The Blue Mountain Eagle, a newspaper in John Day, Ore., interviewed Ross Burkhart, a professor in the School of Public Service, for the article, “Groups seek to spur discussions on Greater Idaho movement.”
The article profiles perspectives on the movement taking place in parts of Central and Eastern Oregon and Northern California to secede into a “Greater Idaho.” The movement’s proponents envision aligning with a set of shared cultural values and political ideology with this secession.
Burkart said, “I discussed the challenges that such a movement would have to overcome, namely getting the three affected state legislatures to agree to it (Idaho, Oregon, and California) as well as the U.S. Congress, and understanding that despite the perceived commonalities in the vision of the movement’s proponents, that political winds can change, with unintended consequences that may not necessarily address the issues raised by the proponents.”