Help Jeff Merkley Stop the Republicans

Today is the last day of the first fundraising quarter of 2008, which means that it is also the last reporting period before Oregon’s primary election.  Donating today is the best way to leverage your donation to help Jeff Merkley beat Gordon Smith this fall.  Just ask Senator Max Cleland who knows a thing or two about serving your country and taking on the Republican attack machine:

I’ve spent my entire lifetime fighting for this country. As an officer in the Vietnam War, I sacrificed just as our men and women in the Armed Forces do every day. When I returned from Vietnam in the late 1960s our nation was torn apart and I was compelled to act.

I dedicated my life to public service – working in the U.S. Senate to advocate for my fellow veterans, to fight for affordable health care, and to create good jobs for families.

Six years ago George Bush, Dick Cheney and the national Republican Party teamed up with special interests to lie about my record and distort my lifetime of service.

This is the Karl Rove playbook. When Democrats stand up to deliver change, Republicans and special interests spread falsehoods and lies to defeat them. I am disappointed to see the same thing happening in Oregon.

Jeff Merkley is the right man for the U.S. Senate. He has dedicated his life to serving his country and fighting for hardworking families just like his own family. He opposed the Iraq War from the very start and will bring our sons and daughters home immediately.

Now Gordon Smith and the national Republican Party are attacking Jeff’s character and misleading voters about his plans to change Washington D.C. for the better.

Republicans like Gordon Smith will stop at nothing to win.

We must help Jeff defeat the Republican attack machine once and for all.

Sincerely,

Senator Max Cleland

Here at Forward Oregon, we are joining Senator Cleland in trying to get Jeff Merkley elected with our own Actblue Page.  We are more than half way to our $300 end of the quarter goal so head over to Actblue and give to Jeff Merkley.  You’re not going to find a more deserving candidate, so give him so help, so he can help us in the US Senate!

Why Pres. Obama Needs OR-D Jeff Merkley In the US Senate

When President Obama is sworn in on January 20th, 2009 the fight to bring progressive change to America will not be over. We have already seen what a nasty partisan and obstructionist minority can do abusing the rules of the United States Senate to cause gridlock and block the common sense progressive policies that our country so desperately needs to get back on the right track. That is why I spend my volunteer hours trying to give President Obama 60 progressive votes in the US Senate by helping Democratic Speaker of the Oregon House Jeff Merkley defeat Republican Gordon Smith this fall.

Jeff has an amazing story. The son of a sawmill worker, Jeff was the first member of his family to go to college. After graduating from Stanford University and getting his masters at Princeton, Merkley was a Presidential Management Fellow in the Office of the Secretary of Defense where he did work safeguarding American military technology, verifying arms treaties, and assisting the U.S. delegation to NATO. Jeff continued his public service at the Congressional Budget Office, analyzing programs and policies for strategic nuclear weapons.

In his first diary on Kos (which shot up the rec list) Jeff talked about the importance of foreign policy experience:

I think these experiences in international affairs and national security is important. It would be a great thing if every senator and candidate for President had to have some international affairs experience. We might have avoided some of the biggest mistakes of the Reagan and current Bush administrations. It’s important to have senators who can distinguish between real threats and manufactured threats like those conjured up by Perle, Wolfowitz and President Bush.

Merkley moved back to Oregon and lead the Habitat for Humanity and the World Affairs Council but I met him during the 2006 election cycle. As Democratic Minority leader Jeff Merkley led a grassroots campaign to wrest control of the House from Republicans after 16 years of their oppressive control, something the pundits said couldn’t be done. I was privileged to be a part of both the Democrats efforts that won back the House in the 2006 election and in the 2007 legislative session. For those who were a part of those efforts, it couldn’t be more clear that we need the kind of leadership that Jeff Merkley showed in the United States Senate.

Jeff Merkley led a legislative session that was incredible. Having only a one vote majority, Merkley led a session that passed anti-discrimination legislation and domestic partnerships just two years after Oregon voters overwhelmingly put a ban on gay marriage in our constitution, put Oregon at the forefront of the fight against global warming by passing some of the toughest renewable energy standards in the country, the state version of the Employee Free Choice Act for labor rights, and radically expanding college financial aid which are just some of the policies that had people calling the session the most progressive and productive in years.

Now Jeff Merkley is running for US Senate. He is the right man for the job. After I did an interview with Merkley for my blog I wrote:

I have always been impressed with Jeff’s wonky side and today was another opportunity to see it, but it was more than that. The way Merkley interacts with the people that were asking the questions was really amazing. He is clearly smart, but unlike many people of his intelligence, he comes off being really accessible and someone that you can connect with. Often Merkley delves not only into the issue in great detail but honestly asks questions of those he is talking with, authentically caring about their opinion. I think this is a skill that makes him extraordinarily likable and will inspire both a lot of activists and a lot of regular people to get out on the campaign trail, building the kind of grassroots organization needed to take down Gordon Smith.

With Senator Obama’s campaign leading the way we need candidates that can run grassroots campaigns like Speaker Merkley has. Jeff has brought together a coalition spaning from the AFL-CIO, to SEIU, to the Council for a Livable World, to every Democratic State Representative, and to the Sierra Club to defeat Smith. Progressives are standing behind Jeff Merkley because, not only can he beat Gordon “I vote 90% of the time with Bush” Smith, but because once he is elected Speaker Merkley will bring his outstanding talent as a legislator to the table. President Obama is going to be able to lead our party with oratorical vision but he is going to need unrelenting progressive Senators like Jeff Merkley to forge good legislation that can really change this country.

When President Obama is sworn in on January 20th, 2009 the fight to bring progressive change to America will not be over. We have already seen what a nasty partisan and obstructionist minority can do abusing the rules of the United States Senate to cause gridlock and block the common sense progressive policies that our country so desperately needs to get back on the right track. That is why I spend my volunteer hours trying to give President Obama 60 progressive votes in the US Senate by helping Democratic Speaker of the Oregon House Jeff Merkley defeat Republican Gordon Smith this fall.

As many of you know there are only five more days for this quarter. The special legislative session took Jeff away from the campaign for about a month, so it is up to us to help the fundraising from the grassroots. My blog Forward Oregon started a Actblue page so please please give to an unbelievably deserving candidate. I am personally trying to raise 350 dollars on my Act Blue page by the end of the quarter and so I am going to match the first 100 bucks that is donated there. President Obama needs great Senators like Jeff Merkley to change America.

We need to see this picture in Washington D.C.:

The link to my Actblue page again

Taking Back The Oregon House with Jeff Merkley

I was privileged to be a part of both the Democrats efforts that won back the House in the 2006 election and in the 2007 legislative session.  For those who were a part of those efforts, it couldn’t be more clear that we need the kind of leadership that Jeff Merkley showed in the United States Senate.

This video shows Rob Brading, who valiantly against then Speaker Karen Minnis in House District 49.  Brading ran a great campaign taking the Minnis down to the wire, despite her spending more than a million dollars and about 26 dollars per vote.  Because Rob Brading forced Minnis to divert almost all of the Republican warchest to her district, Rob paved the way for the four pick ups that swung the House into Democratic control.

T he video also shows State Rep. Ben Cannon, a freshmen Democrat.  Rep. Cannon is on the board of the Bus Project and ran his campaign in one of the most grassroots ways seen in a winner in years.  He took that approach to legislating and seen as one of the rising freshmen in the legislature.

Together Rep. Cannon and Rob Brading talk about Jeff Merkley’s leadership during the campaign and the session and why that is exactly the change we need in the US Senate.

Novick: Obama Is a Fraud Comments Media Roundup and Commentary

Until now, I have not written on Steve Novick’s attacks against Senator Obama, but that hasn’t stopped everyone else. With Obama’s visit to Oregon and Novick’s less than kind endorsement of Obama, the comments are getting plenty of negative attention from Willamette Week, Jeff Mapes at the Oregonian, Politicker OR, Preemptive Karma, Senate Guru, and two posts on Blue Oregon.

Willamette Week broke the original story:

Steve Novick, running in Oregon’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, recently endorsed Barack Obama for president. Forget for a moment how inconsequential such an endorsement is from somebody who isn’t a super-delegate: Let’s instead review this Novick post from the political blog BlueOregon back on Dec. 6, 2006:

According to a recent New Yorker article, Barack Obama of Illinois has stood with other Midwesterners in supporting the sugar industry. Doesn’t this prove that Obama is just another captive-of-special-interests fraud who doesn’t really care about global warming and doesn’t deserve to be hailed as some great Kenya-Kansas hope?

So, Novick was against Obama before he was for him? Fair enough. [emphasis mine]

Blue Oregon also noted this Novick comment about Obama made a few weeks later:

“That is the mark of a complete sellout to the military-industrial complex. And of a politician sorely lacking in fiscal responsibility. … [Obama] shows a stunning degree of fealty to the military-industrial complex, and/or unjustifiable political timidity. [emphasis mine]

Considering that Obama has led a campaign with more than a million contributers, not taken any PAC money, and most of his money comes from small online donations, these comments came under considerable heat. Politicker OR interviewed former a former Novick ally, Oregon AFSCME (which backs Obama) political coordinator Joe Bassler who said:

“It is this kind of disregard for consequences of what he is saying that makes it harder and harder for us to even be friendly anymore,” Baessler lamented. “It’s hurtful when things like this get thrown around.”

Novick’s camp refused to back down rather, choosing to embrace Novick’s anti Obama remarks:

Novick’s campaign manager Jake Weigler says that the criticism is consistent with how Novick operates and what he believes.

“He consistently offers an honest assessment of people and issues,” Weigler said.

That statement contradicted Novick’s other spin attempt where their camp said that the post was satirical. As Preemptive Karma noted, if it is misconstued satire, it can’t be an honest assessment.

These comments draw the spotlight once again to Novick’s divisive approach and bring into question his ability to build the coalitions needed to defeat Gordon Smith in the fall or be a sucessful legislator, something he has never been. Blue Oregon asks:

Especially if Oregon shifts from swing-state to blue-state late in the election (as it has with quadrennial regularity), will the [Obama] campaign shift its resources to another state – leaving Novick to fend for himself?

To defeat Gordon Smith, we need every Democrat in Oregon on board — and we need national Democrats, especially the presidential campaign, to be 100% committed to helping us win, even if (especially if) Oregon moves off the big board.

The first thing that they teach you in high school debate is to “attack the idea, not the person.” Apparently Novick never learned that key concept. While holding candidates feet to the fire is valuable, calling people you need to work with frauds or needlessly bringing their background into a policy disagreement is not a gracious, or effective way to pass legislation that is crucial to fixing health care, getting out of Iraq, or saving the world from global warming. Further, the stubbornness exhibited by the Novick campaign standing by these comments is also troubling. For too long we have been stuck with politicians that can’t admit when they are wrong and change strategy, we don’t need that from Oregon’s next US Senator.

Blue Oregon ended its piece with this frank assesment of the damage Novick’s comments have done:

I just don’t know how we can win the Senate race without the support of our presidential nominee. And unless Novick is prepared to eat a little humble pie, I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

Novick’s lashing out as he has puts Oregon in a perilous position if he becomes the nominee. Novick has attacked the Oregon AFL-CIO as being pawns of DC interests. Novick, as shown by Bassler’s quote above, clearly isn’t making friends with AFSCME. Coupled with his attacks the DSCC, Novick seems eager to bite the proverbial hand that feeds him. It seems unlikely that everyone that Novick attacks will have amnesia after the primary if he is the nominee and give him their fulll support. That support will be crucial to defeating Gordon Smith in the fall and we all know that we can’t afford not to beat Smith.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tags: OR-Sen, Seve Novick, Barack Obama, Blue Oregon, Blogging

Let Them Dance!

When I return to San Francisco for school breaks and holidays my family know one thing: I am going to be at Popscene between the hours of 10 PM and 2 AM Thursday night, schedual Thursday events at your own peril.

For those of you who don’t have your thumb on San Francisco night life, Popsence is an 18+ indie pop dance club that caters to young, in the know, music lovers.  It brings the creme de la creme of indie acts to play, such as stalwarts like Spoon, the Killers, and Interpol that have become mainstream since.  Patrons come from all around the city and its suburbs to form a community of young lovers of music and dance.  It is here that I have met many of my remaining friends in the city by the bay after the post high school diaspora took its toll.

When I moved to Oregon, my passion for seeing live music was crushed by oppressive liquor laws and the OLCC.  In Oregon, venues must physically underage patrons from their drinking counterparts, often an impossible task considering the venues construction.  As venues generally make their profit on their alcohol sales and the cover recoups their costs of puting on a show, when given a choice between serving alcohol and not, venues will choose to exclude minors.  With that decision the vast majority of college students (until they turn 21) are excluded from seeing live music in many venues. Further, this has also been a problem with the Bus Project’s Debate Clubs which have had to turn away civic minded young people from participating due to the age requirements of the hosting venue.

Instead of creating and embracing a community that could benefit everyone involved.  As PDX POP board member Cary Clarke says:

By greatly increasing local teenagers’ and college students’ access to live music, this small regulatory change would have an enormously positive impact on everyone involved in Portland music, from fans to bands to venue owners.

Further, the need for a young in the know audience for bands will help expand the excellent reputation (despite the OLCC rules) Portland has earned as a good place to be a musician.

Finally, PDX pop has excellent logic behind what really happens if the only good thing to do at night is going to someone’s house party.

- Providing young people with more safe, regulated, engaging recreational opportunities like concerts channels their energy and enthusiasm in a positive direction.

- Teen drinking is often the result of boredom and isolation, and granting young people access to more arts and culture will significantly reduce both of those risk factors.

- Teenagers are far more likely to drink and be exposed to a drinking environment by raiding their parents’ liquor cabinet, or going to an unsupervised party, than by attending a concert at a legitimate music venue.

- Many states, such as New York, California, Texas and Colorado, have similar, and in many cases more progressive, policies regarding minors at music venues, and national data does not show an increased incidence of teen drinking in these states.

It is a lot easier to get alcohol poisoning from a handle of Jack Daniels in someones house then if you are at a bar where you might have someone sneak you some booze from a bar that will lose its liquor liscene if it gets caught serving you.

The OLCC is currently considering changing this rule and to them I say:

Let Them Dance!

Tags: Oregon, OLCC, PDX Pop, Popscene

Jeff Merkley Web Video Rocks the Pop Art, Indie Pop Awesomeness

Endorsements are generally not a particularly exciting thing, unless you build a community of supporters like Jeff Merkley has. Whether its the 220,000 union households, the environmental stewards of the Sierra Club, the mayors of cities far and wide, or me, Jeff Merkley has shown a remarkable ability to unite progressives across the state.

I really love this video

Emily’s List and NARAL Endorse Kate Brown

This is the first post of the new co-writer, atleastimhonest. I wanted a place to discuss everything that I thought should be included here, but Bdunn graciously let me join it instead. I’m interested in creating discourse here about the issues of this campaign cycle that need more attention than they are getting in the major news sources, calling it as I see it, and to generally kicking Bdunn’s ass when needed.

Having a progressive stance on reproductive rights has always made Kate Brown stand out as an exceptional candidate in the Secretary of State race, for me. That is why I am proud to learn that she has recently received the endorsements of both Emily’s List and NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon.

Jonathan Parker, the political director of Emily’s List, highlighted Brown’s legislative experience in their endorsement and stated:

“As the first woman to serve as Oregon State Senate majority leader, Kate Brown has been a role model and trail blazer for women everywhere”.

On her NARAL endorsement, Brown emphasized all she had done for reproductive rights in Oregon:

“For over twenty years, I have worked closely with the pro-choice community and have been a leader in preserving and protecting our reproductive freedoms, fighting for access to birth control and health care for Oregon woman and their families.”

These are important endorsements for her, as even though Brad Avakian has dropped out of the race, there are still two highly qualified candidates running that she needs to be able to distinguish herself from. As a member of the young progressive women voting block, being supportive of reproductive rights is important to me when choosing a candidate. Gaining these endorsements will also differentiate her from the other woman senator in the race, Vicki Walker, and gain momentum with my demographic.

In addition, Brown currently has a small monetary advantage, which is important for her to maintain. Emily’s List will definitely assist her with this as one of their main strategies in perpetuating their progressive platform is to raise money from their members (about 100,00 in the country) to benefit all of their endorsed candidates. They will also help Brown to gain more name recognition, which she needs to compete with Rick Metsger, who currently has the advantage because of his sixteen years as a KOIN-TV anchor before becoming a state senator. Brown has approximately 68,000 constituents, which is considerably less than that of the KOIN-TV viewers.

With these significant endorsements from both NARAL and Emily’s List, Kate Brown will be capable of furthering her campaign in three essential ways: she will be able to compete financially within the race, distinguish herself as a reproductive rights leader from Vicki Walker and increase her name recognition in comparison to Rick Metsger.

Sierra Club Endorses Jeff Merkley, Recognizing His Outstanding Environmental Stewardship

Speaker Jeff Merkley earned the endorsement of the Sierra Club today, the most progressive and active conservation group in the country. The endorsement of the 24,000 member strong Seirra Club is a recognition of Merkley’s role as one of the great stewards of the environment in Oregon’s history. Coming just days after SEIU’s endorsement, this is a windfall for Merkley, securing the support of yet another of the most progressive groups in the country.

Why did Merkley win this crucial endorsement? Ask Ivan Maluski, Conservation Coordinator for the Oregon chapter of the Sierra Club:

“Speaker Merkley has been a champion for the environment and Oregon’s economy, passing legislation that has created economic opportunity, benefits to consumers, and green jobs that are tackling the greatest environmental challenge of our time – global climate change”

“Gordon Smith has been inconsistent and unreliable, often walking in lock-step with the Bush administration. He’s been swayed by
big oil companies, timber industry cash, and destructive mining interests.Oregonians value clean air, clean water, and the precious natural resources that boost Oregon’s quality of life, and we all deserve a U.S. Senator who will protect and fight for these values”

Maluski is referring to the amazingly progressive 2007 session where key legislation was passed to protect the environment. Speaker Merkley shepherded the contentious Measure 49 through the House which protected Oregon’s special places from gravel pits, subdivisions, and big box stores. The Renewable Energy Standard that requires 25% of our energy to be from renewables by 2025 and an aggressive biofuels package also passed under Merkley’s watch to position Oregon as a leader in combating global warming. These are just three of the big legislative accomplishments from a session Oregon League of Conservation Voters Executive Director Jonathan Poisner described saying:

More positive pro-environment bills became law in 2007 than in the period from 1991-2005 combined.

More than just his past stewardship, Merkley has by far the best environmental platform for the future. Look at the language Merkley in uses in his platform, connecting the environment with jobs, improving the economy, and fiscal savings. For so long Republicans have tried to created a false choice between saving the environment, and saving the economy and peoples jobs. Jeff Merkley destroys that false dichotomy.

The Sierra Club is just the latest progressive organization to get on board with Jeff Merkley. They like so many other Oregonians realize that the best way to protect our environment is by ditching the failed policies of George Bush and Gordon Smith. The Sierra Club recognizes that Jeff Merkley is the best person to not only beat Gordon Smith but undo his disastrous policies.

Technorati Tags: Jeff Merkley, Sierra Club, OR-Sen, Environment,

Sierra Club Endorses Jeff Merkley, Recognizing His Outstanding Environmental Stewardship

Speaker Jeff Merkley earned the endorsement of the Sierra Club today, the most progressive and active conservation group in the country. The endorsement of the 24,000 member strong Seirra Club is a recognition of Merkley’s role as one of the great stewards of the environment in Oregon’s history. Coming just days after SEIU’s endorsement, this is a windfall for Merkley, securing the support of yet another of the most progressive groups in the country.
Why did Merkley win this crucial endorsement? Ask Ivan Maluski, Conservation Coordinator for the Oregon chapter of the Sierra Club:

“Speaker Merkley has been a champion for the environment and Oregon’s economy, passing legislation that has created economic
opportunity, benefits to consumers, and green jobs that are tackling the greatest environmental challenge of our time – global climate
change”

“Gordon Smith has been inconsistent and unreliable, often walking in lock-step with the Bush administration. He’s been swayed by
big oil companies, timber industry cash, and destructive mining interests.Oregonians value clean air, clean water, and the precious natural resources that boost Oregon’s quality of life, and we all deserve a U.S. Senator who will protect and fight for these values”

Maluski is referring to the amazingly progressive 2007 session where key legislation was passed to protect the environment. Speaker Merkley shepherded the contentious Measure 49 through the House which protected Oregon’s special places from gravel pits, subdivisions, and big box stores. The Renewable Energy Standard that requires 25% of our energy to be from renewables by 2025 and an aggressive biofuels package also passed under Merkley’s watch to position Oregon as a leader in combating global warming. These are just three of the big legislative accomplishments from a session Oregon League of Conservation Voters Executive Director Jonathan Poisner described saying:

More positive pro-environment bills became law in 2007 than in the period from 1991-2005 combined.

More than just his past stewardship, Merkley has by far the best environmental platform for the future. Look at the language Merkley in uses in his platform, connecting the environment with jobs, improving the economy, and fiscal savings. For so long Republicans have tried to created a false choice between saving the environment, and saving the economy and peoples jobs. Jeff Merkley destroys that false dichotomy.

The Sierra Club is just the latest progressive organization to get on board with Jeff Merkley. They like so many other Oregonians realize that the best way to protect our environment is by ditching the failed policies of George Bush and Gordon Smith. The Sierra Club recognizes that Jeff Merkley is the best person to not only beat Gordon Smith but undo his disastrous policies.

Technorati Tags: Jeff Merkley, Sierra Club, OR-Sen, Environment,

Gov. Roberts On Why We Need Jeff Merkley In the US Senate

People that read this blog know that I really like Governor Barbra Roberts.  This cycle she has endorsed the candidates that I care the most about Jeff Merkley, Cyreena Boston, and Kate Brown.  This is a great video where Governor Roberts tells us why Jeff Mekerly is “The Change We Need”: