Murdock: Idaho movement is unlikely
By Terry Murry on Friday, November 11th, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
UMATILLA COUNTY – Morrow County voters have asked their commissioners to explore the Greater Idaho Movement. Such a question has not been placed on the ballot in Umatilla County and Commissioner George Murdock says he supports the sentiment but doesn’t think it will happen because the state of Oregon is embedded in the county.
“We have a prison system out here that belongs to the state of Oregon that will house 10,000 prisoners,” he said. “We have universities. We have community colleges. We have highways. We have so much out here that belongs to the state of Oregon.”
Murdock said that counties on both sides of the state realize that they have more in common than they realize. He is the president of the Association of Oregon Counties and said that message is paramount to the group.
“If the great event, or tsunami, or whatever it’s called ever occurs, we’re going to have a lot more unity because Western Oregon is going to come over here,” he said.
A change in the Oregon-Idaho border would require affirmative votes from the Oregon Legislature, the Idaho Legislature, and Congress. It would also spell doom to some Eastern Oregon businesses, as possession of marijuana is a class 1 felony in Idaho.
