

I understand why people were angry after Renee Good was killed, and I support peaceful protest. I don’t support treating every federal worker in this town as the enemy. They have families here too.

So I reached out to Monique DeSpain. She called that week, we had coffee, and we walked to the federal building to meet the people who work there. Since then I’ve watched her bring nonprofits and public agencies into one room to talk honestly about addiction and mental illness on our streets.

Last election cycle I believed the ads saying she wanted to ban abortion. She opposes a federal ban, and she has two kids because of IVF. That ad is back this year, and it still isn’t the woman I met.

If you’ve stayed quiet about this, I understand. This is me saying it first.

Matt Bailey
Eugene