The Real Story – A Column
What happens when you take land owners on the edge of an Oregon city like Hillsboro, add local politicians, influence them with campaign donations and lobbying, and deny residents and the public any chance whatsoever to weigh in? Well, in 2026, you get the “Oregon Jobs Act,” also known as Senate Bill 1586. While most people are trying to keep the lights on or survive ICE, Senator Janeen Sollman is seizing the opportunity to Trojan Horse her constituents’ and donors’ land into the Urban Growth Boundary, doing so in the name of supposed economic development. Last night, she attended a Town Hall on this matter run by Friends of Smart Growth and Save Helvetia in Forest Grove, which was maddening because she, along with Hillsboro Mayor Beach Pace, has refused to allow any public input. Folks, this is the largest land grab in the history of the State of Oregon, and it is being carried out in violation of our land-use laws. So Janeen dropped in, took the mic, and stumped for her Bill as a “local girl” and tried to win the debate. What happened when she was finished is the very reason she refuses to host a town hall on this matter. Watch the end of her stump-
- She answered my question about Public Engagement with a quiet “Yes” as she walked off – but said no more. We Challenge Her to Deliver!
- She exchanged barbs with Nellie McAdams of Oregon Ag Trust, a keynote speaker, about why she refused to supply text messages between herself and the landowners last year as part of a Public Information Request that the Herald filed.
- And she was asked whether she was lobbied by the landowners or others – who stand to make over 1 billion dollars if her Bill passes, and her answer, just to my left, was a definitive “NO”.
Senator Sollman’s Campaign Received Money From Land Owners and 3rd Party Groups
Full disclosure- I used to support Senator Sollman. As a Hillsboro and Washington County community leader, I was aware of her good talking points and work. But years ago, at one of her coffee gatherings, I saw a man to her right, with whom I had personal experiences in my career as a real estate broker and land use advisor. That man’s name is Tom Vanderzanden. Tom has a long history of land use and Urban Growth Boundary expansions, some of which I had a back-room seat to, and he is a very powerful person if you need something done. Moving the UGB Line leads to tens of millions of dollars or more, and when it happens, consultants like Tom can cash in big time. I do not like the techniques that Tom and people like him use- it was at that point I moved away from Sollman and decided she was not a Democrat who was displaying Democratic values I could trust. OPB did a story on that, which included him and some of his Neighbors.
Vanderzanden is associated with the Walt Vanderzanden Farm, which is perhaps the prime parcel that will come in if Sollman gets what she and he both want. With hundreds of acres, the farm will once generate an absolute fortune. He is also pivotal in the years of lobbying that have happened to bring the 1,700 acres into the Urban Growth Boundary; land that was once a potential for future growth but was put back into a 50-year farmland reserve when Hillsboro and the State of Oregon desperately needed 1,100 acres for “Project Azalaea” and the “Grand Bargain” – a boondoggle that never happened. Hillsboro has now all but squandered the 1.100 acres where locals now realize energy sucking Data Centers have taken over.
Vanderzanden and the NW Hillsboro Alliance continue to lobby for the inclusion of their land and to donate money to local politicians who can control the outcome of getting the 1,700 acres inside the boundary- they can hit the jackpot. Can we blame them? Probably not. But what we can do is call bullshit when an Oregon State Senator comes to a town hall meeting and, on the record, denies being influenced.
Senator Janeen Sollman has been exposed, and anyone in politics, including Governor Tina Kotek and would-be Governor Christine Drazen, needs to see this for what it is. Senate Bill 1586 is an illegitimate piece of legislation from the get-go, and this process and the Senator pushing it are out of order and conflicted. It is a land grab of epic proportions to benefit contributors and associates.
The Legal definition of a lobbyist is: The term “lobbying” generally means a paid activity with the purpose of attempting to “influence or sway” a public official – including bureaucrats and elected officials – towards a desired specific action often relating to specific legislation.
Yes, landowners have given money to Sollman through Friends of Janeen Sollman, which collects funds for her campaigns. And so has the Ir-Van Group, LLC, and the Northwest Hillsboro Alliance. Janeen can call it what she wants- she was lobbied and has been. Her “No” answer at the meeting is on her, and she has to own it. She had a moment to speak the truth she did not.
No transparency, no truth, no public engagement- this is who Janeen Sollman, as an Oregon Senator, has become. Anyone in Salem working on this new Bill best take the land grab out of the bill and set that aside. Otherwise, all that is happening is an out-in-the-open land grab while the public is silenced and has to watch. Not the Oregon way- if this is that good for everyone, then bring it into the open and be honest. As things stand now, Sollman only hurt her cause by dropping in and grabbing the mic at a very energized and informational town hall.
We will cover the great speakers who presented at the Town Hall to a large group of attendees tomorrow.
BONUS CONTENT – The Proof Is In The Record
Here are screenshots from the Oregon State Elections Division website – https://secure.sos.state.or.us/orestar/cneSearch.do?cneSearchButtonName=search&cneSearchFilerCommitteeId=17890&OWASP_CSRFTOKEN=W9P4-DH6Q-8JF5-19JG-9719-DZ5Q-LRYJ-W8V1. These are organizations and or land owners who contributed and appear to be involved at some level with this 1,700 acres.
BONUS CONTENT: Here are the others in Hillsboro Leadership with a relationship with, or who have been given campaign funds from, the landowners.
Here are just a few contributions from landowners and consultants to our local politicians and candidates- Land far outside the City limits of Hillsboro. All data from the Oregon Elections websites where such expenditures are available.
Others receiving funds from some of the same players include, but are not limited to, former Hillsboro Mayor Steve Callaway, who is now running for County Commissioner, and County Commissioner Pam Treece, who wants to be the Chair of Washington County.
Oregon’s “JOBS Act” — What Is Being Proposed – A short Summary
The proposal known as LC 237, or the Oregon JOBS Act – Senate Bill 1586, is set to be one of the most consequential bills of the short 2026 legislative session. Spearheaded by Senator Janeen Sollman (D–Hillsboro), the concept would immediately add roughly 1,700 acres of protected farmland in north Hillsboro (North of Evergreen and West of Jackson School) for industrial development by legislative action rather than through the state’s normal urban growth process. Sollman has been joined in testimony by Hillsboro Mayor Beach Pace, consultant Keith Leavitt of Confluence Strategies, and business-sector allies including Duke Shepard of Oregon Business and Industry, Liisa Bozinovic of Oregon Life Sciences, Chabre Vickers of Prosper Portland, and Kelsey Haskett of EDCO and the Oregon Economic Development Association.
Supporters argue the measure is needed to keep Oregon competitive for “advanced manufacturing” projects, claiming it would bring new family-wage jobs, modernize permitting, and extend research-and-development tax credits. Opponents say the bill revives the playbook of the 2014 “Grand Bargain” — and the never-realized “Project Azalea” — by promising high-tech manufacturing while paving over some of the valley’s best farmland. Critics warn that even with language barring “stand-alone data centers,” the expansion lands will simply end up like the miles of land to the East. Land for “high-paying jobs” that never really came as Data Center after Data Center covered the former farms.
While I cannot and therefore will not attempt to articulate my thoughts here as others may, I will just say this;
There are many amongst us who are Janeen Sollman’s, Beach Pace’s, Steve Callaway’s, and many others who have sold their souls, but for what?
Perhaps for the brief moment in time that they must crave, power. Yes, I believe that these people must have forgotten, that although they were elected by a majority, there is the minority that never ceded them the right to abuse their powers.
These people have been purchased for & by greed. They have have no consciousness of the lasting consequences that they will render upon the future.
Watching Sollman’s video performance and seeing some who were in attendance, to most likely support her, Councilor Kipperlyn Sinclair to name one, exemplifies who we, in the mostly “silent minority”, are sickened by.
To you Sollman, Pace, Callaway, Sinclair, Vanderzanden, and others, I won’t ask if you have any class, any style, any reverence, or any soul, for I know the answer.
Manual,
Your question is important. What we’re dealing with are people who seemingly have a mechanistic view of the universe, to go with their hierarchical view of nature and material reductionist tendencies. It’s how they rationalize paving over viable soil – full of microscopic life that can nurture our lives through its harvest – while blocking soil expert testimony. Their 19th Century English and colonial view of biology is so pathetically now… and also looking more and more obsolete as scientists today reckon with its qualitative and quantitative failures, while asking for something different.
Their mechanistic views have led them to embrace a political culture that is vertical and manipulative. Combine this with an economic system that fails to account for externalizations, and here we are. It’s not so much that the ends justify the means with these people. But the means are the ends. It’s a desecration.
I don’t know the religious views or associations of the people you mention. Kotek has mentioned her church in Portland, usually for PR reasons during a campaign. So it seems that for her it was mostly social currency, rather than a true expression of faith, if her actions on this issue are anything to go by. Based on her recent public statements, she’s trying to have it both ways.
As for the others, I think they’re silly townies who are drunk on a power trip and their insider status. Mayor Pace, being the ex-Army officer and corporate manager, might just be a good soldier who follows orders and regards Hillsboro residents as Privates. In their defiance of the law and support of a corrupt system of patronage, the VanderZans are just being opportunistic rational actors. It’s like bad community theater.
Of course, I would be very happy to be wrong about them all. But it doesn’t look that way.