Posted in2026 election Julie Hoy Vanessa Nordyke

Vanessa Nordyke and Julie Hoy have very different visions for Salem. Vote for mayor accordingly.

This screenshot from the Salem Reporter home page nicely sums up the race for Salem mayor that will be decided in the May 19 election. Here's excerpts from the Salem Reporter profiles of the two candidates that illustrate the differences between them. Vanessa Nordyke -- Mayoral candidate and Salem City Councilor Vanessa Nordyke says she’ll prioritize ordinary people over the rich and powerful if elected on May 19. -- She’s backed by Progressive Salem, which is supporting a slate of progressive candidates in city races. -- She has cast the upcoming race as a contest between moneyed interests and the…
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Posted in2026 election City Council Julie Hoy

This is important to know about candidates for mayor and city council

I'm a political junkie. I'm addicted to following politics closely. But many people here in Salem aren't. They believe in voting, including in the May 19, 2026 election that likely will decide the races for mayor and four seats on the city council. (While this is a primary election, a candidate that gets more than 50% of the vote in those races wins outright; such will probably happen, given that there are two candidates in each race.) But those people don't have an inclination to dig deep into the qualifications and policy positions of the candidates vying to be mayor…
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Posted inJulie Hoy Oregon politics

Governor vetoes bill that would have legalized Mayor Hoy’s ethics violation

Good news for everybody who values openness and transparency in public meetings. Bad news for Salem Mayor Julie Hoy, who was the ringleader of a scheme to circumvent Oregon's public meetings law, a sleazy move that earned her an ethics violation from the Oregon Government Ethics Commission. Julie Hoy Recently Governor Tina Kotek vetoed HB 4177, a seriously flawed bill passed by the 2026 Oregon legislature that would have made legal the private "serial communications" with members of the Salem City Council that Hoy engaged in because she wanted to get rid of City Manager Keith Stahley without having to…
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Posted inCity Council Julie Hoy

Mayor Julie Hoy keeps on lying as her ethics violation is finalized

There's a lot not to like about Salem Mayor Julie Hoy -- notably including how an Oregon Government Ethics Commission investigation found that Hoy was the ringleader of an illegal secretive scheme to get rid of city manager Keith Stahley that violated numerous provisions of our state's public meetings law. But I'll say this much regarding Hoy: she is consistent... in her lies about her ethics violation. I listed three of her lies in a November 2025 post, "Mayor Julie Hoy lied about not wanting Keith Stahley gone. That's her third lie about Stahley." Lie #1: Hoy claimed that in…
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Posted in2026 election Julie Hoy Vanessa Nordyke

Julie Hoy and Vanessa Nordyke agree on some things, disagree on others, in polite You Tube forum

I was hoping for some dramatic political fireworks, but mostly I got some mildly interesting sparklers. That pretty much sums up my reaction to a hour-long "mayoral debate" on You Tube featuring Julie Hoy and Vanessa Nordyke sponsored by What's Happening Salem and Capital Community Media. Which really wasn't a bad thing. Both candidates for mayor in the May election were polite with each other, frequently saying "I agree" to what their opponent said in response to questions posed by the moderators. Who did a very good job. The questions were thoughtful, and the production value of the You Tube…
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Posted inCity Council Julie Hoy Oregon politics

Really irritating that Oregon legislature may weaken public meetings law that Mayor Hoy violated

I'm a proud Democrat, but I'm not shy about criticizing my political party when it does something stupid. Like, being on the verge of passing a bill in the current short session of the Oregon legislature that markedly weakens a prohibition on "serial communications" -- which basically means a governmental body, like the Salem city council, deliberating secretly rather than in a public meeting open to the citizenry. Salem Mayor Julie Hoy was the ringleader of a scheme to use serial communications (individual conversations with members of the city council) so Hoy could force Keith Stahley, the city manager back…
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Posted inCity of Salem Julie Hoy

More evidence that Mayor Julie Hoy wanted previous city manager gone for no good reason

Salem Mayor Julie Hoy is a habitual liar. In "Mayor Julie Hoy lied about not wanting City Manager Stahley gone. That's her third lie about Stahley.,"I wrote about three lies Hoy spouted on a single subject, how she orchestrated an illegal scheme to get rid of Keith Stahley, the city manager at the time, that got Hoy in trouble with the Oregon Government Ethics Commission. I described Hoy's third lie. Lie #3: Hoy claimed that her motivation in talking with city councilors about Stahley’s employment status was his performance audit that showed some deficiencies in his management style. But this…
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Posted in2026 election Julie Hoy Vanessa Nordyke

Mayor Julie Hoy chickened out on debating Vanessa Nordyke at Salem Reporter forum

I apologize to all the chickens in Salem for lumping you in with Mayor Julie Hoy, but "chickened out" just seemed like the best way to describe Hoy failing to agree to debate city councilor Vanessa Nordyke at a Town Hall event sponsored by the Salem Reporter. As described in the email message below that Salem Reporter editor and owner Les Zaitz sent to subscribers yesterday (I'm a subscriber), every other candidate for the four city council seats and the mayor position that will be voted on in the May election has agreed to participate in the event. Julie Hoy…
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Posted inJulie Hoy Uncategorized

Mayor Hoy’s excuse for not signing a letter criticizing ICE is akin to “the dog ate my homework”

Back in the not-really-so-old days, students turned in homework assignments that were -- shock! -- written on paper, not a screen. (Maybe this still happens in our digital age; I'm clueless about modern homework practices.) The classic excuse for not turning in an assignment was "the dog ate my homework." "The dog ate my homework", or "my dog ate my homework", is an expression which carries the suggestion of being a common, poorly fabricated excuse made by children to explain why they have failed to turn in an assignment on time. The phrase is also referenced outside of an academic…
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Posted in2026 election Julie Hoy Vanessa Nordyke

Julie Hoy is acting like she doesn’t want to be reelected as Salem mayor

I'm beginning to think that Julie Hoy feels she would be happier if she wasn't the mayor of Salem, which entails putting in a lot of time for exactly zero money, the position being unpaid. I say this because while Hoy has filed for reelection, she's been making some dubious choices if she truly wanted to defeat Councilor Vanessa Nordyke in the May election. For example, (1) Hoy has declined to admit that she violated Oregon's public meetings law, even though the Oregon Government Ethics Commission determined that she was the instigator of prohibited private conversations with city councilors about…
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Posted inJulie Hoy Salem Reporter Vanessa Nordyke

Julie Hoy shows her fear of Vanessa Nordyke by refusing a mayoral debate

Mayor Julie Hoy is breaking new ground in Salem politics. Unfortunately for Hoy, that fresh dirt isn't making her look good. As noted in "Salem Mayor Julie Hoy is guilty of orchestrating an ethics violation, but has the delusion she did nothing wrong," Hoy refuses to admit what is plainly visible: that she was the ringleader of prohibited private conversations with city councilors regarding the city manager's employment status that ran afoul of Oregon's public meetings law. Usually local elected officials apologize for ethics violations, vowing they have learned from their mistake and won't do it again. But Hoy persists…
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Posted inCity Council Julie Hoy

Salem Mayor Julie Hoy is guilty of orchestrating an ethics violation, but has the delusion she did nothing wrong

I've heard that Mayor Julie Hoy attended Trump's Washington D.C. inauguration in January of this year. I'm surprised that she hasn't gotten a job with the Trump administration, because Hoy is fully Trumpian when it comes to refusing to admit obvious wrongdoing. An Oregon Government Ethics Commission investigation found that Mayor Hoy orchestrated an illegal "serial communication" among a majority of the members of the City Council that ran afoul of the Public Meetings Law requirements. Last February Hoy subverted what should have been a public process of deciding whether City Manager Keith Stahley should remain in his position into…
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Posted inCity Council Julie Hoy Vanessa Nordyke

Salem Mayor Julie Hoy refuses to admit to her ethics violation, while five councilors victimized by Hoy did

The title of a Salem Reporter story by Joe Siess pretty much says it all: "Mayor Julie Hoy stands alone as all councilors concede ethics violation." Excerpt: Three more Salem City councilors who participated in an illegal serial meeting orchestrated by the mayor in February have accepted responsibility for their actions and signed agreements with the state ethics commission. Salem Mayor Julie Hoy stands alone as the only person accused by the Oregon Government Ethics Commission of unethical conduct who has not closed out the matter. She has not responded to the commission to indicate whether she will accept wrongdoing…
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Posted inCity Council Julie Hoy Vanessa Nordyke

Councilors Nishioka and Nordyke admit wrongdoing to Ethics Commission even though Mayor Hoy was the chief wrongdoer

Sadly, this is typical among elected officials these days. Those who have done something mildly wrong admit to it and apologize for the violation. Those who have something majorly wrong refuse to admit it and say there's nothing to apologize for. This appears to be the case here in Salem, where two members of the City Council, Linda Nishioka and Vanessa Nordyke, have told the Oregon Government Ethics Commission that they agree with the commission's finding that they, three other members of the council, and Mayor Hoy engaged in violations of our state's public meetings law last February. A Salem…
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Posted inCity Club City of Salem Julie Hoy

City Manager Namburi and Mayor Hoy said nothing interesting at Salem City Club

Disappointing. Boring. Uninteresting. I could add more negative adjectives, but those do a good job of describing my reaction to what City Manager Krishna Namburi and Mayor Julie Hoy had to say at last Friday's City Club program. In short, not much of anything. The first line of the email I got from the City Club plugging the program captured my attention. So I decided to attend. Salem City Club is pleased to have Mayor Julie Hoy and City Manager Krishna Namburi address the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the city as we move forward in interesting times. In…
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Posted inJulie Hoy Vanessa Nordyke

Mayor Julie Hoy lied about not wanting City Manager Stahley gone. That’s her third lie about Stahley.

Salem Mayor Julie Hoy must have a desire to follow in Donald Trump's lying footsteps. That's a difficult task, given Trump's almost constant battle against the truth, but Hoy is showing that when it comes to spouting political falsehoods, she deserves the title of Mayor Liar. These are the lies Hoy has inflicted upon the public in regard to the Oregon Government Ethics Commission conclusion that she violated Oregon's public meeting law in her quest to have City Manager Keith Stahley forced to resign last February. Lie #1: Hoy claimed that in her illegal private conversations with members of the…
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Posted inJulie Hoy

Check out demobrats podcast where we talk about Mayor Hoy’s ethics violation and other juicy subjects

Yesterday I had the pleasure of being part of a demobrats podcast episode, "The Mayor, In the Office, With the Ballot Measure." You can listen to it by either clicking on that link, or via this embedded player. Virginia Stapleton and Victoria Schaaf, the demobrats duo who have a pleasing repartee (hardly ever get to use that word, but it beautifully fits how they converse together) offered up this description of the episode. Hopefully this is the last time we have to talk about this (fingers crossed). In this episode, Brian Hines, an avid writer and community member who filed…
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Posted inChris Hoy Julie Hoy

Must watch City Council videos: Chris Hoy and two other people call out Mayor Julie Hoy for her lies

Speaking truth to power. It's not just a cliche. It was on full display at last Monday's City Council meeting when former Mayor Chris Hoy and two other people stood at the public comment podium, looked directly at current Mayor Julie Hoy, and called her out for the lies she told in the course of violating Oregon's ethics law that governs public officials. Lie #1 was Mayor Hoy telling the City Council president, Linda Nishioka, that after she'd spoken with all but one of the city councilors in private conversations that  are prohibited by the Public Meetings Law, a majority…
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Posted inCity Council Julie Hoy

At ethics commission meeting, Mayor Julie Hoy denies lying, which almost certainly is another lie

Salem Mayor Julie Hoy is digging herself deeper into an unethical hole. Yesterday Hoy claimed at a meeting of the Oregon Government Ethics Commission that contrary to the finding of a commission investigator, she never told City Council President Linda Nishioka that after speaking privately with members of the council, a majority wanted City Manager Keith Stahley to resign. Joe Siess of the Salem Reporter wrote in a story, Ethics commission finds Salem Mayor Julie Hoy, 5 councilors broke public meetings law: Hoy and Nishioka each disputed the other’s version of events during the commission meeting. Nishioka has repeatedly said…
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Posted in2026 election Julie Hoy Vanessa Nordyke

Given Julie Hoy’s serious lie, her future as Salem’s mayor seems bleak

Four days ago I wrote a blog post about how Salem Mayor Julie Hoy lied to the city council president, Linda Nishioka, about how Hoy had supposedly learned that a majority of the council wanted the City Manager, Keith Stahley, to resign. After Nishioka passed that falsehood on to Stahley, he resigned -- setting in motion a fiasco that culminated in a recently-concluded investigation by the Oregon Government Ethics Commission. The investigation found that instead of a majority, five, of the city council members wanting Stahley to resign, actually just one did: Mayor Hoy herself. Yesterday I talked about Hoy's…
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