Leftist critic Jeffrey St. Clair is working to turn politics upside down from his quiet little subdivision in Oregon City.

Betting on a horse race is always dicey, especially when it’s money down on a political derby.

“I chaired the Health Care Subcommittee in the 1989 session of the Oregon Legislature and carried then-Senate president John Kitzhaber’s Oregon Health Plan to the House floor. I remember vividly the floor debate I had with now-Congressman Greg Walden over the “employer mandate” which was a part of the plan. He won!”

“If government got out of the business of dictating coverage, more people could afford to purchase policies.”

“Kitzhaber’s problem:  The forces of socialism in this state want more services for more people and don’t want to pay for them. Kitzhaber’s solution:  How do we get businesses to pay for it since federal dollars are not enough and state dollars come from everyone?”

Commercial insurance firms sorted by region and ranked by licensed commercial agents in Oregon.

Ken and Penny Durant of Red Ridge Farms are betting that olives will grow in the Willamette Valley. In fact, they’re already selling oil made from the type of olives, arbequina, that they’ve planted on their property.

“The company started from nothing in 1936, back in the days when there was plenty of timber. My father was a real pioneer — he had the foresight to take some strong risks.”

Deschutes County — in the high desert of Central Oregon — has seen explosive growth in the past five years.

Annual Oregon filings for new corporations have hovered around 13,000 during the last 10 years, declining just slightly during the last two. State filings for new limited liablity companies (LLCs), on the other hand, have grown by leaps and bounds.