What Was CPO 8 Up To in North Plains? Records Reveal an Organized Campaign to Pressure North Plains City Hall
A newly obtained email shows CPO 8 Chair Linda Galas-Merten organizing activists and North Plains’ incoming elected leaders to pressure the outgoing City Council.
At 1:21 p.m. on December 2, 2024 — hours before a North Plains City Council meeting — CPO 8 Chair Linda Galas-Merten sent an email to more than 50 people.
It was not a neutral meeting notice.
Galas-Merten called the outgoing council's final actions a “parting shot” and accused councilors of stuffing their last meetings with “questionable resolutions.”
She asked recipients to show up and challenge them.
Attached was a two-page document laying out the plan.
Its columns were labeled:
“Agenda Item”
“Why it’s Bad”
“Person willing to comment”
And the recipient list tells another part of the story.
The people who were about to take over City Hall
The email went to Mayor-elect Ariel Goodwin and Councilors-elect Aaron Dumbrow, Mandy Hagedorn and Katie Reding.
All four had just won election. They would take office a month later. Three have since resigned, the remaining elected, Mandy Hagedorn, may be soon facing a recall election.
Also on the list were Aaron Nichols, Jacque Duyck Jones, Ron Bunch, Robert Bailey and numerous people connected to the campaign against North Plains' UGB expansion and the broader Washington County land-use activist community.
More than 20 recipients also appear in 2024 Oregon legislative records opposing HB 4026, the legislation at the center of the fight over North Plains' UGB referendum.
And there were CPO connections everywhere.
Galas-Merten was CPO 8 chair. Patti Perrin was vice chair. Faun Hosey was secretary. Goodwin had been elected a CPO 8 officer-at-large earlier that year.
The message came from an email address identifying itself as CPO 8 leadership: leadership.cpo8@gmail.com.
But CPO 8 isn't a political action committee
CPO 8 is part of Washington County's formally recognized Community Participation Organization program.
Its bylaws say its purpose is to obtain “objective citizen participation” in community decision-making.
There isn't much “objective” about a document titled “Why it’s Bad.”
The attachment called proposals “buried,” described council rules as badly written and called a possible contract renewal “unethical and financially irresponsible.”
CPO 8 can take positions on issues. Its bylaws provide a process for doing so.
But the November 21 CPO 8 minutes — the last published meeting before Galas-Merten's email — say:
Decisions: NONE.
Action Items: NONE.
We have found no published record showing CPO 8 authorized this effort.
One part of the plan happened exactly as Galas-Merten predicted
The attachment identified Don Weber as the person who would raise concerns about transferring the Elephant Garlic Festival's intellectual property.
“Don Weber – will comment.”
When the issue came before the council on December 16, the official minutes show Weber questioning the transfer, just as Galas-Merten had instructed the group.
Today, Weber is a North Plains city councilor.
There is another important piece of context.
During the UGB referendum campaign earlier that year, Galas-Merten publicly said Washington County would not allow CPO 8 to sponsor a referendum forum.
Her solution was to hold it anyway — “unsponsored.”
In other words, the line between CPO 8 and political advocacy had already come up.
So what was CPO 8 up to?
This isn't about whether Galas-Merten or anyone else had a right to criticize the City Council. Of course they did.
The question is whether CPO 8 — an organization established to facilitate objective community participation — was being used as part of the political organizing network surrounding North Plains.
Who created the “Why it’s Bad” document?
Was the recipient list a CPO 8 distribution list?
Did CPO 8 authorize the effort?
And where did CPO 8 activity end and private political organizing begin?
Those are questions worth answering. More to come on this...
Editors note: this story arose from a reader tip. You can send us an email at therealfriendsofnorthplains@gmail.com
Read the emails:
