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Yes, it was election day today - at least for the 55,000+ voters who are registered with the Independent Party of Oregon.

2290 voters participated, making for roughly a 4% voter turnout - roughly a tenth of the turnout for the May primary. Not particularly impressive, but given the historic nature of the online-only third-party primary, still meaningful - especially for the candidates that competed.

John Kitzhaber won the gubernatorial nomination with 850 votes - over Richard Esterman (438) and Jerry Wilson (300). 314 voters wrote in a name (and according to party leader Dan Meek, 294 of those were for Chris Dudley) and 312 voted "none of the above".

In the two congressional races featuring the Democratic and Republican nominees, the two Republicans won - Scott Bruun in the 5th and Art Robinson in the 4th.

There were nine State Senate races and seven State House races where both the Democratic and Republican nominees sought the IPO nomination.

Democrats won three of the nine Senate races, and two of the seven House races. Nine of the sixteen races were won by incumbents - so it seems that the Independent primary electorate has a GOP lean, rather than an anti-incumbent lean.

Of course, a number of these elections were won with a vote margin of less than ten votes. The hotly-contested race between Senator Richard Devlin and Mary Kremer was decided 49 to 44. That's votes, not percentage. (And hey, Rep. Ben Cannon blew away his opponent in a landslide, seven votes to four.)

So, the question for our readers is this: What does this all mean? Is this a meaningful primary election? Does the Independent Party of Oregon have a future in this state? Should they?

On the jump, the full list of winners in the sixteen contested legislative races...

• SD-4 (Eugene): Marilyn Kittelman (R)
• SD-8 (Albany): Frank Morse (R)
• SD-10 (Salem): Jackie Winters (R)
• SD-13 (Sherwood): Larry George (R)
• SD-15 (Hillsboro): Chuck Riley (D)
• SD-16 (Scappoose): Betsy Johnson (D)
• SD-19 (Tualatin): Richard Devlin (D)
• SD-24 (Portland): Rob Wheeler (R)
• SD-26 (Clackamas): Chuck Thomsen (R)
• HD-5 (Ashland): Peter Buckley (D)
• HD-21 (Salem): Marvin Sannes (R)
• HD-35 (Tigard): Gordon Fiddes (R)
• HD-39 (Canby): Bill Kennemer (R)
• HD-46 (Portland): Ben Cannon (D)
• HD-54 (Bend): Jason Conger (R)
• HD-59 (The Dalles): John Huffman (R)

Complete results are available here (pdf).

Early this week, I made note of the apparent tight race for Oregon Governor between John Kitzhaber and Chris Dudley. I'm not sure if that post heard 'round the state lit a fire under Dr. John or if their britches were already smoking, but the campaign seems like its (finally) gearing up to rumble. Or maybe because the Cook Political Report is considering moving the race to tossup.

Spokesperson Jillian Schoene finally threw some sharp comments about Dudley, the first I've seen on the record from the campaign. And again later in the week when talking about the latest Survey USA poll with Jeff Mapes:

Kitzhaber spokeswoman Jillian Schoene portrayed the poll as good news for her candidate. "They've spent $600,000 on advertising since the primary and his numbers have hardly budged," Schoene said of Dudley.

At least they're saying SOMETHING about Dudley that's not simply dismissive. That's a step forward.

Kitzhaber himself has also begun to call Dudley out on why he keeps ducking joint appearances/debates.

David Steves, The Register Guard:

It was clear in Kitzhaber’s 40 minutes of speaking and fielding audience questions that he’s ready to fight for the job he held previously from 1995-2003. He accused Republican rival Chris Dudley of ducking a chance to join him in a joint appearance. And he alluded to the former NBA player’s scant record of public service (he’s never held elective or public office) as he talked about his own approach to governing during a time when Oregon’s revenues are lagging behind the cost of current service levels.

Kitz went on to say that Dudley had “ducked another opportunity to appear together at this conference in the afternoon,” even after he had offered to come back to the event later in the day.

The Kitzhaber campaign also finally went up on the air this week with their first general election TV ad. Sources inside the campaign describe the ad buy as "a significant buy". So expect to see it a lot.

I'm not entirely sure what the hold up has been in getting this stuff rolling, but it's about damn time. Campaign Manager Derek Humphrey has a reputation (at least with the folks I've spoken with) of being a hardcore, tough-edged and very talented campaign guy. So far, this hasn't seemed like the kind of campaign a guy like that would run. Which makes me wonder what's (or who's) been in the way, frankly. Hopefully this is a sign that Dr. Kitz has decided to let Derek do what he presumably was hired to do--kick some campaign ass.

Al Gore has been cleared of all charges related to the accusation of sexual assault in Portland hotel in 2006.

From ABC News:

Senior Deputy District Attorney Don Rees, in a memo to the D.A., Michael D. Schrunk, wrote that Hagerty gave no indication afterwards that she was upset, as she later claimed.

Rees noted that Hagerty sold her story to the National Enquirer, failed a polygraph test, thanked the hotel management two days after the alleged incident for sending business her way and "has not provided as repeatedly requested medical records she claims are related to the case."

Rees concludes, "This case is not appropriate for criminal prosecution. The matter is closed and the investigative materials will be returned to PPB [the Portland Police Bureau]."

Gore's spokeswoman, Kalee Kreider, issued a statement: "Mr. Gore unequivocally and emphatically denied this accusation when he first learned of its existence three years ago. He respects and appreciates the thorough and professional work of the Portland authorities and is pleased that this matter has now been resolved."

It's good to see this rather unfortunate saga come to a close.

Update: Willamette Week has posted the DA's memo in its entirety.

Up until today, Scott Bruun was just another Oregon GOP legislator sporting an odd Prince Charming handsome quality that seemed ripe for a Simpson's parody (this is really all I knew about Bruun..I haven't looked at his policy positions yet).

But no more.

Bruun is now out of the closet as a full-throated devotee of the "Let's Get Back To The Values of Ebeneezer Scrooge" contingent.

Greg Sargent, The Plum Line, Washington Post:

GOPer Scott Bruun, a state representative in Oregon who's running to unseat Dem Rep. Kurt Schrader, told a local radio program that extending unemployment benefits beyond two years is "European," adding that an extension would bring "shame on our government" for "encouraging" joblessness.

Asked by KPAM radio host Victoria Taft whether he would have supported extending benefits, Bruun responded that he wouldn't have:

"When we're talking up over close to two years and longer with jobless benefits, I think we really start talking about a European style system and all the problems that that sort of system brings if you try to bring that sort of system to the United States."

A bit later, Bruun said that we have to adopt a new approach to those who have been receiving benefits for a long time:

"We need sort of a new game plan going forward, a new accountability. Shame on our government, if you will, if the government is in a position where we're encouraging people to stay out of the workplace longer."

First of all, you've got to hand it to Victoria Taft--to get her guest torqued up enough that he feels the need to pander to her particular brand of crazy to the detriment of his own campaign is a stellar feat. Thanks, Vic.

But watching Bruun step into the baseless meme that somehow everybody on unemployment is a fat, lazy slob who simply doesn't want to work is rather entertaining and honestly, quite a campaign message--especially given how many likely Oregon voters have used unemployment in the last two years.

And then the cherry-on-top crack about Europe. So not only are we supposed to look down on our fellow Oregonians who have used or are using unemployment insurance--there's a murky idea that somehow they're also cowards whose ass we had to save during World War II and oh by the way...SOCIALISTS!!

Nobody stirs the boogeyman like a GOP candidate stumping from a rightwing radio studio. (Spooky music)..."beware the socialist unemployment check....it will turn us into the MarxistsFascistsHitlerFrenchies! "

Seriously Victoria, the Schrader campaign owes you one.

Medford Mail Tribune:

Jeers — to State Rep. Sal Esquivel, R-Medford, who has announced he will travel to Arizona to support that state's battle with the federal government over immigration enforcement. We have no quarrel with his stand on the controversial Arizona law — he's entitled to his opinion. But he says he plans to introduce similar legislation in the 2011 session of the Oregon Legislature.

Arizona is a border state plagued by many problems resulting from the stream of illegal immigrants crossing into the U.S. from Mexico. Oregon is not a border state, and is plagued by a severe budget crisis that will demand lawmakers' undivided attention to solve it.

A federal judge already has blocked portions of the Arizona law, setting up a legal battle that could wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court before it is finished. Now is hardly the time for Oregon to join that fight.

If State Representative Sal Esquivel R-HD 6 is re-elected he'll continue with his campaign to bring the Arizona immigration law to Oregon. Our state dollars are already spread way to thin. This is a federal responsibility and a federal problem. They need to do their job on this issue. We're already paying taxes for it.

Are Oregonians ready to wake up in a state where you have to prove you are an American anytime a police officer or state trooper has his doubts? What we love about Oregon is our independence. We are still pioneers. We don't have to prove who we are to anyone. Does State Rep Esquivel really want to see more government intrusion into our private lives? Isn't he worried that the bringing an Arizona type law to Oregon would give local and state police additional power with broad discretion?

The police officers I know have enough to do fighting violent crime, dealing with meth, keeping our roads safe - it isn't their job to handle immigration enforcement.

We need a consistent national policy and we need the federal government to do its job. We have elected our Senators and Congressmen to go to Washington DC to their job on immigration policy.

Note to Esquivel: With the budget cuts we're seeing in the state of Oregon at the state and local level, our first responders and local public safety officers are already spread too thin. We can't afford to take this on too. We do not want to live in a state that treats people like they are guilty until they are proven innocent. It's un-fair, un-American and dangerous for freedom.

Derrick's Progressive News

 

All four Oregon Democrates voted AGAINST continued off-budget funding of the Afghan-Pakistan war.

Pres. Obama relied on 160 Republicans to fund his pathetic war.

102 Democrates and 12 Republicans voted against the war.

Roll call vote at http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2010/roll474.xml

 

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By Robin Everett of Portland, Oregon. Robin is an advocate with the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign.

Imagine not being able to trust that the water you drink. Imagine not being able to even bathe in your own water for fear of getting sick. This is a real danger many Americans face daily due to our dependence on a dirty and dangerous form of energy: coal.

For decades, the coal industry has told the American people that coal ash is safe, but we know the truth. If the BP Oil Disaster has taught us anything, it's that we can't just take the polluter's word for it anymore.

Coal ash is the by-product of burning coal for electricity, and it contains a long list of dangerous toxins. More than 150 million tons of coal ash are created each year and dumped into thousands of ponds and dumps nationwide, many of which lack basic safety controls. Every day thousands of Americans who live near these storage sites are put at risk.

Communities across the country are exposed to heavy metals such as arsenic, lead and mercury seeping from ash storage sites into our drinking water, rivers and streams. Exposure to coal ash toxins can lead to cancer, birth defects, gastro-intestinal illnesses, and reproductive problems. And yet, coal ash is currently less strictly controlled than household garbage.

There are no federal regulations to control its disposal, and state laws governing coal ash are often weak or non-existent. More than two-thirds of all states, for example, don’t even require basic protections like liners to prevent coal ash from contaminating waterways, or groundwater monitoring to discover a leak if it occurs.

Here in Oregon, we get a portion of our power from the notoriously dangerous Colstrip coal plant in eastern Montana. Owned in part by Portland General Electric and Pacific Power, Colstrip is home to one of the worst coal-ash storage sites in the country. Indeed, Colstrip’s ash pond is on the EPA’s list of 44 highly dangerous coal-ash dumps nationwide.

In 2003, it was discovered that the coal-ash ponds at Colstrip were leaching dangerous heavy metals such as boron into the groundwater. Boron is lethal at 2 milligrams per liter, but in Colstrip, well water has turned up with boron concentrations 13 times the legal limit. Fifty-seven town residents sued the Colstrip plant for poisoning their water, and in May 2008 they won a settlement of $25 million. However, the ponds are still leaking, and the affected residents have stopped using their own wells and have switched over to city water provided by the operators of the plant, PPL Montana, from the Yellowstone River.

Clearly, current state standards are inadequate. Thankfully, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized the very real health and environmental risks posed by toxic coal ash and just proposed new rules to protect communities and ensure the safe disposal of coal ash.

EPA has proposed two options and is seeking public comment on both. One would continue the status quo – establishing suggested state guidelines, not federally enforceable rules. The other would recognize that coal ash is substantially more dangerous than household garbage and would regulate it as the toxic substance it is, protecting public health and waterways across the country.

Effective coal-ash regulations must require basic protections for communities such as composite liners, water run-off controls, groundwater monitoring, and financial assurance that companies pay to clean up what they pollute. Protection still not afforded to the residents of Colstrip, Montana. Only strong federal safeguards can ensure this happens across the country.

Unfortunately, as expected, the coal industry is fighting to maintain the status quo on coal ash, backing the utterly inadequate option of establishing unenforceable guidelines for states. Coal use from cradle to the grave is dirty, dangerous, and damaging, but the coal industry continues spending millions on lobbying to retain and create more loopholes and exemptions for themselves.

As purchasers of power from the dirty and dangerous Colstrip coal plant we have a responsibility to speak out in favor of treating coal ash as toxic waste and encourage EPA to quickly implement the strong federal safeguards to protect the communities in Montana that bear the true cost of our energy use.

Please send your comment to the EPA today.

Where is Medford's Republican State Representative going? He's headed to Arizona to speak and paricipate in a two day rally with the group Stand With Arizona on July 30th and 31st. He's joining author and blogger Michelle Malkin, P.L.E.A. president Mark Spenser and others expressing disappointment in the judge's decision to block key components of Arizona's 1070 law yesterday. Many of the speakers have strong links to front groups associated with the extreme Tea Party movement, white supremacy groups, the Minute Men and other hard corp nativists who exploit xenophobia. Sal Esquivel HD6 is headed to Arizonal He'll be in familiar company since he is a regular speaker and supporter at Tea Party events in Jackson County.

He goes at a time of economic recession in Oregon and at a time when Oregon's unemployment numbers are stubbornly high. Oregon can ill-afford to alienate the critical economic power of Latinos in Oregon. In the July 2010 report from the American Immigration Council policy report " Oregon has 6,360 Latino-owned businesses that had sales of $1.5 billion in sales and receipts and employed 8,272 people in 2002." According to the report one-in-seven-Oregonians are Latino or Asian. The 2009 purchasing power of Latino's in Oregon totaled $7.billion - an increase of 660,9% since 1990."

Immigration law is a complicated jigsaw puzzle. Arizona's law attempted to slide slot A into Slot B and discovered forcing sharp angles into corner flats isn't easy. Arizona' attempt to become a fortress is a clumsy attempt at best .

Oregon is home to 366,405 immigrants in 2008 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Nearly the size of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Jackson County, specifically House District 6, can ill afford to alienate such a critical component of its labor force, tax base and business community.

Sal Esquivel has chosen to to become tangled in the national ongoing strife over immigration reform. Too bad he's chosen to ignore the ordinary people in Medford worry most about: paying their bills, having enough money for the morgage payment or rent, saving for retirement, paying the doctor and dentist bills and hoping their kids will have a full instructional school year. And by the way, nearly 25% of the 12,000 students attending Medford Public Schools are Latino.

Note to Rep. Esquivel :the economy is the top concern for Oregonians, not immigration.

Having spent many a night poring over documents and testimony and maps related to the Urban and Rural Reserves, I was interested to read about the North Clackamas Chamber of Commerce breakfast forum held last week between Metro Chair candidates Bob Stacey and Tom Hughes.

As the former Mayor of Hillsboro, Hughes is an ardent advocate for snatching up more of Washington County's high value farmland and turning it into commercial and residential real estate. It's essentially Hughes' plan for job creation for the Metro area, in fact. He supported the badly drawn Bragdon map for urban reserves, which chews up ridiculous amounts of land for likely urbanization.

Raymond Rendleman, The Clackamas Review:

“I’m the guy who believes we should make our existing land supply work,” Stacey said, pointing out the millions of square feet of underused and vacant real estate. “We’re deferring that problem if we keep on going out to the boundaries for more land.”

Hughes shot back by arguing that Oregon’s above-average unemployment will only turn around with a real-estate infusion.

“We can’t afford to blow off the expansion land,” he said. “The concern that I have based on my experience growing jobs in Hillsboro is that we need a balanced approach... Bob has carefully and thoughtfully looked at the problem of job creation–I have actually been involved in that process.”

"Balanced approach"? Hughes told me in a previous interview that Washington County needs 3-4 one hundred acre parcels in order to accommodate the next Intel, Solarworld, Nike or Genentech. Others have told me that they've heard Hughes say between 7-9 one hundred acre parcels. Yet there's little or no discussion by Hughes (that I'm aware of--and I hope his campaign will stop by here and correct me if I'm wrong) about using the land already inside the Urban Growth Boundary--specifically the hundreds of thousands of square feet of empty commercial real estate and land sitting in Hillsboro and Beaverton. And why there isn't a substantive discussion happening at the Washington County level about encouraging small business (and large business) in the downtown areas of Hillsboro and Beaverton. Both cities have downtown regions that are beginning to crumble (I know of at least one candidate for office that was given space in downtown Hillsboro for FREE, because it's virtually impossible to rent it out right now). And there is at least one enormous plot (known as the St Mary's property) that's near already established residential development--but still Hughes looks to the rural, ag areas of Washington County instead. It's senseless, in my opinion.

If this is Hughes notion of "balanced approach", then I'd hate to see what he thinks pandering to developers looks like.

Stacey, on the other hand, is actively articulating the need to use the massive amount of existing land we already have--and reinvigorate these areas to make them attractive to business.

What we really can't afford is to blow off what we already have in favor of building huge commercial buildings/offices that are only accessible by driving (which is what building out in the middle of Cornelius at the north of Council Creek is--as is building on Scotch Church Road or any number of these other agriculture areas that aren't near any substantial residential development whatsoever), especially since Washington County can't support the traffic they have now.

BREAKING NEWS! This just in. Two new states have just joined the Union. They're going to be known as "Hawaii" and "Alaska". One tropical and one up north near the Arctic Circle. We'll see how long it takes for them to immerse themselves in American culture and public life. Might take a while, but I'm sure it'll happen someday. Who knows? Somebody we may even have presidential and vice-presidential candidates from those states.

What? Oh, that didn't just happen? You say it happened in 1959?

Weird. According to the Multnomah County Republican Party, there's still just 48 states. Here's the photographic evidence from their latest "U-Choose" meeting.

Nothing quite says Leadership for the Future like a 48-star American flag.

(FYI, the guy in the photo is Gordon Fiddes, who is running against Rep. Margaret Doherty.)

Oddly, U-Choose has its own website, but describes themselves as "the political issues action team" of the Multnomah GOP. Not sure what the rest of the county party does, if it's not political issues action. Maybe they're busy figuring out how to add a couple states to get the USA up to a round number of states.

By J. Graber of Portland, Oregon. He is a former journalist and a graduate student in strategic communications at the University of Oregon, Portland campus.

Maybe the reason you never see any coverage about the race for Oregon’s 4th Congressional District is because everyone in the fourth estate thinks the outcome is a foregone conclusion. I mean Peter DeFazio has held the seat since 1987 and took 82 percent of the vote in his 2008 election.

Or maybe they feel Art Robinson’s pseudo-scientific and sometimes self-serving rhetoric makes him less than a viable candidate.

Who knows? But betting on politics has always been about as safe as investing in a toll-booth factory in Vancouver these days.

So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at who these two men are.

Robinson is the President of the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine and one of the primary authors of a petition claiming global warming is bogus and that carbon dioxide is actually good for us. The exact wording of the petition reads:

There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gasses is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate. Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth.

In the meantime Robinson also publishes the Access to Energy newsletter, which champions deregulating the energy industry and published the following argument for dumping man-made waste into the ocean in 2004:

Wastes dumped into the deep ocean will soon reach the bottom, where they are less hazardous than nearly any other place on Earth. Most materials will remain there: marine organisms are rare in the deep ocean, food chains are long, and few materials will be carried back to mankind.

And despite having been a chemistry professor at the University of California San Diego, Robinson calls public education “socialism in education” … on the Web site hawking his home-school curriculum for $195 and up.

Copies of his multi-media package on how to survive are also available for $149.

He also proposes to “defund all pork barrel and earmark projects” in the federal budget – a tall order for a would be junior congressman, eh?

Finally, he proposes lowering health care costs by undoing recent health care reforms granting 30 million Americans who otherwise would be left out access to medical insurance, and increasing the insurance companies’ ability to wiggle out of providing the very service for which they were created by reducing their exposure risk to lawsuits.

DeFazio, on the other hand, opposed Bush’s cuts to financial aid in 2005 and supported the 2007 College Cost Reduction Act that increased federal student aid by $20 billion.

He also supported the historic health care reform signed into law earlier this year that is expected to put an additional 16 million people on the Medicaid rolls, subsidize private coverage for those who cannot afford it, and regulate private insurance companies more closely, eliminating practices like denying benefits for pre-existing conditions.

DeFazio also proposes thinning national forests by the 6 billion feet board recommended by the U.S. Forest Service, providing jobs and material for renewable energy as well as reduce federal timber revenue payments to counties.

He voted against deregulating the cable television industry in 1996, has been a long-time opponent of the North American Free Trade agreement, helped draft legislation that $2.7 billion for transportation projects in Oregon in 2005, and went against his party in opposing last year’s “$700 billion bailout bill that puts taxpayers on the hook for the mistakes of Wall Street executives and CEO's.”

So there is a little insight into the two men who want to represent Oregon’s 4th Congressional District. You decide who would better serve the public good … now where did I put that number to my stock broker?

Derrick's Progressive News

 

Those Always Lying Republicans

 

Contents

The Bernie Buzz

Unemployment Insurance Extended

A Good Republican Idea

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The saga of Kevin Mannix's utter incompetence with his redistricting ballot measure has now reached its apex. This morning in a Marion County court, Judge Mary James rejected a request by Mannix to have signatures reinstated to the initiative.

Peter Wong, The Statesman Journal:

Judge Mary Mertens James rejected a request by sponsors to reinstate 12,975 signatures that state elections officials excluded from their initial count because there were flaws in the petition-signature sheets.

Sponsors had requested that the signatures be added to the 91,617 already validated — the total still would have fallen short of the 110,358 required to qualify it for the Nov. 2 ballot — or to have them blended with the 114,973 that officials accepted initially for sampling.

James said she felt she did not have authority to order the latter step.

The proposed constitutional amendment would have created a panel of retired judges to oversee the redrawing of legislative district lines after every 10-year census.

In her order, Judge James made it clear that Mannix had failed to meet the standards required to rule in his favor and very carefully lays out why. The biggest problem, of course, is that even if the judge reinstates the contested signatures, the initiative still falls short of the required number to make the ballot. In other words, there's no judicial remedy to fix the fact that Mannix was incompetent with this.

Judge James order can be read here.

In a shocker, the Secretary of State announced this morning that one of the two statewide ballot measures designed to legalize a casino in Wood Village failed to qualify for the ballot. The constitutional amendment needed 110,358 valid signatures - and only had 104,629. That's 60.78% of the 172,136 signatures turned in and accepted for verification.

Back on July 3rd, I wrote that - based on the number of signatures turned in - "Both measures should handily make the ballot."

After all, as the O's Kimberly Melton reported yesterday, the average valid rate since 2000 has been 73%. But with 60.78%, the casino constitutional measure fell way short.

Willamette Week reports that initiative sponsors intend to challenge the validation process in court.

Matt Rossman, one of the project’s two local developers, says he and his business partner Bruce Studer intend to challenge the Secretary of State’s signature-validation method in court.

“We strongly believe it needs to be challenged,” Rossman said. “And we will challenge it in the courts.”

Of course, that's a tall order. The courts have been reluctant to get into the nitty-gritty signature-by-signature process, and have regularly upheld the overall system used by the elections division.

No word yet on what this means legally. After all, without the constitutional measure, the companion ballot measure proposes enacting an unconstitutional statute. Perhaps some of our legal eagles could talk through the scenarios. Could the statute sit out there waiting for a constitutional amendment to pass later? Or would it be immediately and forever struck down as unconstitutional?

And, of course, there's the question of what the sponsors will do. If they lose their court fight, will they pull the statutory measure? Can they even pull it once signatures are turned in?

There's coverage from the Oregonian, the Gresham Outlook, the Business Journal.

When Congress shelved the Clean Energy Bill last week I’ll admit that for the first time during the Obama administration I felt discouraged. Let’s just set aside a little problem called global climate change, which if left unchecked will continue to change civilization as we know it. Let’s just talk pure electoral politics.

On July 5th, the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza, reported that Democrats are planning on winning in 2010 by spending millions to mobilize the Obama 2008 electoral coalition of young people and communities of color, while doing reasonably well among white voters. The challenge is that although this was a great plan for a big turnout Presidential year, it has historically proven to be very difficult to pull off in midterm elections. The reality is that turnout among these groups typically drops precipitously in non Presidential election years. Therefore, any strategy that depends on breaking these historical trends has to be connected to a clear and motivating agenda these voters care deeply about. This is where the inability to pass a clean energy bill makes absolutely no sense.

Major international studies and domestic polling show that protecting the environment and addressing climate change is one of the most important issues to young people. Polls going back to 2002 have shown that communities of color care more about environmental protection then the population at large.

And polling recently conducted in four Oregon counties by the OLCV Education Fund showed that residents strongly support and want to see the Legislature work to creating clean energy jobs in their region. In other words, the dots are not being connected where they should be. And once again, the conventional wisdom inside the Beltway that the smart political move is to avoid clean energy legislation is bollocks.

With that rant aside, the reality is that Oregon’s political leadership - at all levels of government - get it. The failure of the federal clean energy bill in the Senate came despite the major efforts of Senators Wyden and Merkley to get it done. And we can thank Congressman Schrader, Blumenauer, Defazio and Wu for passing the Waxman-Markey clean energy bill through the House last year. When you add this all up, there's no question that it is imperative for all of us who care about clean energy and stopping climate change to work our tails off this fall. Let’s run down the ballot –

• US Senator Ron Wyden has been a champion for clean energy jobs, and last year, after years of work with Congressman Blumenauer, finally pushed the historic Mt. Hood Wilderness protection bill through the Senate. There is a reason that Ron Wyden continues to be one of Oregon's most respected and liked public officials - he consistently fights to do what is right, not what is easy.
  

• In John Kitzhaber we have a chance to elect the strongest environmental Governor since Tom McCall. With Kitzhaber’s proven record of protecting Oregon’s environmental legacy and building a thriving economy, just imagine what he will be able to accomplish with strong Legislative leaders to work with.

• Congressman Kurt Schrader is one of the freshmen of the year. In his first term, he cast a gutsy vote for the Waxman-Markey clean energy bill and pushed a bill through to protect the Molalla River. He also led the effort to bring the NOAA research fleet to Newport, bringing hundreds of millions of dollars in economic development to the coast.

• Congressmen Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio and David Wu continue to be champions for balanced growth, livable communities, improved transportation and clean energy jobs.
  

The last two sessions of the Oregon Legislature have been the two best pro-environment sessions since the 1970s including investing hundreds of millions of dollars in renewable energy development, which continue to create clean energy jobs across Oregon.

In 2010 we need to think local. National politicians may not get it, but our leaders in Oregon sure do. They continue to fight, day after day/week after week, to be part of the solution. If you care about protecting the natural legacy of Oregon. If you care about creating jobs through renewable energy produced in America. If you care about continuing to make progress then the only conclusion you can reach is that 2010 is one of the most important local elections in our history.

Candidate Chris Dudley has been invited to speak at the RNC meeting at the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, California. On August 13th at 11:00 am he's included in a panel of two other West Coast candidates running for governor.

The RNC is featuring Andrew Breitbart now infamous for his doctored video that brought deceit to a whole new level. This kind of kinship is costly for participants, the cheap seats start at $1,000 with options to donate at $5,000, $15,000, $30,400 and top out at $60,800. Imagine the toe-curling pleasure to be gained by listening to Andrew Breitbart explaining his painful dilemma of releasing the video clip he posted minus the entire context. After his deceit is discovered a previously unknown woman becomes a martyr for civil rights.

Dudley, who sometimes appears to be as empty as a new computer may wish to rethink participating in this RNC event.

One of the reliably good progressive blogs doing "horse race" political blogging is Swing State Project. What's more, they're very, very good at predicting races. Last week, the boys at SSP made a whole slew of adjustments to their general election prognostications and if their look at the Oregon Governor's race is right, Team Kitzhaber had better step it up. They've moved the race from "Leans D" to "Tossup".

I bumped into DavidNYC, JamesL and Crisitunity during last week's Netroots Nation convention in Las Vegas. Crisitunity is the blogger who generally covers the Pacific Northwest. He talked with me about the team's decision to bump the race over.

"Swing State Project moved OR-Gov to Tossup largely on the basis of polling showing, almost without exception, a race within a point or two either direction," said Crisitunity. "That's primarily the prolific Rasmussen (whose reputation precedes them), and a few other pollsters we're leery of (openly Republican pollster Magellan, and SurveyUSA), but also Tim Hibbitts, who has a sterling reputation in Oregon. Even if the intangibles seem to support a Kitzhaber victory -- Oregon's Democratic lean, its long track record of electing Democratic governors, and the difference in candidate quality and gravitas -- the difficult nature of the year and the potential for Dudley to outspend Kitzhaber mean it can't be taken for granted and Kitzhaber could just as easily lose as win."

Crisitunity went on to say that they're "alarmed" by chatter they're hearing that Kitzhaber seems to be coasting on his well-earned reputation. They believe Kitz may also be viewing the race through an "outdated prism of bipartisanship and amicable problem-solving". Swing State is concerned that the former Governor is waiting for the inevitable need to throw some punches and define Dudley instead of trying to somehow "transcend politicking as usual."

Crisitunity also said that this race reminds him of a mini-version of California, where there's also a semi-legendary, successful former Governor trying for a repeat, but trying to stay above the fray. This is unwise against a Republican candidate who's saying nothing, hiding behind a lot of expensive ads and vague platitudes, and who's counting on that amorphousness to get over the top in a blue state. The Republican opposition needs to be given some form, before it's too late.

When I asked for a response from the Kitzhaber folks to Swing State's change in the race, new spokesperson Jillian Schoene said, "The numbers are not surprising; they have spent a lot of money buying TV time for a celebrity candidate who sticks to his talking points. But Oregonians are going too see through that pretty quickly."

Perhaps.

But given that Dudley is heavily outraising Kitzhaber right now, I'm wondering how Oregonians are going to see through a message that's essentially going uncountered, even if it is a bunch of empty platitudes and vague bullshitting.

By Brian Hines of Salem, Oregon. Brian describes himself as "a progressive blogger who has been involved in Marion County land use issues for some time." He typically blogs at Hines Sight.

It's laughable how right-wingers will decry "judicial activism" until they don't like a law passed by a vote of the people. While Measure 37 supporters decried it when a judge initially blocked the measure's application, the same supporters begged a federal judge to undo what democracy produced when Oregonians voted in Measure 49.

Last week, a three judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision in a case that affects over 7,500 Measure 37 claims throughout Oregon.

Sixty-two percent of Oregon voters approved Measure 49 in 2007, which saved our land use laws from being decimated by the meat-ax of Measure 37. Then a group called Citizens for Constitutional Fairness filed a lawsuit in Jackson County -- arguing that waivers of regulations allowed by Measure 37 were contracts between the county and landowners that couldn't be broken.

In 2008, federal District Court Judge Owen Panner agreed with the plaintiffs, producing what has been called "a collective forehead slap among land use attorneys." Panner himself must have had second thoughts about his ruling, because he put a stay on it after an appeal was filed in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

In a blunt memorandum opinion, a three judge panel of the 9th Circuit rejected the case brought by Measure 37 claimants and the newly-formed, self-anointed group Citizens for Constitutional Fairness (which is part of the Jackson County Tea Party movement), who demonstrated their ill-founded constitutional theories by citing a case from 1927.

This is a big slap on the cranium for the folks who appear to simply believe that the constitution says what they say it says. It only took the panel one double-spaced page to reverse Panner's original ruling, ending with:

Indeed, the waivers disavow any promise to the property owners: “Jackson County does not promise Claimant(s) that Claimant(s) will eventually be able to put the property to any particular use.” ER-63-7. Because there is no contract, appellees fail to state a Contracts Clause violation. Nor does Measure 49 implicate separation of powers doctrine. The waivers were administrative decisions, not court judgments.
REVERSED.

Great news for Oregon.

Public interest environmental attorney Ralph Bloemers of the Crag Law Center represented local citizens and landowners in an appeal of the lower court ruling. The 9th Circuit agreed with the arguments presented by Bloemers, who joined with Jackson County counsel to obtain the reversal.

When the opinion was announced on July 20 he talked about what it meant for our state.

One of the many [Measure 37] claims involved in the suit proposed a large destination resort next to the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument. Other claims proposed developments on farmland in the Applegate River, on forestland along the Rogue River and were spread throughout Jackson County.

If the ruling had been upheld, the State’s land use system would have been in disarray. Over 7,500 claims were filed under Measure 37, and the ruling threatened to re-instate all of these claims despite the passage of Measure 49.

Not to be deterred from their unwavering faith and belief that they know what the Constitution says, the so-called Citizens for Constitutional Fairness are not going to let a fairly conservative panel of the 9th Circuit deter them from throwing more of their money after a hopeless cause.

Reportedly the plaintiffs are planning to ask the 9th Circuit to rehear the case or try to beg the U.S. Supreme Court to do so. The one-page slap down doesn’t suggest the odds are good for them.

Nor does the fact that the three 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judges who dismissed Panner's ruling in a mere twelve lines were all appointed by Republican presidents: Chief Judge Alex Kozinski was appointed by Ronald Reagan; Judge Andrew Kleinfeld by George H.W. Bush; Judge Sandra Ikuta by George W. Bush.

The 9th Circuit may have a reputation for being a hothouse of political liberalism, but perhaps every citizen should consider this:

We must avoid being knee jerk reactionaries who simply respond to the results of legal opinions rather than actually taking the time to read them or understand how the law works. In my view, the rule of law is effective in helping temper the influence of personal politics in our court system.  I am not naïve about how the judiciary has been politicized, but I prefer to avoid using the label judicial activism.

The three judges who affirmed the constitutionality of Measure 49 and rejected the legal claims made by Citizens for Constitutional Fairness cannot fairly be criticized for exercising their judicial power.

Last week I attended an inspiring and engaging event promoting the centennial of women’s suffrage in Oregon. The event included a faux town hall debate in period costumes about whether to give women the vote, and attendees included some of Oregon’s political luminaries, including Judge Betty Roberts and Secretary of State Norma Paulus.

It took Oregon women six ballot fights to get suffrage – more than any other state. After delegates briefly considered and rejected votes for women at the state’s Constitutional Convention in 1857, a long road lay ahead. In 1862 limited rights to vote in school board elections were given to some women. Yet Oregon's male voters continually defeated ballot-wide voting rights for women - in 1884 (28-72%), 1900 (48-52%), 1906 (44-56%), 1908 (39%-61%) and 1910 (37-63%). The 1910 initiative connected voting rights to taxpaying, losing support from some who considered it class-based legislation.

Finally, in 1912, by a 52-48% margin, male voters passed the right for most women to vote (Native women gained the vote in 1924, and for years after laws restricted immigrants’ voting rights). While voters in Benton, Washington, and Clackamas counties voted against the women’s vote, voters in most eastern and southern Oregon counties – Baker, Klamath, Malhuer, Union – were pro-suffrage, as were voters in Multnomah County. The seventh state with suffrage, Oregon followed Idaho (1896), Washington (1910), California (1911), Utah, Wyoming and Colorado. National women’s suffrage was ratified in 1920 (Oregon’s ratification was the 25th of 36 states required).

As with most great struggles, the fight for suffrage required a huge amount of work, including decades of grueling organizing and coalition building. By 1912, the coalition for suffrage included dozens of organizations, including labor groups, the Grange, temperance unions, and socialists. Specific suffrage organizations included the Colored Women's Equal Suffrage League of Portland, a group of Chinese American women, and men’s suffrage associations. The measures were fought by many newspapers and by the liquor and business interests, who were in part worried women would vote for prohibition (an accurate prediction).

After gaining the right to vote, women slowly gained power in the political sphere, becoming state representatives and senators, mayors and city councilors, and finally members of Congress, Secretary of State, the Supreme Court, and Governor (just once, so far, with Barbara Roberts). There’s still significant progress to be made; we have no women in Oregon’s Congressional delegation, only two of our six statewide elected officials are women, and only a third of our state senators and 27% of our state representatives are women.

Learning about Oregon’s suffrage history can deepen our sense of what it means to be progressive Oregonians. As we study suffrage, we naturally grapple anew with questions of race, class, and gender equity. We learn about the long work of labor unions, and Oregon’s deep history of anti-immigrant racism.

Perhaps most importantly, as we work to fight today’s huge challenges that seem insurmountable, we can find inspiration in the dedication Oregon women and their allies showed in their 53 year-long fight for the basic right to vote, and their work in the nearly 100 years since.

Visit the Oregon Suffrage Century of Action website and contribute, so that more Oregonians learn more about the quest for suffrage.

Excerpts from a suffrage presentation by Dr. Kimberly Jensen.

For history buffs, make sure you visit the Oregon Encyclopedia.

I had hoped to get these thoughts posted yesterday, but I'm clearly not as young as I used to be. My physical recovery from pounding out five 16+ hour days doesn't have quite the bounce back that it once had. Let's hear it for getting old and worn out! Yay!

It's amazing what a few days of energizing panel discussions and wonky training sessions can do for a blogger's tired soul. Not to mention the fellowship and camaraderie among people who really understand the unique brand of crazy required to write about the nuts and bolts of politics. I really do love getting pruney in the wonk.

The first day or two of the Netroots Nation conference felt very much like a giant bitch session, complete with navel gazing and intense griping about the current state of affairs in the Democratic Party. But as those moments of catharsis passed, I felt the mood shift to a feeling of renewed energy and familial regrouping. Discussions were had not just about the problems before us, but real strategic plans were laid to begin tackling them.

Netroots Nation is also a place where elected officials and candidates show up for some face time with both local and national bloggers. I attended an AM coffee with US Senator Jeff Merkley, who took questions from a group of us that are local, but also included Daily Kos front-pager Joan McCarter.

Merkley also participated in a wonderful panel discussion on the foreclosure crisis (video on the jump) that included Elizabeth Warren who many progressives hope will be chosen by President Obama to head the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection created with the new Wall Street legislation recently signed into law.

Warren spoke with me briefly afterward, saying about Merkley, "I spend a lot of time talking with senators. I've seen the people that take to the cameras and the people that are willing to do the hard work, inch-by-inch, until it gets done. Jeff Merkley is one of the inch-by-inch guys who does the work. He is a good man".

Very nice indeed.

You can watch the video of the foreclosure crisis panel that includes Senator Merkley and Elizabeth Warren (along with Ryan Grim of Huffington Post and David Dayen of FireDogLake) below:

I missed the "Ask the Speaker" session with Speaker Pelosi as it happened at the same time as a state caucus event I needed to attend. I did hear some grumbling about her, mostly that it seemed she was filling up her time slot with videos and introductions, rather than saving the bulk of it for the actual questioning. On substance, there didn't seem to be a lot of complaints, at least not that I heard.

One of the more amazing moments of the convention came when Lt. Dan Choi, recently discharged under the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy gave his West Point ring to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who pledged to return it on the day that the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy is repealed with the President's signature. View Leader Reid's session, which includes the Choi part, below:

I very much enjoyed the closing keynote address delivered by Minnesota Senator Al Franken (I do love typing that out, btw--MINNESOTA SENATOR AL FRANKEN). Franken not only acknowledged our discontent with much of what's happening federally, he gave us energy and encouragement--something that was sorely needed. He also gave us next year's Netroots Nation location: Minneapolis, Minnesota. I have hope that the Minnesota location will be a bit less smoky and dusty than Las Vegas. And it will be FUN to be in the bosom of some of the most progressive people in the nation.

Maybe Al will have me over for dinner, too. Don't laugh. It could happen. Not likely..but if I don't write it down here there's no chance someone from his staff will read it on the Google alert they have for him and pencil me in.

Just sayin.