Oregon News
Blue Oregon: GOP State Rep. Jim Weidner violating House ethics rules?
A few years ago, the Oregon House set a rule for itself that members would not take campaign contributions during a legislative session. The rule is 19.20 and it states:
Campaign Contributions During Session. No member of the House, during session, shall accept and/or solicit a contribution to the member or the member’s principal campaign committee or accept and/or solicit an expenditure in support of the member from any person. This does not limit a member from using existing campaign funds.This rule, along with all of the others, were re-agreed upon unanimously by the House members at the beginning of the February special session.
Blue Oregon: In Damascus, Oregon, it was Election Day on Tuesday. And the teabaggers lost!
On Tuesday, while most of us were focused on the statewide filing day, there was a special election in the town of Damascus, Oregon in Clackamas County. There were four measures on the ballot, each of which were sponsored by a group calling themselves "Ask Damascus".
And all four measures lost.
As Metro Council candidate Duke Shepard noted on his Facebook page:
I know the filing day stuff was exciting, but I was more interested in local elections today. In a notable rebuke to the so-called Tea Party agenda, Damascus voters defeated four extreme measures. It says a lot about their belief in their community.So, what would the four measures have done? Here's how the Gresham Outlook's Mara Stine described them:
Blue Oregon: Updated: Margaret Carter backing out of Multnomah Co Chair race
Update: 10:30p.m: Carter's withdrawal confirmed by OPB.
Update: 4:10p.m: Cascade Policy Insitute's OregonPolitico blog is reporting that Carter has announced she's out.
I've been chasing down a rumor floating about that former Oregon State Senator Margaret Carter is withdrawing from the Multnomah County Chair race.
Carter associate Lisa Naito just told me that Margaret will be making an announcement today at 3PM at Daybreak Shelter Network in SE Portland.
Stay tuned....
Blue Oregon: 48 Hours: The End of My Never-Really-Started Political Career
Having made myself look thoroughly ridiculous by running a 6-hour campaign for County Chair, and being now thoroughly convinced that I will never hold elected office, I have decided that I might as well at least amuse everyone by telling my friends (and enemies) exactly what my role has been in the 48-hour kerfuffle that (as his longtime aide Stacey Dycus put it) Ben Westlund would so much have enjoyed having caused. (Warning: This is really long, quite self-indulgent, and will probably only really amuse people who really like me or really hate me, so that limits the readership dramatically, but I figure I have a few big fans and sworn enemies out there. The only person who is required to read it in full is Steve Duin.)
Blue Oregon: Greg Walden: Failing Upwards
On Monday, the Congressional Quarterly had a story about the rise of Rep. Greg Walden through the ranks of the House GOP leadership.
Apparently, Walden is now the chairman of the House Republican leadership. (That's not to be confused with being the House Republican leader. I don't get it either.)
Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon appears to have done all the right things to win him an appointed seat at the GOP leadership table: be a good team player, prove you’ve got political and policy chops, and have friends in high places.Friends in high places? Yeah, it seems that he's super-close to NRCC chairman Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) - with the families vacationing together.
But here's the money quote - with a hat tip to the O's Jeff Mapes. It comes from Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX):
Blue Oregon: Desperate much?
This is Bob Tiernan, Chairman of the Oregon Republican Party, and we need your help! Have you ever wanted to run for office and help Republicans in our state take back our state government? Well, now is the time. Tomorrow is the filing deadline to become a member of our legislature and we have yet to find a good candidate to run in your district. Are you interested? Are you ready to make a difference? If you are, please call us by 12 noon tomorrow, that's 12 noon March 9.
Blue Oregon: Behind the OEA Endorsement
By Julie Fahey of Eugene, Oregon. Julie is a business consultant and a member of the 2010 class of Emerge Oregon. She observed the OEA convention as a member of the public (not as a member of OEA).
The OEA-PIE convention was held on Saturday in Eugene – by now we all know the major news coming out of the convention (Bradbury won the endorsement), but I thought the BlueOregon crowd might be interested in some observations about the day. The convention hosted candidates from a number of different races, but the main event was clearly the Governor’s race. The four candidates attending were Bradbury, Kitzhaber, Alley, and Lim (no Chris Dudley).
Blue Oregon: Filing Day: The Big Board, Oregon Senate
Earlier, I gave you the big board for the House -- here's the one for the Senate.
Again, these are all the filings posted online through 6:20 p.m.
Blue Oregon: Filing Day: The Big Board, Oregon House
One of the enduring traditions in Oregon politics is the gathering in the House chamber for the closing couple of hours of filing day. Politicians, lobbyists, hacks, and reporters gather to watch a Big Board of filings.
Well, since we're not there, I've produced a big board of our own - based on the filings reported online by the Elections Division. These are all the filings posted online through 6:20 p.m. (One caveat: Some late filings may have yet to appear online, as they can be submitted on handwritten forms - and have to be data-entered by staff.)
This is the board for the House.
Blue Oregon: Thank goodness the filing deadline passed at 5 pm!
The number of candidates filing for Ted Wheeler's former seat since being named state Treasurer was like watching water gushing out of a fire hydrant into a very small bucket which bounced.Steve Novick in, then out of the bucket standing on the sidewalk. One of my political friends in Bend told me Steve better be careful or he might be thought of as a ditherer...well not in my book. Steve's leadership skills seem a better fit for a statewide office or at the federal level or becoming our in-house grassroots organizer against all nutty initiatives.
Even Greg Walden drew an opponent in the 2nd Congressional District, Joyce Segers out of Ashland. Rumor has it she received a standing ovation at the recent OEA endorsement festival.
Susan Sokol Blosser threw her hat into the political ring for HD 24, Yamhill. I'll drink to that!
Blue Oregon: OR-SEN: New Poll Puts Wyden Lead at 30%
About a month ago, Rasmussen released a poll that suggested the Oregon Senate race might be a close one, with incumbent Dem Ron Wyden leading challenger Jim Huffman by just 14 points, 49% to 35%. Today, Grove Insight released numbers of a Wyden-commission poll that doubles the gap, 53%-23%. This is three points ahead of the approval rating Survey USA measured for Wyden a month ago. To see what role name recognition might play, they also polled respondents (500 likely voters) about who they would support in hypothetical contests between Wyden and Jason Atkinson and Greg Walden. Finally, Grove included the Libertarian, Marc Delphine. Have a look:
Wyden: 53%
Huffman: 23%
Delphine: 5%
Undecided: 20%
Blue Oregon: Steve Novick not running for MultCo Chair; throws support to Jeff Cogen
Just got off the phone with Steve Novick, who had been talking up today a possible run for the Multnomah County Chair seat vacated today by Ted Wheeler. Novick says he'll be throwing his support behind Jeff Cogen.
Novick said he had a good conversation with Bev Stein today, who advised him to support Cogen. Novick said he thought that was the right advice, so he took it.
Blue Oregon: Filing Day: All the news that's fit to break
OK, rather than overwhelm the site with a gazillion posts, we'll be updating filing day news here.
Let's kick it off with a big one:
9:50 a.m.: Former State Treasurer Jim Hill has filed to run for his old job. He was first elected State Treasurer in 1992 and served two terms. He ran unsuccessfully for Governor in 2002 and 2006. Hat tip to Willamette Week.
10:10 a.m.: Former state legislator Margaret Carter has filed for Multnomah County Chair.
Blue Oregon: Breaking: Jeff Cogen, Steve Novick, Margaret Carter to run for county chair. Karol Collymore, Chuck Currie running for Cogen spot.
The dominoes have started falling, and they'll fall fast - because 5 p.m. is the deadline to file.
With Ted Wheeler's appointment as State Treasurer, he's no longer running for re-election as Multnomah County Chair.
According to Willamette Week, Steve Novick intends to file today to run for Multnomah County Chair. Novick previously worked in the chair's office, as a senior policy advisor to then-Chair Diane Linn.
Moments ago, Multnomah County Commissioner Jeff Cogen told me that he will file today as well. Cogen has been on the commission since 2006.
Blue Oregon: It's your party: become a PCP
Today is the filing deadline for the 2010 election season, and one of the most important offices has many, many openings: Party Precinct Committee Person. There are thousands of these positions across the state, and few have greater value for the future, not just of your party, but progressive democracy in Oregon.
We talk about "parties" as if they have some solid, identifiable structure, but in truth, political parties are pretty indistinct critters. Yes, there are officers (more on that soon) and candidates, and there are committees and activists, but a political party is greater than just those few individuals or policy platforms you can identify. A party is an easy target to attack, until you try to specify who, exactly it is, you are targeting.
Blue Oregon: With mixed emotions, Wheeler takes over as State Treasurer
This morning at the PDX Airport Conference Center, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski announced that he is appointing Multnomah County Commission Chair Ted Wheeler to fill the State Treasurer's job vacated by the death of Ben Westlund.
Kari has already posted the official statements from Kulongoski and Wheeler. However, the early morning press conference was a somber affair with both men seeming to feel the weight of grief for the passing of Westlund. Kulongoski noted that nobody really wants to think about politics right now, but that there was little choice given the time constraints.
Blue Oregon: Republican Treasurer Candidate: Chris "Mystery Money" Telfer
It’s thoroughly depressing to see that the one Republican who claims she’s running for Treasurer is State Senator Chris Telfer. Telfer’s the one who claimed that a Secretary of State audit said that the State had billions of extra dollars lying around for the taking. When the Secretary of State’s office and Legislative Fiscal explained that that was simply untrue, Telfer continued to insist that it must be true. It was one of the more bizarre episodes in the Measure 66 / 67 campaign.
Here are selections from the Oregonian story in January:
Blue Oregon: The task of finding Oregon a new State Treasurer
Those of us who closely follow Oregon politics and policy are deeply saddened by the death of Oregon State Treasurer Ben Westlund. He was a kind, giving man whose independent spirit and dedication to our state will be greatly missed.
Unfortunately, the difficult task of finding someone to fill the office can't wait very long.
As Kari mentioned, there's a very quick turnaround time in terms of the deadline for major party candidates filing for the position.
The Governor will be appointing someone to fill the seat and that person must be a Democrat. According to ORS 236.100:
Blue Oregon: Westlund Memorial
The office of the state treasurer has announced plans for memorial services for Ben Westlund:
The public is invited to two memorial services for Oregon State Treasurer Ben Westlund, who died Sunday of cancer at the age of 60.A Central Oregon celebration will be at 2 p.m. on Friday, March 12, at the Riverhouse Conference Center, 2850 NW Rippling River Court in Bend.
Westlund will be honored at the Oregon Capitol in Salem at a public ceremony in the House chamber at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 13.
Furthermore:
Blue Oregon: The surprise race for state treasurer
First, let's acknowledge one thing right off the bat: It is unseemly and awkward to be talking about a successor to Ben Westlund so soon after his untimely death.
However, the election calendar doesn't allow us the time we'd all like to reflect on Ben's life and career before moving on to the political gamesmanship. It's unfortunate, but there's nothing to be done about it. (We will, of course, continue to reflect on the loss of Ben Westlund in the coming days and weeks.)
Here's the deal: Because the office of state treasurer has been vacated in the first half of the term (Ben was elected in 2008), the seat opens up for an election this year. Candidates for treasurer will run in a partisan primary in May, with a general election in November. The timing is especially tough, because the filing deadline is tomorrow, Tuesday at 5 p.m.