Published 7:56 am Monday, October 26, 2026

Don’t add to the echo chamber

Do we really need a bigger echo chamber?

Commissioner Phil Chang is on a roll. In April, his Bulletin column went after a sitting commissioner. This week, me. Two races, two columns, each landing before voters decide.

In January, Chang will be joined by Jamie Collins and Rick Russell. He doesn’t need a fourth reliable vote. He wants one anyway.

Look who’s backing Morgan Schmidt: Chang, every member of the Bend City Council, Congresswoman Janelle Bynum, Sen. Anthony Broadman and Rep. Emerson Levy. Voters made this race nonpartisan in 2022, yet the Deschutes Democrats endorsed Collins, Russell and Schmidt as a slate. Same names, same endorsers, same votes.

We know where echo chambers get us. That council put Greenwood Avenue on a road diet and approved a multi-million dollar footbridge. This year it voted 7-0, then 6-0, to stop requiring public comment at committee meetings, with no recorded discussion.…