Posted in2022 election

Local election results look positive for progressives

Election night results always change in Oregon, even with vote by mail. This year they likely will change to a greater degree, since for the first time ballots postmarked today will count if they're received within a week. That said, it's no fun to be cautious and say, "Let's wait until all the votes are in." Instead I say, "Let's look at the results as they are now!" Assuming those results hold up -- again, a big assumption -- progressives like me should be pleased with how things are looking in local races.  Chris Hoy leads in the race for Salem…
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Posted in2022 election

Big bucks flowing to conservatives in mayor and city council races

Today the Statesman Journal had a story about spending on the races for mayor and four city council seats in next Tuesday's primary election (which usually determines the winner in those contests, since a candidate getting 50% of the vote plus one more vote wins outright and avoids the November election). The title of the story by Whitney Woodworth shows its primary focus: where the $375,000 came from. But equally important is where the money went. There are four contested Salem races on the ballot -- mayor and three of the four even-numbered city council seats up for election (Ward…
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Posted inNational politics

Hating Russia, I now better understand why so many hate the United States

Before Putin invaded Ukraine, my attitude toward Russia was one of rather detached disinterest. I knew that Russia wasn't our friend, Trump had some sort of fatal attraction toward the country, Putin was an authoritarian who killed dissidents/journalists he didn't like, and it had a lot of oil and gas. But in no way did I hate Russia. Now I do.  Not the Russian people. Just that portion of the Russian populace responsible for carrying out the invasion of Ukraine. Vladimir Putin. The oligarchs who support him. The Russian military. Anyone else in Russia who knows about the horrendous war…
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Posted in2022 election Tom Andersen

Claudia Howells text unfairly smears Tom Andersen in HD 19 race

It's getting close to the Oregon primary election day, May 17. Per usual, the nastiness is ramping up in campaign attack ads.  Here's an example. Today I learned the identity of the person who's been sending text messages wrongly accusing Tom Andersen, the Salem city councilor running in the Democratic primary for House District 19 against Brad Witt, of being weak on abortion rights. It didn't take much sleuthing, since Claudia Howells identified herself in the text message. Howells' husband, Bradd Swank, lost badly to Andersen in a 2014 City Council race, so this raises the question of whether retribution…
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Posted in2022 election

Why Paige Clarkson is unfit to be the Marion County District Attorney

A recent mailer I got from Friends of Paige Clarkson, who is running to be the Marion County District Attorney, shows why voters should cast their ballot for Spencer Todd, her opponent.  It's disgusting. Todd is a public defender. But apparently Clarkson doesn't understand that in the United States everyone is entitled to an attorney who defends them in court, because the front page of her mailer says this: And who is the company Spencer Todd keeps? Why, defense attorneys! OMG! The horror! A public defender has friends who are defense attorneys.  (Note: if you're a spelling geek, another reason not…
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Posted in2022 election National politics

If we make the mistake Zelensky did, we’ll lose our democracy

I'm a huge fan of Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian people. They've fought against Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine with amazing skill, valor, and determination.  Zelensky Since the war began on February 24, Zelensky has led his country almost perfectly. He inspires both Ukrainians and the entire freedom-loving world with his words and actions. And yet... A special report in the May 9 issue of TIME magazine, "Inside Zelensky's World," describes how close a bad decision by Zelensky came to imperiling Ukraine in the first few days of the war. The error was ignoring the obvious evidence that Russia was…
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Posted in2022 election National politics

Once abortion is illegal, gay marriage and contraception could follow

Unless you're living in a news desert where word of the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion overturning abortion rights hasn't reached yet, likely you're either outraged or ecstatic -- depending on how you view abortion.  Me, I'm in the outraged camp. I strongly favor a woman's right to choose what medical care she gets. That leads me to be upset at what anti-abortion zealots and their enablers in the Republican Party have wrought: the imminent doing-away of a constitutional right to an abortion that has been the law of the land since 1973, almost 50 years. Even worse, there's good…
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Posted in2022 election

My feelings as I filled out the May 2022 Oregon ballot

Here in Oregon we vote in the privacy of our own homes. Or any other damn place that we choose, since our oh-so-enlightened state is 100% vote by mail in every election. Yesterday my ballot arrived in the mail. Being eager to vote ASAP, almost immediately I sat down at our dining room table, a pen with black ink in hand, so I could put my ballot in a mailbox on my way back from a Thursday evening Tai Chi class. I can't say it was a highly emotional experience. But I did have some clear feelings as I filled…
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Posted in2022 election Chris Hoy City Council

Vote for these progressive candidates in the May election

I like progress. That's why I'm a progressive. And why I'm recommending that you vote for these candidates in the May election that likely will determine who becomes the next Salem mayor and wins the even-numbered Salem City Council seats. (If a candidate gets 50% of the vote, plus one more vote, they win outright in the May election, which is a primary for partisan Democrat/Republican races, but usually is the deciding election in local nonpartisan races.) For more detail, here's a recommendation I saw today from a progressive group that includes some additional races. They leave out the Ward…
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Posted in2022 election City Council

Three reasons to vote for Medlock rather than Gwyn in the Ward 4 council race

If you live in Salem's Ward 4 and are thinking of voting for Deanna Gwyn, I urge you to think again. Her opponent, Dynee Medlock, is a much better choice to represent you on the City Council. A couple of Salem Reporter stories by Rachel Alexander provide the reasons. Here's three of them, based on a written Q&A where Medlock and Gwyn answered questions sent to them by Salem Reporter staff, and a devastating story, "Salem council candidate Deanna Gwyn has rarely voted, records show." (1) Voting records. Gwyn has voted just twice in the past decade, not voting in…
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Posted in2022 election Chane Griggs

Chane and James Griggs’ campaign contributions, 2008-2022

Today someone sent me a spreadsheet that, they said, was pulled from Oregon's campaign contribution database, ORESTAR. It showed the contributions to 28 candidates by Chane Griggs and James Griggs between 2008 and 2022. The amounts ranged from $100 to $2,000, aside from a $5,000 contribution by James to Chane's campaign. Chane Griggs Since Chane Griggs is running for Salem Mayor against Chris Hoy, the accompanying email pointed out that while the Mayor's office is non-partisan, most of those receiving money from the Griggs were Republicans or conservatives. That's true. But most of the donations, 25 of the 28, were…
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Posted in2022 election Marion County politics

Marion County District Attorney candidates offer clear choice in City Club debate

I'm healed! Thanks to the current Marion County District Attorney, Paige Clarkson, and her challenger in the May election, Spencer Todd, I've recovered from the (mild) trauma of watching the previous Salem City Club debate via Zoom between the candidates for Salem Mayor, Chris Hoy and Chane Griggs, where Hoy and Griggs agreed on almost everything and were kind and gentle toward each other. Morally uplifting, perhaps, but boring.  In contrast, Clarkson and Todd disagreed on almost everything and were pleasingly snarky toward each other. Partly that was because being attorneys, they're used to arguing with their fellow lawyers. But…
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Posted in2022 election Oregon politics

I’m uncertain about who to vote for in the Democratic Governor primary

I'm usually quite opinionated when it comes to politics. But this morning my wife asked me who I favored in the upcoming May Democratic primary for Oregon Governor.  I said, "I don't know. Tina Kotek and Tobias Read are the favorites. I'm not sure which is best." A KGW story, updated as of April 12, shows 16 candidates in the Democratic primary. Wikipedia has 15 candidates, lacking Michael David. This is the Wikipedia list. Again, Tina Kotek and Tobias Read seem to be the only viable candidates. Both are experienced in Oregon politics, have a decent amount of campaign funds, and…
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Posted in2022 election

Other CD6 Dem candidates furious at Carrick Flynn getting $1 million from House Majority PAC

A tweet this afternoon by an Oregon Democratic consultant, Kari Chisholm, clued me in to an controversial action by the House Super PAC backed by Democratic leadership in Washington, D.C. Below is the Joint Statement from the six Democratic candidates that I copied from the tweet above. It is indeed highly disturbing that the House Majority PAC would back a particular candidate in the Democratic primary for an newly created House seat, especially since Carrick Flynn isn't lacking for campaign funds, given how many mailings my wife and I have gotten from him. An Oregon Capital Chronicle story about this…
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Posted in2022 election City Council

Ask these tough national questions of local conservative candidates

The saying used to be "All politics is local." Now the reverse is at least equally true: "All politics is national." Meaning, whereas there used to be lots of politicians who were conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans, those days are pretty much gone. Democratic politicians are almost all liberal. Republican politicians are almost all conservative. This poses a problem in nonpartisan races, such as for Salem Mayor and City Councilor.  Sure, nonpartisan has a lovely inclusive vibe to it. Let divisiveness rule in those nasty races where candidates have Democrat or Republican accompanying their name. Our local races can simply…
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Posted inNational politics

Parents don’t get to choose the version of American history they like best

Until I read a story by Jill Lepore in the March 21, 2022 issues of The New Yorker, "The Parent Trap: How school fights, from evolution to anti-racism, pit parents against the state," I failed to understand some key points about the current controversy over teaching American history in public schools. Quite a few conservative states are passing so-called parents-rights bills that allow parents more leeway than they've enjoyed before to complain about teaching regarding slavery, systemic racism, and such that goes against the grain of a view of American history that papers over these subjects in favor of a rosier…
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Posted in2022 election Chane Griggs Chris Hoy

Disappointing: Hoy versus Griggs in City Club debate

Since I like debates, and the Salem City Club called today's program a debate between the two candidates for Mayor, Chris Hoy and Chane Griggs, after I settled into my chair for the noon Zoom meeting, I was looking forward to some argumentative fireworks. Instead, what transpired was more like a sparkler that fizzled a bit now and then, but mostly just gave off some smoke without any real heat. Or to mix my metaphors, Griggs and Hoy acted like two fighters who were so concerned about not getting knocked out, they neglected to throw any genuine punches. Part of…
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Posted inCity Council Land use

Salem City Council reverses itself and approves Meyer Farm subdivision

Some Salem progressives are deeply irritated at fellow progressives on the City Council after Monday night's 4-3 approval of a revised Meyer Farm subdivision application , which followed a 5-2 denial of the application on February 28. The Friends of The Meyer Farm Facebook page has an image that sums up how opponents of the subdivision are feeling today. They're justified in feeling this way.  One reason is how City of Salem staff turned a subdivision denial into an approval by working with the applicant on a revised application, even though opponents figured that what staff should have been doing…
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Posted inNational politics

No reasonable person should be a Republican

Being a Republican used to be a respectable political position. My mother was an avid Republican. Until I went to college, I shared her conservatism. I grew up reading National Review. William F. Buckley was only one of numerous noted Republican intellectuals. Back then, Republicans believed in conserving the environment, which fit with their conservative principles. Now, in the Age of Trump, Republicans should rename themselves as the Know-Nothing Party. (Yeah, I know, that name was taken in the 1850's, but it's time to resurrect it.) There's so many examples of Republican craziness, I'm going to limit myself to two…
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Posted in2022 election City Council

Stacey Vieyra-Braendle is the progressive Ward 6 candidate

I guessed right. Twelve days ago I wrote a blog post, "Mayor and City Council candidates: a first look," where without knowing much about the two Ward 6 candidates for city council, I said: Ward 6. Julie Hoy and Stacey Vieyra-Braendle are the candidates seeking to fill Chris Hoy's seat. I could be completely wrong about this, but it seems strange that an unrelated Hoy just happens to hope to replace Chris Hoy.  This is the sort of thing Republicans would do. So I'll indulge my conspiracy theory mind and theorize that Julie Hoy leans conservative. I know nothing about…
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