Portland, Oregon--
I do not support the re-election of Gordon Smith. More on this later.
In this post, I want to address the issue of polygamy and Mormonism (they are the same issue) that has risen recently into the political discussion, first when Mitt Romney was competing for the Republican nomination, and now, with more local focus, since Mr. Smith raised the issue himself.
Some suggest that Mormon plural marriages are essentially about agreements between consenting adults, and others have said that the mainstream Mormon church’s official break from polygamous lifestyles renders the case (mostly) moot.
Both lines of thought view the issue too narrowly.
My comments in this series are informed by my experience of having spent ten years in the belly of the beast after my then-wife woke up one morning and discovered that she was a fervent True Believer, and after having experienced the disappearance of my four children into the Mormon parallel universe on February 12, 1996, more than twelve years ago.
The kidnapping was organized by a group of Mormon church leaders in Oregon, Washington and Utah, all of whom I have named in previous posts here: www.BlogoliticalSean.blogspot.com
None of these individuals are or were related to me or to my former wife. Their motivation was to carry out a Mormon shunning, and to bury my children as deep as they could in their doctrine.
This is how they keep the troops in line.
The experience led to the passage of Senate Bill 1041 (Aaron’s Law, named after my late son) in the 2005 legislative session, addressing the kidnapping of children by persons known to the children or to other family members.
Aaron’s Law and related posts are here: http://aaronslaw.blogspot.com/
The U. S. Department of Justice calculates the number of parental and family abductions in the United States as more than 200,000 cases annually.
Many of those children are taken out of the country, never to be seen again.
Children can vanish forever without leaving the U.S. also, and entering the Mormon Empire is one of those ways.
They moved my children from one secret location to another in small Utah towns, eventually ending up in Payson, not far from where the FLDS and other polygamous communities openly exist.
Consider the concepts that polygamous marriages are “consensual,” and that the break between mainstream and fundamentalist Mormon believers is complete or even actual, given the following facts and circumstances, all applicable to both LDS and FLDS splinter groups:
Both LDS and FLDS celebrate one of the most prolific polygamists in Mormon (and U.S.) history with a university system and a wide variety of towns and other political subdivisions named after Brigham Young.
Mormon doctrine, fundamental or otherwise, teaches that women and girls should be “meek and mild” and subservient to men.
Utah leads the nation in the percentage of children suffering abuse.
It is embedded in the culture.
The Mormon world is among the most paternalistic of societies, its leadership at all levels made up mostly of a privileged class of white men.
Under Utah law, a child of 13 can legally marry with the consent of only one parent.
In the FLDS/LDS world, it is young girls marrying older men, not boys marrying girls their own age or older, that describes the actual use of the law.
The law provides cover for the pedophiles in Mormon communities who are wealthy enough or have other power levers sufficient to support a lifestyle that commingles institutional womanizing and raising your own wives.
Put yourself in the shoes of an eight or nine-year-old girl, too young to understand exactly what “marriage” is, but beginning to understand that it is in her near future and that it will involve an older man and babies.
There is nothing consensual about this practice, occurring in the long shadow of Mormonism far more widely than is reported in the media or understood by the public.
The problem and dilemma facing mainstream Mormons and their polygamist heritage lies in the word that FLDS members and others use to describe themselves and their religious beliefs: “fundamental.”
The Salt Lake City Tribune reported on Gordon Smith’s apology for referencing Mormon polygamy in his comments on same-sex marriage. Here’s an excerpt and link:
Smith sought to do just that. Asked why he brought up his religious past, he offered this explanation:
''If you'd grown up a Mormon, and spent your life trying to get out from the shadow of that legacy, it's an emotional scar that you carry. I meant no offense by sharing that part of my history.''
He said he never meant to relate polygamy, which was practiced by early Mormons but is now rejected by the church, to same-sex marriage.
- Religion News Service
http://www.sltrib.com/faith/ci_9651973
To use words like “legacy” and “history” in a discussion of Mormonism and polygamy is highly disingenuous.
There are Mormon children eight and nine years old who are just learning their future does not involve chemistry or computer science or any form of higher education, for that matter.
Their destiny is to specialize in multiplication.
Some of their older sisters have already earned advanced degrees.
End part 1.
=============================
The Oregonian Editorial Board on Senate District 23:
“(Sean) Cruz…knows the issues well…”
“Sean Cruz, who has served as (Senator) Gordly's legislative aide and chief of staff for the past five years…is qualified for the job. He knows the issues that are important in the district, and he certainly knows how things get done in the Legislature. Most notably, he persuaded Gordly to push legislation, called ‘Aaron's Law,’ that gives families tools to punish parents for the crime of child abduction. “
===========================
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Sean Cruz in transition
Portland, Oregon--
When Oregon State Senator Avel Gordly offered me the opportunity to serve on her staff prior to the 2003 legislative session, I only had one concern at the time: would we be working to improve the living and working conditions of Oregon’s farm workers?
Note that this conversation took place before the invasion of Iraq, before the Bush/Cheney administration’s gross misuse of the National Guard, before stop-loss and the many other breaches of faith with the nation’s military personnel and with our veterans and their families.
Back in 2002, I wanted to know whether we would serve as the voice for the voiceless.
Her affirmative response brought me on board, and one of the first bills she sponsored in the 2003 session addressed the discriminatory language in ORS statutes that specifically denied farm workers—and farm workers alone—the right to meal and restroom breaks during the workday.
That bill did not get a hearing, underscoring the fact that Oregon’s farmworkers (and Oregon’s Hispanic and Latino communities) have no real voice in the legislature and—with Senator Gordly’s retirement—no reliable friends there either.
Working with Bureau of Labor and Industries Commissioner Dan Gardner, we worked around the legislature to extend these basic rights to agricultural workers by administrative action, which became effective February 1, 2004.
Now I’ve been offered an opportunity to work with the Oregon Human Development Corporation (OHDC) out of the Gresham office, located in the Rockwood neighborhood, and I am transitioning to this next stage in my career.
My job will be to help our mostly Spanish-speaking clients transition successfully to new jobs that offer more stability and opportunity than farm work.
Here’s the link to OHDC: http://www.ohdc.org/
Our mission statement is “To promote economic and social advancement of farm workers, Hispanics and disadvantaged individuals through the provision of education, training, advocacy and services that enhance self-sufficiency.”
The most significant new challenge for me in this opportunity is to gain fluency in Spanish, and now I have the opportunity to speak, read and write every day.
I have been meeting with many of the array of partners that OHDC works with, mostly in East Multnomah County, and I look forward to contributing to the community in this new capacity.
Veterans and military family issues remain at the center of my agenda should the voters decide to send me to represent Senate District 23 in the November general election.
There is no need to look further than the record itself to see that veterans and military families have no champion in the Oregon Senate.
Sending my opponent to the Senate will not change that fact at all. Jackie
Dingfelder is only dimly aware that the nation is at war, and she believes that it is someone else’s responsibility in Washington D.C. to deal with it.
For me, veterans and military families have top priority.
I look forward to the coming fall campaign; meanwhile, andale!
=================================
The Oregonian Editorial Board on Senate District 23:
“(Sean) Cruz…knows the issues well…”
“Sean Cruz, who has served as (Senator) Gordly's legislative aide and chief of staff for the past five years…is qualified for the job. He knows the issues that are important in the district, and he certainly knows how things get done in the Legislature. Most notably, he persuaded Gordly to push legislation, called ‘Aaron's Law,’ that gives families tools to punish parents for the crime of child abduction. “
When Oregon State Senator Avel Gordly offered me the opportunity to serve on her staff prior to the 2003 legislative session, I only had one concern at the time: would we be working to improve the living and working conditions of Oregon’s farm workers?
Note that this conversation took place before the invasion of Iraq, before the Bush/Cheney administration’s gross misuse of the National Guard, before stop-loss and the many other breaches of faith with the nation’s military personnel and with our veterans and their families.
Back in 2002, I wanted to know whether we would serve as the voice for the voiceless.
Her affirmative response brought me on board, and one of the first bills she sponsored in the 2003 session addressed the discriminatory language in ORS statutes that specifically denied farm workers—and farm workers alone—the right to meal and restroom breaks during the workday.
That bill did not get a hearing, underscoring the fact that Oregon’s farmworkers (and Oregon’s Hispanic and Latino communities) have no real voice in the legislature and—with Senator Gordly’s retirement—no reliable friends there either.
Working with Bureau of Labor and Industries Commissioner Dan Gardner, we worked around the legislature to extend these basic rights to agricultural workers by administrative action, which became effective February 1, 2004.
Now I’ve been offered an opportunity to work with the Oregon Human Development Corporation (OHDC) out of the Gresham office, located in the Rockwood neighborhood, and I am transitioning to this next stage in my career.
My job will be to help our mostly Spanish-speaking clients transition successfully to new jobs that offer more stability and opportunity than farm work.
Here’s the link to OHDC: http://www.ohdc.org/
Our mission statement is “To promote economic and social advancement of farm workers, Hispanics and disadvantaged individuals through the provision of education, training, advocacy and services that enhance self-sufficiency.”
The most significant new challenge for me in this opportunity is to gain fluency in Spanish, and now I have the opportunity to speak, read and write every day.
I have been meeting with many of the array of partners that OHDC works with, mostly in East Multnomah County, and I look forward to contributing to the community in this new capacity.
Veterans and military family issues remain at the center of my agenda should the voters decide to send me to represent Senate District 23 in the November general election.
There is no need to look further than the record itself to see that veterans and military families have no champion in the Oregon Senate.
Sending my opponent to the Senate will not change that fact at all. Jackie
Dingfelder is only dimly aware that the nation is at war, and she believes that it is someone else’s responsibility in Washington D.C. to deal with it.
For me, veterans and military families have top priority.
I look forward to the coming fall campaign; meanwhile, andale!
=================================
The Oregonian Editorial Board on Senate District 23:
“(Sean) Cruz…knows the issues well…”
“Sean Cruz, who has served as (Senator) Gordly's legislative aide and chief of staff for the past five years…is qualified for the job. He knows the issues that are important in the district, and he certainly knows how things get done in the Legislature. Most notably, he persuaded Gordly to push legislation, called ‘Aaron's Law,’ that gives families tools to punish parents for the crime of child abduction. “
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Sleight of hand and East Portland legislative races
Portland, Oregon—
A full week since the May 20 party primaries capped their exercises in promotion-from-within, the four East Portland legislative races have yet to enter the realm of public discourse.
Most of the legislative incumbents coasted through the primaries without a whisper of competition.
Those days are going to come to an end, perhaps in this election cycle.
Every incumbent, no matter how secure they might be within their party framework, can be outvoted in the 2008 November general election for two basic reasons:
1. Candidates in the general election can compete for all of the voters.
2. The World Wide Web has reached the point of maturity where write-in campaigns are economically and strategically feasible, enabling candidates and voters to interact without any gatekeeper or other intermediary.
I intend to prove these points in Oregon State Senate District 23, but any incumbent is vulnerable.
There are other supporting reasons:
1. The Oregon Legislature’s approval rating is only 30%, even after the highly successful 2007 session.
2. Oregonians want to see election reform and campaign finance reform actually happen, not just get kicked to the next campaign season again.
3. Oregonians value real choices among real candidates, and I believe they are ready to step up and decide who the candidates will be on their own. This factor alone will turn the party primary process inside out.
4. Most party stalwarts (and elected officials) are still in the Stone Age in the use of technology. Younger generations of voters do not share that handicap. They have the networking and resource-accessing skills to engineer their own campaigns and their own successes.
There will be an electoral tsunami in America, and it will be led by the tech-savvy who manage to acquire competence in the office they are seeking.
Career politicians will have to adjust their skill sets, like, right now!
The primary “race” for Senate District 23 was more about insider sleight of hand than it was about issues, ideas and the district’s needs.
I’m planning a series of posts describing the behind-the-scene shenanigans that took place along the way, including the AFSCME-gate story that every voter in the district will really want to know about.
The Web will allow voters free access to all the information they need to make an informed choice in November.
There are a lot of people who aren’t going to like hearing this; fortunately, most of them live outside of my district, Senate District 23.
--Sean Cruz, May 27, 2008
=============
The Oregonian Editorial Board on Senate District 23:
“(Sean) Cruz…knows the issues well…”
“Sean Cruz, who has served as (Senator) Gordly's legislative aide and chief of staff for the past five years…is qualified for the job. He knows the issues that are important in the district, and he certainly knows how things get done in the Legislature. Most notably, he persuaded Gordly to push legislation, called ‘Aaron's Law,’ that gives families tools to punish parents for the crime of child abduction. “
===========================
www.BlogoliticalSean.blogspot.com
A full week since the May 20 party primaries capped their exercises in promotion-from-within, the four East Portland legislative races have yet to enter the realm of public discourse.
Most of the legislative incumbents coasted through the primaries without a whisper of competition.
Those days are going to come to an end, perhaps in this election cycle.
Every incumbent, no matter how secure they might be within their party framework, can be outvoted in the 2008 November general election for two basic reasons:
1. Candidates in the general election can compete for all of the voters.
2. The World Wide Web has reached the point of maturity where write-in campaigns are economically and strategically feasible, enabling candidates and voters to interact without any gatekeeper or other intermediary.
I intend to prove these points in Oregon State Senate District 23, but any incumbent is vulnerable.
There are other supporting reasons:
1. The Oregon Legislature’s approval rating is only 30%, even after the highly successful 2007 session.
2. Oregonians want to see election reform and campaign finance reform actually happen, not just get kicked to the next campaign season again.
3. Oregonians value real choices among real candidates, and I believe they are ready to step up and decide who the candidates will be on their own. This factor alone will turn the party primary process inside out.
4. Most party stalwarts (and elected officials) are still in the Stone Age in the use of technology. Younger generations of voters do not share that handicap. They have the networking and resource-accessing skills to engineer their own campaigns and their own successes.
There will be an electoral tsunami in America, and it will be led by the tech-savvy who manage to acquire competence in the office they are seeking.
Career politicians will have to adjust their skill sets, like, right now!
The primary “race” for Senate District 23 was more about insider sleight of hand than it was about issues, ideas and the district’s needs.
I’m planning a series of posts describing the behind-the-scene shenanigans that took place along the way, including the AFSCME-gate story that every voter in the district will really want to know about.
The Web will allow voters free access to all the information they need to make an informed choice in November.
There are a lot of people who aren’t going to like hearing this; fortunately, most of them live outside of my district, Senate District 23.
--Sean Cruz, May 27, 2008
=============
The Oregonian Editorial Board on Senate District 23:
“(Sean) Cruz…knows the issues well…”
“Sean Cruz, who has served as (Senator) Gordly's legislative aide and chief of staff for the past five years…is qualified for the job. He knows the issues that are important in the district, and he certainly knows how things get done in the Legislature. Most notably, he persuaded Gordly to push legislation, called ‘Aaron's Law,’ that gives families tools to punish parents for the crime of child abduction. “
===========================
www.BlogoliticalSean.blogspot.com
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Veterans Memorial Day and the race for Oregon Senate District 23
Portland, Oregon—
I’m going to cut right to the chase: The fact is that the American people largely accept the war casualty rates in Iraq and Afghanistan.
They shrug it off, complain a little, but at the end of the day have something else on their minds; like, for example, ethanol, and they shrug it off.
These wars are happening to Other People, Elsewhere, On TV.
Some offer Moments of Silence now and then; but the People are already silent, I say, and moments of silence are nothing more than that, opportunities to be silent together and reinforce our devotion to silence.
The nation’s college campuses are hotbeds of inaction and rest, if not outright privilege. You’d never know there was a war on, hanging out on campus.
This is how wars drag on for ten or thirty years or more, even in democratic societies. It starts with an acceptable casualty rate, which is related to the nation’s sense of who is, well, expendable.
If the nation is settled on losing only the expendable, then business and politics can proceed as usual, like in the recent Oregon primary races.
Here we are on Memorial Day, a holiday marked by many with profligate displays of high-octane fuel-burning, and by many millions of Americans who spend the weekend setting tanks of fossil fuels on fir, mile by mile over the asphalt roads and highways.
Many complain about the cost of gasoline and diesel fuel; can’t seem to connect the price spike with the fact that if you invade an oil-producing nation on the other side of the world, you should expect the price to go up.
Throughout the entire primary period, there was no public discussion of veterans issues or the costs of the wars. I brought the subject up twice in the Williamette Week interview, also in the Oregonian and Matt Davis (Portland Mercury) interviews.
The Skanner didn’t even have interviews, figure that one out. Too busy putting out a newspaper once a week, lots of cutting and pasting from the AP wire involved.
None of the local Portland races ever got out of the bubble, the war nonexistent even in its impact on local budgets and resources, apparently.
The candidates for federal offices alone recognized the wars exist, offering challenges and counterchallenges on what to do about the wars.
No one pointed out that whatever direction the troops move in, the move will result in loss of life. Whatever you do, people will die—our people, our loved ones.
There is no way that someone standing here in Oregon can know how to make that happen.
Every path from Iraq leads through death and destruction, which is why it is so important not to launch an invasion in the first place, and so vital for the People and their elected officials to stop being so damned silent.
Our injured will come home to a long-overwhelmed VA system and politicians with ethanol on their minds.
In a truly democratic society, every single elected official who had a piece of moving our military and their families into endless hell ought to have been tossed out of office more than four years ago. None merit re-appointment or re-election.
Those who were in office and let it happen on their watch ought to have been put on probation at minimum, some already cashiered by now.
Senate District 23 and House Districts 45 and 46, on this day, are much like the rest of the nation: The wars are happening to Other People, Elsewhere, On TV.
The Ethanol Mafia is celebrating the Senate District 23 primary victory of my opponent, a little too early in my book.
My guess is that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will still be ruining the lives of our loved ones in November, and for we military families, alone bearing the burden, veterans issues will trump any other interest.
I am calling for the appointment of a new, permanent Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, and I will—with your help--serve there, starting in January, 2009.
This Senate committee will work in a nonpartisan way, alongside the overburdened House Veterans Affairs Committee and the Governor’s Office, to address the critical needs of our troops, our veterans and their families.
No more will there be a day in the Oregon Senate when the flags are at half staff outside of the Capitol and yet there is no honoring of the fallen in either House or Senate chamber, and that’s just for starters.
We have more than five months to muster, to organize a write-in campaign, and deliver a historic victory in the November general election.
This change will be immediate, C.O.D.
--Sean Cruz, May 25, 2008
=======================
The Oregonian Editorial Board on Senate District 23:
“Cruz…knows the issues well…”
“Sean Cruz, who has served as (Senator) Gordly's legislative aide and chief of staff for the past five years…is qualified for the job. He knows the issues that are important in the district, and he certainly knows how things get done in the Legislature. Most notably, he persuaded Gordly to push legislation, called ‘Aaron's Law,’ that gives families tools to punish parents for the crime of child abduction. “
===========================
I’m going to cut right to the chase: The fact is that the American people largely accept the war casualty rates in Iraq and Afghanistan.
They shrug it off, complain a little, but at the end of the day have something else on their minds; like, for example, ethanol, and they shrug it off.
These wars are happening to Other People, Elsewhere, On TV.
Some offer Moments of Silence now and then; but the People are already silent, I say, and moments of silence are nothing more than that, opportunities to be silent together and reinforce our devotion to silence.
The nation’s college campuses are hotbeds of inaction and rest, if not outright privilege. You’d never know there was a war on, hanging out on campus.
This is how wars drag on for ten or thirty years or more, even in democratic societies. It starts with an acceptable casualty rate, which is related to the nation’s sense of who is, well, expendable.
If the nation is settled on losing only the expendable, then business and politics can proceed as usual, like in the recent Oregon primary races.
Here we are on Memorial Day, a holiday marked by many with profligate displays of high-octane fuel-burning, and by many millions of Americans who spend the weekend setting tanks of fossil fuels on fir, mile by mile over the asphalt roads and highways.
Many complain about the cost of gasoline and diesel fuel; can’t seem to connect the price spike with the fact that if you invade an oil-producing nation on the other side of the world, you should expect the price to go up.
Throughout the entire primary period, there was no public discussion of veterans issues or the costs of the wars. I brought the subject up twice in the Williamette Week interview, also in the Oregonian and Matt Davis (Portland Mercury) interviews.
The Skanner didn’t even have interviews, figure that one out. Too busy putting out a newspaper once a week, lots of cutting and pasting from the AP wire involved.
None of the local Portland races ever got out of the bubble, the war nonexistent even in its impact on local budgets and resources, apparently.
The candidates for federal offices alone recognized the wars exist, offering challenges and counterchallenges on what to do about the wars.
No one pointed out that whatever direction the troops move in, the move will result in loss of life. Whatever you do, people will die—our people, our loved ones.
There is no way that someone standing here in Oregon can know how to make that happen.
Every path from Iraq leads through death and destruction, which is why it is so important not to launch an invasion in the first place, and so vital for the People and their elected officials to stop being so damned silent.
Our injured will come home to a long-overwhelmed VA system and politicians with ethanol on their minds.
In a truly democratic society, every single elected official who had a piece of moving our military and their families into endless hell ought to have been tossed out of office more than four years ago. None merit re-appointment or re-election.
Those who were in office and let it happen on their watch ought to have been put on probation at minimum, some already cashiered by now.
Senate District 23 and House Districts 45 and 46, on this day, are much like the rest of the nation: The wars are happening to Other People, Elsewhere, On TV.
The Ethanol Mafia is celebrating the Senate District 23 primary victory of my opponent, a little too early in my book.
My guess is that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will still be ruining the lives of our loved ones in November, and for we military families, alone bearing the burden, veterans issues will trump any other interest.
I am calling for the appointment of a new, permanent Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, and I will—with your help--serve there, starting in January, 2009.
This Senate committee will work in a nonpartisan way, alongside the overburdened House Veterans Affairs Committee and the Governor’s Office, to address the critical needs of our troops, our veterans and their families.
No more will there be a day in the Oregon Senate when the flags are at half staff outside of the Capitol and yet there is no honoring of the fallen in either House or Senate chamber, and that’s just for starters.
We have more than five months to muster, to organize a write-in campaign, and deliver a historic victory in the November general election.
This change will be immediate, C.O.D.
--Sean Cruz, May 25, 2008
=======================
The Oregonian Editorial Board on Senate District 23:
“Cruz…knows the issues well…”
“Sean Cruz, who has served as (Senator) Gordly's legislative aide and chief of staff for the past five years…is qualified for the job. He knows the issues that are important in the district, and he certainly knows how things get done in the Legislature. Most notably, he persuaded Gordly to push legislation, called ‘Aaron's Law,’ that gives families tools to punish parents for the crime of child abduction. “
===========================
Friday, May 23, 2008
The race for Senate District 23 is still unsettled
Portland, Oregon—
I have received several email communications in the past few days suggesting that my write-in campaign is about being a sore loser, but that’s not the case at all.
I stated from the beginning that my campaign to win the Senate District 23 seat representing NE and SE Portland neighborhoods and the City of Maywood Park would be unconventional and web-based.
I didn’t get much more specific about my plans than that, even with my campaign steering committee, but I was thinking about ways in which technology was evolving, moving opportunity in ways the party structure and other traditional gatekeepers could not control.
I disclosed the post-primary write-in phase of the campaign to just a few people, and to them only a couple of weeks before May 20.
My premise is that, in the wired world, citizens can overcome the advantages career politicians have at every point in the process, and reach directly to the “Write in” blank that is printed in every race on every ballot.
One of the chief factors causing undervoting and voter lethargy (both of which help keep incumbents in power) is single-candidate “races.”
They have ballots like that in Cuba and North Korea, too, and in the old Soviet Union.
“Totalitarian systems depend on a monopoly of information and force (and political opportunity—sc).” –Thomas L. Friedman, The World is Flat
The gatekeepers want to limit the voters’ choices in Senate District 23 to a single name, and I say that is no choice at all.
The cost of getting a name out there has been the single most important barrier to effective write-in campaigns, but that obstacle is falling like the Berlin Wall.
Oregon is possibly the best place in the nation to test out my theory, with its mail-in ballots that are like an open book test, and an electorate largely unaffiliated with any political party, increasingly computer literate and comfortable with searching out information individually.
This is really scary to the party functionaries, the special interests and the lobbyists, bent on promoting from within.
As a resident of Senate District 23 and House District 45, which are both getting a new legislator in 2009, I am offended that there was no public debate or forum throughout the entire primary period that addressed the voters’ choices.
The fact is, incumbents don’t want debates or forums with challengers. The more they can ride out the election with name familiarity alone, the less likely an upset will ensue.
Here we are, four days after the election, and there has still been nothing in the media, no analysis at all, about any of the contested East side legislative races.
We had months of buffoonery in the Portland City races, much of it fueled by public dollars, but no thoughtful discourse on the election of two state senators and two state representatives on the East side.
I styled the Primary stage of my campaign after Muhammed Ali’s famous Rope-a-Dope strategy, which won him the Heavyweight championship over a heavily-favored George Foreman in his prime.
I took a fearful beating from the Dingfelder-Gainer machine, an opponent with the relentless determination of the Terminator's nemesis, but I knew it was coming, and I knew it would end. Eventually, we would get to the issues that matter to the voters in Senate District 23.
Technology makes this possible, its low cost and its infinite reach.
Phase II, post-Primary, is also styled after Muhammed Ali: “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee,” all the way to the November General Election.
I have a great deal of information to share with the voters over the coming months, lots to talk about, lots of light to shed.
None of the several people who wrote in complaining about Phase II is a resident of Senate District 23, which brings us to an interesting point for further discussion: most of the Dingfelder supporters and endorsers in the primary weren’t residents of the district either.
What unfolded was a by-the-book machine-politics campaign led by a small group of insiders, some with motives that have nothing to do with the district, most of whom live elsewhere. Plenty to talk about here, too.
I intend to demonstrate that a write-in campaign is feasible in Oregon. I may or may not be successful in my race for Senate District 23. We won’t have the answer to that until November, but if my race inspires other citizens to step up and take on the machine, then it will have been worth the effort.
--Sean Cruz, May 23, 2008
========
The Oregonian Editorial Board on Senate District 23:
“Cruz…knows the issues well…”
“Sean Cruz, who has served as (Senator) Gordly's legislative aide and chief of staff for the past five years…is qualified for the job. He knows the issues that are important in the district, and he certainly knows how things get done in the Legislature. Most notably, he persuaded Gordly to push legislation, called ‘Aaron's Law,’ that gives families tools to punish parents for the crime of child abduction. “
I have received several email communications in the past few days suggesting that my write-in campaign is about being a sore loser, but that’s not the case at all.
I stated from the beginning that my campaign to win the Senate District 23 seat representing NE and SE Portland neighborhoods and the City of Maywood Park would be unconventional and web-based.
I didn’t get much more specific about my plans than that, even with my campaign steering committee, but I was thinking about ways in which technology was evolving, moving opportunity in ways the party structure and other traditional gatekeepers could not control.
I disclosed the post-primary write-in phase of the campaign to just a few people, and to them only a couple of weeks before May 20.
My premise is that, in the wired world, citizens can overcome the advantages career politicians have at every point in the process, and reach directly to the “Write in” blank that is printed in every race on every ballot.
One of the chief factors causing undervoting and voter lethargy (both of which help keep incumbents in power) is single-candidate “races.”
They have ballots like that in Cuba and North Korea, too, and in the old Soviet Union.
“Totalitarian systems depend on a monopoly of information and force (and political opportunity—sc).” –Thomas L. Friedman, The World is Flat
The gatekeepers want to limit the voters’ choices in Senate District 23 to a single name, and I say that is no choice at all.
The cost of getting a name out there has been the single most important barrier to effective write-in campaigns, but that obstacle is falling like the Berlin Wall.
Oregon is possibly the best place in the nation to test out my theory, with its mail-in ballots that are like an open book test, and an electorate largely unaffiliated with any political party, increasingly computer literate and comfortable with searching out information individually.
This is really scary to the party functionaries, the special interests and the lobbyists, bent on promoting from within.
As a resident of Senate District 23 and House District 45, which are both getting a new legislator in 2009, I am offended that there was no public debate or forum throughout the entire primary period that addressed the voters’ choices.
The fact is, incumbents don’t want debates or forums with challengers. The more they can ride out the election with name familiarity alone, the less likely an upset will ensue.
Here we are, four days after the election, and there has still been nothing in the media, no analysis at all, about any of the contested East side legislative races.
We had months of buffoonery in the Portland City races, much of it fueled by public dollars, but no thoughtful discourse on the election of two state senators and two state representatives on the East side.
I styled the Primary stage of my campaign after Muhammed Ali’s famous Rope-a-Dope strategy, which won him the Heavyweight championship over a heavily-favored George Foreman in his prime.
I took a fearful beating from the Dingfelder-Gainer machine, an opponent with the relentless determination of the Terminator's nemesis, but I knew it was coming, and I knew it would end. Eventually, we would get to the issues that matter to the voters in Senate District 23.
Technology makes this possible, its low cost and its infinite reach.
Phase II, post-Primary, is also styled after Muhammed Ali: “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee,” all the way to the November General Election.
I have a great deal of information to share with the voters over the coming months, lots to talk about, lots of light to shed.
None of the several people who wrote in complaining about Phase II is a resident of Senate District 23, which brings us to an interesting point for further discussion: most of the Dingfelder supporters and endorsers in the primary weren’t residents of the district either.
What unfolded was a by-the-book machine-politics campaign led by a small group of insiders, some with motives that have nothing to do with the district, most of whom live elsewhere. Plenty to talk about here, too.
I intend to demonstrate that a write-in campaign is feasible in Oregon. I may or may not be successful in my race for Senate District 23. We won’t have the answer to that until November, but if my race inspires other citizens to step up and take on the machine, then it will have been worth the effort.
--Sean Cruz, May 23, 2008
========
The Oregonian Editorial Board on Senate District 23:
“Cruz…knows the issues well…”
“Sean Cruz, who has served as (Senator) Gordly's legislative aide and chief of staff for the past five years…is qualified for the job. He knows the issues that are important in the district, and he certainly knows how things get done in the Legislature. Most notably, he persuaded Gordly to push legislation, called ‘Aaron's Law,’ that gives families tools to punish parents for the crime of child abduction. “
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
When candidates can't lose, we all do
Portland, Oregon--The Oregonian printed an article from the Washington Post on May 5, titled “When candidates can’t lose, we all do,” that explored the lack of competition in Congressional races.
The piece was written by Bruce Reed, President of the Democratic Leadership Council and Marc Dunkelman, the Council’s Vice President for Strategy and Communication.
The points the authors make apply directly to the Oregon legislature and the current campaign season, witness the following excerpts with substitutions:
“Competition and democracy go hand in hand…But real competition is still a rare commodity in the (Oregon legislature).”
“The relative comfort that most members of (the Oregon legislature) enjoy…diminishes the power voters can exert over the agenda in (Salem). When members can’t lose, voters do—because it takes the pressure off (the legislature) to get the job done.”
“Besides letting members off the hook for failing to do the people’s business, noncompetitive districts also suppress voter participation. Elections where the outcome is assumed from the start receive less media attention. Candidates do not feel as compelled to make their cases to the public. And voters aren’t stupid: When the outcome is essentially predetermined, there’s less reason to cast a ballot.”
“With (Oregonians) disillusioned by (Salem’s) seeming inability to move beyond the partisan divide that has poisoned the spirit of compromise, reducing the influence of special interests may be only part of the solution. If we want more (Oregonians) to participate in their democracy, we should make sure more of them have an opportunity to affect the outcome of the campaign for their local seat (in the Oregon Senate).”
The May 20 Democratic Primary drew record numbers of voters, but not as a result of any of the legislative races, of which most were uncontested.
Many insiders and the mainstream media regarded Senate District 23 as such a foregone conclusion that no real opportunities arose for the candidates to engage in public debates or forums, even though there were many clear differences in priorities between the candidates and important issues were on the table.
The public has no right to criticize a legislature that is selected under these conditions, and no reason to expect much to change.
“Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.”
Fortunately, for the voters of Senate District 23, there will still be an opportunity to make a choice between qualified candidates in November.
Technology is making hierarchies flatter and gatekeepers less effective at controlling the process.
They will not loosen their collective grip willingly.
When the general election ballots arrive, voters will have a choice in many races of either checking the box for the sole candidate (like in the former Soviet Union), or they may exercise their right to write in the name of the candidate of their choice.
Between now and then, I will continue to post my comments on the issues and look for opportunities to speak to voters, especially about the issues that never got an airing in the primary process.
Here’s one: both candidates for Senate District 23 are strong supporters of investments in education, but only Sean Cruz has announced his support for the multimillion dollar bond measure that Portland Community College will put before the voters in the fall.
This is a crucial matter for Senate District 23, its PCC SE campus and the neighborhoods it serves, but the subject never came up.
Many insiders had their minds made up on the race a year ago, when there was only one candidate. Many were already pledged to support her campaign.
They had no incentive to promote speaking opportunities that would offer a platform for an opponent.
Most weren’t residents of Senate District 23 either, and the special interest endorsement people were deaf to the issues specific to the district.
The World Wide Web can fix some of that, and over time it will fix much more.
Meanwhile, the campaign will move into Write-in mode.
More comments on the way.
--Sean Cruz
The piece was written by Bruce Reed, President of the Democratic Leadership Council and Marc Dunkelman, the Council’s Vice President for Strategy and Communication.
The points the authors make apply directly to the Oregon legislature and the current campaign season, witness the following excerpts with substitutions:
“Competition and democracy go hand in hand…But real competition is still a rare commodity in the (Oregon legislature).”
“The relative comfort that most members of (the Oregon legislature) enjoy…diminishes the power voters can exert over the agenda in (Salem). When members can’t lose, voters do—because it takes the pressure off (the legislature) to get the job done.”
“Besides letting members off the hook for failing to do the people’s business, noncompetitive districts also suppress voter participation. Elections where the outcome is assumed from the start receive less media attention. Candidates do not feel as compelled to make their cases to the public. And voters aren’t stupid: When the outcome is essentially predetermined, there’s less reason to cast a ballot.”
“With (Oregonians) disillusioned by (Salem’s) seeming inability to move beyond the partisan divide that has poisoned the spirit of compromise, reducing the influence of special interests may be only part of the solution. If we want more (Oregonians) to participate in their democracy, we should make sure more of them have an opportunity to affect the outcome of the campaign for their local seat (in the Oregon Senate).”
The May 20 Democratic Primary drew record numbers of voters, but not as a result of any of the legislative races, of which most were uncontested.
Many insiders and the mainstream media regarded Senate District 23 as such a foregone conclusion that no real opportunities arose for the candidates to engage in public debates or forums, even though there were many clear differences in priorities between the candidates and important issues were on the table.
The public has no right to criticize a legislature that is selected under these conditions, and no reason to expect much to change.
“Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.”
Fortunately, for the voters of Senate District 23, there will still be an opportunity to make a choice between qualified candidates in November.
Technology is making hierarchies flatter and gatekeepers less effective at controlling the process.
They will not loosen their collective grip willingly.
When the general election ballots arrive, voters will have a choice in many races of either checking the box for the sole candidate (like in the former Soviet Union), or they may exercise their right to write in the name of the candidate of their choice.
Between now and then, I will continue to post my comments on the issues and look for opportunities to speak to voters, especially about the issues that never got an airing in the primary process.
Here’s one: both candidates for Senate District 23 are strong supporters of investments in education, but only Sean Cruz has announced his support for the multimillion dollar bond measure that Portland Community College will put before the voters in the fall.
This is a crucial matter for Senate District 23, its PCC SE campus and the neighborhoods it serves, but the subject never came up.
Many insiders had their minds made up on the race a year ago, when there was only one candidate. Many were already pledged to support her campaign.
They had no incentive to promote speaking opportunities that would offer a platform for an opponent.
Most weren’t residents of Senate District 23 either, and the special interest endorsement people were deaf to the issues specific to the district.
The World Wide Web can fix some of that, and over time it will fix much more.
Meanwhile, the campaign will move into Write-in mode.
More comments on the way.
--Sean Cruz
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Voter-Owned Democracy, part 8: In a wired world, the end zone is now the 50-yard line
Portland, Oregon—
“The era of top-down politics—where campaigns, institutions and journalism were cloistered communities powered by hard-to-amass capital—is over. Something wilder, more engaging and infinitely more satisfying to individual participants is arising alongside the old order.” –Micah L. Sifry, The Nation, Nov 2004
Oregon residents will find themselves on the cutting edge of the transformational politics a wired world enables in this 2008 campaign season, the birth of a new Direct Democracy.
In the Old Order, the party system, the lobbyists and the special interest PACs combine to produce a favored candidate, such as my opponent, Jackie Dingfelder in Senate District 23.
New voices have little opportunity to succeed against a sitting legislator, and so few even take a run at it.
When I took this race on, I knew that none of the special interests, none of the lobbyists, would oppose a sitting legislator, particularly not one with the single-minded determination of my opponent.
Among members of the public, the Oregon Legislature has only a 30% approval rating, but among the lobbyists, a sitting legislator is the key to the bread and butter, the bacon and the thousand-dollar shoes.
Going into the campaign, I knew about the 30% approval rating, the fact that the voters want change, and—most crucially for a campaign like this—70% of Portland voters are wired, and are thus capable of getting past the gatekeepers and making decisions independently (not that they will).
Oregon’s mail-in balloting system is the other factor that makes a write-in campaign entirely feasible in the 2008 election cycle, kind of like an open book test with more than two weeks to fill in the answers.
The stage is set then, for a transformational change in campaign finance and election reform and Senate District 23 will be the first opportunity to test a new paradigm in Direct Democracy.
The party primaries are now the 50-yard line of electoral politics, and the traditional gatekeepers aren’t going to like it one bit.
The general public in Senate District 23 had few opportunities to gain an understanding of the choice before them, between two well-qualified but differently-qualified candidates.
There were no meaningful debates or public forums in Senate District 23 during the course of the entire primary race. I had a five-minute speaking opportunity in March and two minutes each in April and May.
The subjects of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and of veterans and military families’ issues never came up.
None of the special interests represented veterans or the people paying the price in Iraq and Afghanistan.
None of the special interest endorsement groups that interviewed me ever wondered at all about issues specific to Senate District 23.
In House District 45, the northern half of Senate District 23, which was going to have both a new State Representative and a new State Senator in 2008, no public forum or debate addressing the fact was held at all.
If this is the way you are going to choose a legislator, then you have no business criticizing the legislature afterwards.
Fortunately, in the New Order, the party primaries are not the last word.
The May 20 Democratic Primary will not represent the End of Choice in Senate District 23.
Now we move into Write-In Mode, and we will celebrate the end of the Old Order in November.
More on this later.
---Sean Cruz
Rex says, “Arf! Woof! Arf!”
“The era of top-down politics—where campaigns, institutions and journalism were cloistered communities powered by hard-to-amass capital—is over. Something wilder, more engaging and infinitely more satisfying to individual participants is arising alongside the old order.” –Micah L. Sifry, The Nation, Nov 2004
Oregon residents will find themselves on the cutting edge of the transformational politics a wired world enables in this 2008 campaign season, the birth of a new Direct Democracy.
In the Old Order, the party system, the lobbyists and the special interest PACs combine to produce a favored candidate, such as my opponent, Jackie Dingfelder in Senate District 23.
New voices have little opportunity to succeed against a sitting legislator, and so few even take a run at it.
When I took this race on, I knew that none of the special interests, none of the lobbyists, would oppose a sitting legislator, particularly not one with the single-minded determination of my opponent.
Among members of the public, the Oregon Legislature has only a 30% approval rating, but among the lobbyists, a sitting legislator is the key to the bread and butter, the bacon and the thousand-dollar shoes.
Going into the campaign, I knew about the 30% approval rating, the fact that the voters want change, and—most crucially for a campaign like this—70% of Portland voters are wired, and are thus capable of getting past the gatekeepers and making decisions independently (not that they will).
Oregon’s mail-in balloting system is the other factor that makes a write-in campaign entirely feasible in the 2008 election cycle, kind of like an open book test with more than two weeks to fill in the answers.
The stage is set then, for a transformational change in campaign finance and election reform and Senate District 23 will be the first opportunity to test a new paradigm in Direct Democracy.
The party primaries are now the 50-yard line of electoral politics, and the traditional gatekeepers aren’t going to like it one bit.
The general public in Senate District 23 had few opportunities to gain an understanding of the choice before them, between two well-qualified but differently-qualified candidates.
There were no meaningful debates or public forums in Senate District 23 during the course of the entire primary race. I had a five-minute speaking opportunity in March and two minutes each in April and May.
The subjects of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and of veterans and military families’ issues never came up.
None of the special interests represented veterans or the people paying the price in Iraq and Afghanistan.
None of the special interest endorsement groups that interviewed me ever wondered at all about issues specific to Senate District 23.
In House District 45, the northern half of Senate District 23, which was going to have both a new State Representative and a new State Senator in 2008, no public forum or debate addressing the fact was held at all.
If this is the way you are going to choose a legislator, then you have no business criticizing the legislature afterwards.
Fortunately, in the New Order, the party primaries are not the last word.
The May 20 Democratic Primary will not represent the End of Choice in Senate District 23.
Now we move into Write-In Mode, and we will celebrate the end of the Old Order in November.
---Sean Cruz
Rex says, “Arf! Woof! Arf!”
Who will win tonight, the Gatekeepers or you?
Portland Democrat voters want change and they want a choice.
Oregon State Senate District 23 offers voters a real choice and an opportunity to either set change in motion with the election of Sean Cruz, or to move a House chair 500 feet to the east by voting for Jackie Dingfelder.
Voters can choose between the candidate produced by the Establishment, with all the Gatekeepers that keep the System in place all lined up in one camp.
Or they can vote beyond the Gatekeepers, and make a move for real election reform by sending Sean Cruz to serve in the Oregon Senate.
Sean Cruz solicited no PAC or special interest money or endorsements.
You can send a clear message to all that you are serious about change, and by electing Sean Cruz you will inspire other potential candidates to take on the Gatekeepers and move real change forward.
================
The Oregonian Editorial Board on Senate District 23:
“Cruz…knows the issues well…”
“Sean Cruz, who has served as (Senator) Gordly's legislative aide and chief of staff for the past five years…is qualified for the job. He knows the issues that are important in the district, and he certainly knows how things get done in the Legislature. Most notably, he persuaded Gordly to push legislation, called ‘Aaron's Law,’ that gives families tools to punish parents for the crime of child abduction. “
===========================
Ridenbaugh Press on Senate District 23:
As in many of these primary districts, issues here aren’t distinctly philosophical: The 23rd is a solidly liberal Democratic district, and both contenders fit well within that framework.
But they are insiders of two distinctly different stripes.
Dingfelder, a four-term state representative from this area, would have to be considered the establishment choice, getting the larger share of endorsements and contributions.
But Cruz is not an outsider, either; he is retiring Senator Gordly’s Chief of Staff, is well informed, has her support and the support of her backers.
His campaign has hit rough patches but may also be more interesting to some of the primary voters.
Cruz is edgier; Dingfelder more easy-going. You have to figure the edge is with Dingfelder, but bear in mind that central Portland doesn’t always go the conventional route.
http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2008/05/03/or-the-legislative-primaries-seven-picks/#more-1691
Oregon State Senate District 23 offers voters a real choice and an opportunity to either set change in motion with the election of Sean Cruz, or to move a House chair 500 feet to the east by voting for Jackie Dingfelder.
Voters can choose between the candidate produced by the Establishment, with all the Gatekeepers that keep the System in place all lined up in one camp.
Or they can vote beyond the Gatekeepers, and make a move for real election reform by sending Sean Cruz to serve in the Oregon Senate.
Sean Cruz solicited no PAC or special interest money or endorsements.
You can send a clear message to all that you are serious about change, and by electing Sean Cruz you will inspire other potential candidates to take on the Gatekeepers and move real change forward.
================
The Oregonian Editorial Board on Senate District 23:
“Cruz…knows the issues well…”
“Sean Cruz, who has served as (Senator) Gordly's legislative aide and chief of staff for the past five years…is qualified for the job. He knows the issues that are important in the district, and he certainly knows how things get done in the Legislature. Most notably, he persuaded Gordly to push legislation, called ‘Aaron's Law,’ that gives families tools to punish parents for the crime of child abduction. “
===========================
Ridenbaugh Press on Senate District 23:
As in many of these primary districts, issues here aren’t distinctly philosophical: The 23rd is a solidly liberal Democratic district, and both contenders fit well within that framework.
But they are insiders of two distinctly different stripes.
Dingfelder, a four-term state representative from this area, would have to be considered the establishment choice, getting the larger share of endorsements and contributions.
But Cruz is not an outsider, either; he is retiring Senator Gordly’s Chief of Staff, is well informed, has her support and the support of her backers.
His campaign has hit rough patches but may also be more interesting to some of the primary voters.
Cruz is edgier; Dingfelder more easy-going. You have to figure the edge is with Dingfelder, but bear in mind that central Portland doesn’t always go the conventional route.
http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2008/05/03/or-the-legislative-primaries-seven-picks/#more-1691
Monday, May 19, 2008
Portland election night celebration for Senate District 23
The Sean Cruz for Senate District 23 campaign will celebrate our victory over The Establishment and the gatekeepers in NOVEMBER, when it counts.
Our goals include seats on the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and on a new Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.
From these key Senate committees, I will work directly on expanding the Oregon Health Plan, on mental health, on services for veterans and their families, on taking up Senator Gordly’s championship for our most vulnerable Oregonians.
Some candidates for pubic office seem to believe that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are happening to Other People, Elsewhere, on TV, and that dealing with issues related to the wars is not part of an Oregon State Senator’s job description.
We know differently.
None of the special interests and PACs that have weighed in on the race for Senate District 23 had veterans or war-related issues on their priority lists.
I had to bring the subject up myself in every interview.
There was no debate or forum during the campaign that addressed Iraq, Afghanistan, or the prices our veterans and their families are paying.
That pretty much tells you that they are OK with the sacrifice, with the rates of loss, of injury and death. Someone else’s problem.
I will fight every day for our veterans and military families, working to repair the damage the Bush Administration’s catastrophic policies have inflicted on the Nation.
I look forward to opportunities to speak to the issues that matter most to the constituents of Senate District 23 as the summer unfolds.
Our goals include seats on the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and on a new Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.
From these key Senate committees, I will work directly on expanding the Oregon Health Plan, on mental health, on services for veterans and their families, on taking up Senator Gordly’s championship for our most vulnerable Oregonians.
Some candidates for pubic office seem to believe that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are happening to Other People, Elsewhere, on TV, and that dealing with issues related to the wars is not part of an Oregon State Senator’s job description.
We know differently.
None of the special interests and PACs that have weighed in on the race for Senate District 23 had veterans or war-related issues on their priority lists.
I had to bring the subject up myself in every interview.
There was no debate or forum during the campaign that addressed Iraq, Afghanistan, or the prices our veterans and their families are paying.
That pretty much tells you that they are OK with the sacrifice, with the rates of loss, of injury and death. Someone else’s problem.
I will fight every day for our veterans and military families, working to repair the damage the Bush Administration’s catastrophic policies have inflicted on the Nation.
I look forward to opportunities to speak to the issues that matter most to the constituents of Senate District 23 as the summer unfolds.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Sean Cruz for Senate campaign at NAMI Walk and Barack Obama rally
Portland, Oregon— With my friend Tyrone Waters, we took the campaign to succeed Avel Gordly in the Oregon Senate to the NAMI Walk, and then to join forces with the Barack Obama campaign at the waterfront, 75,000 strong.
“Vote the Obama – Cruz ticket,” the throng shouted, over and over, building to a fever pitch by the time the next President of the United States took the stage.
At one point, he divided the crowd into two halves and led a chant, “Barack Obama” from one half, “Sean Cruz” from the other.
I have to admit, his half was louder than mine, but his name has more syllables.
Bob Joondeph of the Oregon Advocacy Center took these two photos.
In other campaign news, Rex got his summer cut, and here’s a couple of photos of Haircut Boy at Forest Park on Friday:
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Oregon Senate District 23 voters have a real choice on May 20
By Sean Cruz, Democrat
Portland, Oregon—
I have prepared for this job for more than five years, serving you as Senator Avel Gordly’s chief of staff.
I have coordinated Senator Gordly’s statewide Mental Health Caucus for years, and I am fully aware of the scope of work we have before us to replace the Oregon State Hospital, to provide for our most vulnerable Oregonians, to address the needs of our aging population, and in the face of another recession.
I was my elderly and fragile mother’s sole caregiver, before she needed full-time skilled care.
I am running to take the seat on the Senate Health and Human Services Committee that my mentor Senator Gordly is vacating, because we know that the work is not done. The People are hurting.
Access to health care must not be by a lottery system, and not exclusively through the emergency room. I will fight for the restoration of the Oregon Health Plan.
I am calling for the appointment of a new Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, to work jointly with the House Veteran’s Affairs Committee to address the urgent needs of our veterans and their families, and I will serve there as well.
I have sought no special interest endorsements or contributions for this campaign, relying instead on a record of service to the constituents of Senate District 23, the reach of the World Wide Web, and the contributions of a small network of supporters.
I put my own house payment into the campaign, twice.
I believe that the cause is urgent, and that I am the better choice among two differently-qualified candidates.
Now I need your help.
I need your vote.
I need you to pass this message along to your network, and them to theirs. This is how we defeat the gatekeepers and reform the political process at the same time.
And I need your financial contribution.
Donate online here: www.actblue.com
Send me to Salem!!!
Here are the links to my sites:
Blogolitical Sean:
www.BlogoliticalSean.blogspot.com
Sean Cruz for Senate District 23:
www.seancruz.com
Senate District 23:
www.leg.state.or.us/gordly
-------------------------------
The Oregonian Editorial Board on Senate District 23:
“Cruz…knows the issues well…”
“Sean Cruz, who has served as (Senator) Gordly's legislative aide and chief of staff for the past five years…is qualified for the job. He knows the issues that are important in the district, and he certainly knows how things get done in the Legislature. Most notably, he persuaded Gordly to push legislation, called ‘Aaron's Law,’ that gives families tools to punish parents for the crime of child abduction. “
===========================
Ridenbaugh Press on Senate District 23:
As in many of these primary districts, issues here aren’t distinctly philosophical: The 23rd is a solidly liberal Democratic district, and both contenders fit well within that framework.
But they are insiders of two distinctly different stripes.
Dingfelder, a four-term state representative from this area, would have to be considered the establishment choice, getting the larger share of endorsements and contributions.
But Cruz is not an outsider, either; he is retiring Senator Gordly’s Chief of Staff, is well informed, has her support and the support of her backers.
His campaign has hit rough patches but may also be more interesting to some of the primary voters.
Cruz is edgier; Dingfelder more easy-going. You have to figure the edge is with Dingfelder, but bear in mind that central Portland doesn’t always go the conventional route.
http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2008/05/03/or-the-legislative-primaries-seven-picks/#more-1691
Portland, Oregon—
I have prepared for this job for more than five years, serving you as Senator Avel Gordly’s chief of staff.
I have coordinated Senator Gordly’s statewide Mental Health Caucus for years, and I am fully aware of the scope of work we have before us to replace the Oregon State Hospital, to provide for our most vulnerable Oregonians, to address the needs of our aging population, and in the face of another recession.
I was my elderly and fragile mother’s sole caregiver, before she needed full-time skilled care.
I am running to take the seat on the Senate Health and Human Services Committee that my mentor Senator Gordly is vacating, because we know that the work is not done. The People are hurting.
Access to health care must not be by a lottery system, and not exclusively through the emergency room. I will fight for the restoration of the Oregon Health Plan.
I am calling for the appointment of a new Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, to work jointly with the House Veteran’s Affairs Committee to address the urgent needs of our veterans and their families, and I will serve there as well.
I have sought no special interest endorsements or contributions for this campaign, relying instead on a record of service to the constituents of Senate District 23, the reach of the World Wide Web, and the contributions of a small network of supporters.
I put my own house payment into the campaign, twice.
I believe that the cause is urgent, and that I am the better choice among two differently-qualified candidates.
Now I need your help.
I need your vote.
I need you to pass this message along to your network, and them to theirs. This is how we defeat the gatekeepers and reform the political process at the same time.
And I need your financial contribution.
Donate online here: www.actblue.com
Send me to Salem!!!
Here are the links to my sites:
Blogolitical Sean:
www.BlogoliticalSean.blogspot.com
Sean Cruz for Senate District 23:
www.seancruz.com
Senate District 23:
www.leg.state.or.us/gordly
-------------------------------
The Oregonian Editorial Board on Senate District 23:
“Cruz…knows the issues well…”
“Sean Cruz, who has served as (Senator) Gordly's legislative aide and chief of staff for the past five years…is qualified for the job. He knows the issues that are important in the district, and he certainly knows how things get done in the Legislature. Most notably, he persuaded Gordly to push legislation, called ‘Aaron's Law,’ that gives families tools to punish parents for the crime of child abduction. “
===========================
Ridenbaugh Press on Senate District 23:
As in many of these primary districts, issues here aren’t distinctly philosophical: The 23rd is a solidly liberal Democratic district, and both contenders fit well within that framework.
But they are insiders of two distinctly different stripes.
Dingfelder, a four-term state representative from this area, would have to be considered the establishment choice, getting the larger share of endorsements and contributions.
But Cruz is not an outsider, either; he is retiring Senator Gordly’s Chief of Staff, is well informed, has her support and the support of her backers.
His campaign has hit rough patches but may also be more interesting to some of the primary voters.
Cruz is edgier; Dingfelder more easy-going. You have to figure the edge is with Dingfelder, but bear in mind that central Portland doesn’t always go the conventional route.
http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2008/05/03/or-the-legislative-primaries-seven-picks/#more-1691
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Across Oregon, the People are hurting
Portland, Oregon--
In Multnomah County, in Senate District 23, the People are hurting.
In House District 45 and House District 46, the People are hurting.
In Multnomah County, more than 92,000 people are receiving food stamps, many in allotments that last for one trip to the grocery store. The People are hurting.
Nearly 6,000 Multnomah County “households” receiving food stamps report they are homeless. On the average, their monthly food stamp allotment (for 1.1 persons) is $155. The People are hurting.
More than 15,000 Multnomah County households receiving food stamps report zero income. The average allotment is $214 for 1.5 persons. The People are hurting.
Food pantries and the Oregon Food Bank warehouse cannot keep pace.
Rising prices for fuel and food are creating a worldwide hunger crisis.
The People are hurting, and the work is hard.
Many thousands of our constituents lack access to affordable health care. Many thousands more lack access to dental care.
Oregon has a dual lottery system now, one so a few thousand can gain access to the Oregon Health Plan, a fraction of those in need, and one that concentrates millions of dollars into the hands of one lucky winner.
Is there no limit to the shame?
The People are hurting, and the work is hard.
And it is the poor children, the poorest of the poor, left out of Head Start and early education programs.
In the last recession, Oregon legislators cut services to seniors and people living with disabilities. Our most vulnerable populations lost housing, lost employment, lost services, took unconscionable cuts to Oregon Project Independence, and the death rate among the elderly soared.
The cuts fell with particular cruelty on the frailest, the most fragile elderly, who were mostly women. There was testimony in 2003 before the Senate Health Committee that these ladies had outlived their husbands, their children, their entire families. When they were of working age, these women were full time homemakers, staying home and raising the kids.
If they worked, they were generally paid less than men for equivalent work.
So here they were, in 2003, and the state was cutting off their housing, and the stress alone caused many to die.
You had to be in the committee room to hear this testimony and see the ladies in their wheelchairs and walkers, some asleep during the hearing.
The People are hurting, the work is hard, and there is much more work to do.
You cannot do this work from the Senate Environmental and Natural Resources Committee.
You have to be in the room, working directly on the issues, working directly on finding solutions, easing pain and suffering, coming in close contact with pain and suffering.
Not every legislator is up to that task. You have to be cut from a very special bolt of cloth to serve on a legislative health policy committee.
Avel Gordly devoted 16 years of her life to standing in the gap for Oregon’s underserved populations in a stellar, historic legislative career. The Senate is losing its “conscience,” its champion for the people at the bottom, for the People who are hurting the most.
Senator Gordly’s departure leaves a vacancy on the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, and that is where I will serve, working where the People are hurting the most.
I have had the great good fortune to work for and learn from one of Oregon’s great public servants, one of the great ladies of our state and of our time.
With Senator Avel Gordly’s retirement, Oregon loses its most tireless and effective champion for underserved populations, for seniors and people with disabilities, for those living with mental illness, for access to health care, for children and families who have fallen through the cracks in the system, for justice for every person, and for taking principled, straightforward stands simply because it is the right thing to do.
I will commit myself to living up to her legacy and do my very best to honor her confidence in me in my service to you.
Sean Cruz, May 15, 2008
--------------------------------
Send me to Salem!!!
Here are the links to my sites:
Blogolitical Sean:
www.BlogoliticalSean.blogspot.com
Sean Cruz for Senate District 23:
www.seancruz.com
Senate District 23:
www.leg.state.or.us/gordly
------------------------------------------
The Oregonian Editorial Board on Senate District 23:
“Cruz…knows the issues well…”
“Sean Cruz, who has served as (Senator) Gordly's legislative aide and chief of staff for the past five years…is qualified for the job. He knows the issues that are important in the district, and he certainly knows how things get done in the Legislature. Most notably, he persuaded Gordly to push legislation, called ‘Aaron's Law,’ that gives families tools to punish parents for the crime of child abduction. “
===========================
Ridenbaugh Press on Senate District 23:
As in many of these primary districts, issues here aren’t distinctly philosophical: The 23rd is a solidly liberal Democratic district, and both contenders fit well within that framework.
But they are insiders of two distinctly different stripes.
Dingfelder, a four-term state representative from this area, would have to be considered the establishment choice, getting the larger share of endorsements and contributions.
But Cruz is not an outsider, either; he is retiring Senator Gordly’s Chief of Staff, is well informed, has her support and the support of her backers.
His campaign has hit rough patches but may also be more interesting to some of the primary voters.
Cruz is edgier; Dingfelder more easy-going. You have to figure the edge is with Dingfelder, but bear in mind that central Portland doesn’t always go the conventional route.
http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2008/05/03/or-the-legislative-primaries-seven-picks/#more-1691
In Multnomah County, in Senate District 23, the People are hurting.
In House District 45 and House District 46, the People are hurting.
In Multnomah County, more than 92,000 people are receiving food stamps, many in allotments that last for one trip to the grocery store. The People are hurting.
Nearly 6,000 Multnomah County “households” receiving food stamps report they are homeless. On the average, their monthly food stamp allotment (for 1.1 persons) is $155. The People are hurting.
More than 15,000 Multnomah County households receiving food stamps report zero income. The average allotment is $214 for 1.5 persons. The People are hurting.
Food pantries and the Oregon Food Bank warehouse cannot keep pace.
Rising prices for fuel and food are creating a worldwide hunger crisis.
The People are hurting, and the work is hard.
Many thousands of our constituents lack access to affordable health care. Many thousands more lack access to dental care.
Oregon has a dual lottery system now, one so a few thousand can gain access to the Oregon Health Plan, a fraction of those in need, and one that concentrates millions of dollars into the hands of one lucky winner.
Is there no limit to the shame?
The People are hurting, and the work is hard.
And it is the poor children, the poorest of the poor, left out of Head Start and early education programs.
In the last recession, Oregon legislators cut services to seniors and people living with disabilities. Our most vulnerable populations lost housing, lost employment, lost services, took unconscionable cuts to Oregon Project Independence, and the death rate among the elderly soared.
The cuts fell with particular cruelty on the frailest, the most fragile elderly, who were mostly women. There was testimony in 2003 before the Senate Health Committee that these ladies had outlived their husbands, their children, their entire families. When they were of working age, these women were full time homemakers, staying home and raising the kids.
If they worked, they were generally paid less than men for equivalent work.
So here they were, in 2003, and the state was cutting off their housing, and the stress alone caused many to die.
You had to be in the committee room to hear this testimony and see the ladies in their wheelchairs and walkers, some asleep during the hearing.
The People are hurting, the work is hard, and there is much more work to do.
You cannot do this work from the Senate Environmental and Natural Resources Committee.
You have to be in the room, working directly on the issues, working directly on finding solutions, easing pain and suffering, coming in close contact with pain and suffering.
Not every legislator is up to that task. You have to be cut from a very special bolt of cloth to serve on a legislative health policy committee.
Avel Gordly devoted 16 years of her life to standing in the gap for Oregon’s underserved populations in a stellar, historic legislative career. The Senate is losing its “conscience,” its champion for the people at the bottom, for the People who are hurting the most.
Senator Gordly’s departure leaves a vacancy on the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, and that is where I will serve, working where the People are hurting the most.
I have had the great good fortune to work for and learn from one of Oregon’s great public servants, one of the great ladies of our state and of our time.
With Senator Avel Gordly’s retirement, Oregon loses its most tireless and effective champion for underserved populations, for seniors and people with disabilities, for those living with mental illness, for access to health care, for children and families who have fallen through the cracks in the system, for justice for every person, and for taking principled, straightforward stands simply because it is the right thing to do.
I will commit myself to living up to her legacy and do my very best to honor her confidence in me in my service to you.
Sean Cruz, May 15, 2008
--------------------------------
Send me to Salem!!!
Here are the links to my sites:
Blogolitical Sean:
www.BlogoliticalSean.blogspot.com
Sean Cruz for Senate District 23:
www.seancruz.com
Senate District 23:
www.leg.state.or.us/gordly
------------------------------------------
The Oregonian Editorial Board on Senate District 23:
“Cruz…knows the issues well…”
“Sean Cruz, who has served as (Senator) Gordly's legislative aide and chief of staff for the past five years…is qualified for the job. He knows the issues that are important in the district, and he certainly knows how things get done in the Legislature. Most notably, he persuaded Gordly to push legislation, called ‘Aaron's Law,’ that gives families tools to punish parents for the crime of child abduction. “
===========================
Ridenbaugh Press on Senate District 23:
As in many of these primary districts, issues here aren’t distinctly philosophical: The 23rd is a solidly liberal Democratic district, and both contenders fit well within that framework.
But they are insiders of two distinctly different stripes.
Dingfelder, a four-term state representative from this area, would have to be considered the establishment choice, getting the larger share of endorsements and contributions.
But Cruz is not an outsider, either; he is retiring Senator Gordly’s Chief of Staff, is well informed, has her support and the support of her backers.
His campaign has hit rough patches but may also be more interesting to some of the primary voters.
Cruz is edgier; Dingfelder more easy-going. You have to figure the edge is with Dingfelder, but bear in mind that central Portland doesn’t always go the conventional route.
http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2008/05/03/or-the-legislative-primaries-seven-picks/#more-1691
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Sean Cruz got towed and got even! So can you!!!
Portland, Oregon—
Retriever and Sergeant’s Towing BOTH towed my van out of my own driveway.
Both patrol towers claimed it was a mistake, as did the neighbor’s absentee landlord, Hacienda CDC, that hired them to patrol the property next door to my home, but not before Retriever broke my transmission.
Blogolitical Sean documents “Portland’s #1 Predatory Patrol Towing Horror Story” at the link below.
How did I get even?
In 2007, I kicked their asses from one end of the State Capitol to the other and back again with Senate Bill 116 and Senate Bill 431, earning unanimous votes in both chambers and on both sides of the aisle.
I led the workgroup that imposed regulations on the predatory patrol towing “industry” for the first time in the state’s history.
That’s why they are supporting my opponent, Jackie Dingfelder, in this race for Senate District 23.
But I’m not done yet, and you haven’t gotten even with the predatory patrol towers yet, so there is still unfinished business for all of us.
In recent weeks, Retriever made the news when their driver attempted to towjack the car of a lady parked in front of the main post office who had forgotten to display her disabled placard. She stood her ground in front of the tow truck, wouldn’t let the driver get away with it, until enough passersby, the police and television news cameras combined to force Retriever to let her car go.
Sergeants towed a wheelchair-equipped van from in front of McCall’s at Waterfront Park because it didn’t display a special “McCall’s” placard in addition to the disability notices on the vehicle.
Those McCall’s permits are real hard to get, since it’s been closed for more than a year.
The heart of the problem lies in the patrol towing system. Neither Retriever nor Sergeant’s pay their drivers a nickel in wages or benefits. It’s all commission based. That has to end.
The other end of the problem lies with the property owners that hire them (without actually paying anything for the "service"), that authorize predatory practices on their property, like Hacienda CDC, which authorized 155 tows from their 300 or so NE Cully neighborhood apartments in one year alone.
How affordable is that housing, really, when you add in the Tow Factor?
We gave the City of Portland and municipalities all across Oregon the power to change the equation with Senate Bill 116. They have yet to act.
With Senate Bill 431, we gave apartment dwellers new protections, protections for when Mom comes over for dinner and more.
Senate Bill 431 requires towers to post 24 hour notices before towing from private property, unless the vehicle is blocking a fire lane, or for other reasons that make some sense.
Senate Bill 431 bars patrol towers from towing simply because a vehicles tags are expired.
You can bet Retriever and Sergeants are unhappy about that one.
Senate Bill 431 requires landlords to provide each tenant with an actual rate sheet that shows what the costs will be in the event their vehicle is towed from the property, and to provide a new rate sheet whenever the dollar costs change.
Have you seen any of those yet? If you haven’t, your landlord is in violation of Senate Bill 431.
Senate Bill 431 requires patrol towers to post warning signs at every entrance to a parking lot, instead of behind a tree or wherever they can give their drivers an advantage or an excuse to tow.
This is why you see those signs all over the state, at the entrances to parking lots. We got that done with Senate Bill 431.
Cost them tens of thousands of dollars, you can bet on that.
But here we are, in campaign season, and you haven’t gotten even, and the towers and the landlords who authorize the predatory practices are still towjacking vehicles all over town.
I have unfinished business in the Oregon State Capitol, this time as an elected, representing Senate District 23 and its two House Districts, HD 45 and HD 46.
My van’s transmission is still broken. Both the towers and Hacienda CDC say it was a mistake, to trespass on my property like that and steal my vehicle, but none of them were responsible, they say.
Send me to Salem. I can promise you great fun in 2009, with opportunities to put your towing Horror Story on the record, and to participate in ending predatory patrol towing practices in the state of Oregon, once and for all.
Here are the links:
Blogolitical Sean:
www.BlogoliticalSean.blogspot.com
Portland’s #1 Predatory Patrol Towing Horror Story
http://patroltowing.blogspot.com/
Sean Cruz for Senate District 23
www.seancruz.com
------------------------------------------
The Oregonian Editorial Board on Senate District 23:
“Cruz…knows the issues well…”
“Sean Cruz, who has served as (Senator) Gordly's legislative aide and chief of staff for the past five years…is qualified for the job. He knows the issues that are important in the district, and he certainly knows how things get done in the Legislature. Most notably, he persuaded Gordly to push legislation, called ‘Aaron's Law,’ that gives families tools to punish parents for the crime of child abduction. “
===========================
Ridenbaugh Press on Senate District 23:
As in many of these primary districts, issues here aren’t distinctly philosophical: The 23rd is a solidly liberal Democratic district, and both contenders fit well within that framework.
But they are insiders of two distinctly different stripes.
Dingfelder, a four-term state representative from this area, would have to be considered the establishment choice, getting the larger share of endorsements and contributions.
But Cruz is not an outsider, either; he is retiring Senator Gordly’s Chief of Staff, is well informed, has her support and the support of her backers.
His campaign has hit rough patches but may also be more interesting to some of the primary voters.
Cruz is edgier; Dingfelder more easy-going. You have to figure the edge is with Dingfelder, but bear in mind that central Portland doesn’t always go the conventional route.
http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2008/05/03/or-the-legislative-primaries-seven-picks/#more-1691
Retriever and Sergeant’s Towing BOTH towed my van out of my own driveway.
Both patrol towers claimed it was a mistake, as did the neighbor’s absentee landlord, Hacienda CDC, that hired them to patrol the property next door to my home, but not before Retriever broke my transmission.
Blogolitical Sean documents “Portland’s #1 Predatory Patrol Towing Horror Story” at the link below.
How did I get even?
In 2007, I kicked their asses from one end of the State Capitol to the other and back again with Senate Bill 116 and Senate Bill 431, earning unanimous votes in both chambers and on both sides of the aisle.
I led the workgroup that imposed regulations on the predatory patrol towing “industry” for the first time in the state’s history.
That’s why they are supporting my opponent, Jackie Dingfelder, in this race for Senate District 23.
But I’m not done yet, and you haven’t gotten even with the predatory patrol towers yet, so there is still unfinished business for all of us.
In recent weeks, Retriever made the news when their driver attempted to towjack the car of a lady parked in front of the main post office who had forgotten to display her disabled placard. She stood her ground in front of the tow truck, wouldn’t let the driver get away with it, until enough passersby, the police and television news cameras combined to force Retriever to let her car go.
Sergeants towed a wheelchair-equipped van from in front of McCall’s at Waterfront Park because it didn’t display a special “McCall’s” placard in addition to the disability notices on the vehicle.
Those McCall’s permits are real hard to get, since it’s been closed for more than a year.
The heart of the problem lies in the patrol towing system. Neither Retriever nor Sergeant’s pay their drivers a nickel in wages or benefits. It’s all commission based. That has to end.
The other end of the problem lies with the property owners that hire them (without actually paying anything for the "service"), that authorize predatory practices on their property, like Hacienda CDC, which authorized 155 tows from their 300 or so NE Cully neighborhood apartments in one year alone.
How affordable is that housing, really, when you add in the Tow Factor?
We gave the City of Portland and municipalities all across Oregon the power to change the equation with Senate Bill 116. They have yet to act.
With Senate Bill 431, we gave apartment dwellers new protections, protections for when Mom comes over for dinner and more.
Senate Bill 431 requires towers to post 24 hour notices before towing from private property, unless the vehicle is blocking a fire lane, or for other reasons that make some sense.
Senate Bill 431 bars patrol towers from towing simply because a vehicles tags are expired.
You can bet Retriever and Sergeants are unhappy about that one.
Senate Bill 431 requires landlords to provide each tenant with an actual rate sheet that shows what the costs will be in the event their vehicle is towed from the property, and to provide a new rate sheet whenever the dollar costs change.
Have you seen any of those yet? If you haven’t, your landlord is in violation of Senate Bill 431.
Senate Bill 431 requires patrol towers to post warning signs at every entrance to a parking lot, instead of behind a tree or wherever they can give their drivers an advantage or an excuse to tow.
This is why you see those signs all over the state, at the entrances to parking lots. We got that done with Senate Bill 431.
Cost them tens of thousands of dollars, you can bet on that.
But here we are, in campaign season, and you haven’t gotten even, and the towers and the landlords who authorize the predatory practices are still towjacking vehicles all over town.
I have unfinished business in the Oregon State Capitol, this time as an elected, representing Senate District 23 and its two House Districts, HD 45 and HD 46.
My van’s transmission is still broken. Both the towers and Hacienda CDC say it was a mistake, to trespass on my property like that and steal my vehicle, but none of them were responsible, they say.
Send me to Salem. I can promise you great fun in 2009, with opportunities to put your towing Horror Story on the record, and to participate in ending predatory patrol towing practices in the state of Oregon, once and for all.
Here are the links:
Blogolitical Sean:
www.BlogoliticalSean.blogspot.com
Portland’s #1 Predatory Patrol Towing Horror Story
http://patroltowing.blogspot.com/
Sean Cruz for Senate District 23
www.seancruz.com
------------------------------------------
The Oregonian Editorial Board on Senate District 23:
“Cruz…knows the issues well…”
“Sean Cruz, who has served as (Senator) Gordly's legislative aide and chief of staff for the past five years…is qualified for the job. He knows the issues that are important in the district, and he certainly knows how things get done in the Legislature. Most notably, he persuaded Gordly to push legislation, called ‘Aaron's Law,’ that gives families tools to punish parents for the crime of child abduction. “
===========================
Ridenbaugh Press on Senate District 23:
As in many of these primary districts, issues here aren’t distinctly philosophical: The 23rd is a solidly liberal Democratic district, and both contenders fit well within that framework.
But they are insiders of two distinctly different stripes.
Dingfelder, a four-term state representative from this area, would have to be considered the establishment choice, getting the larger share of endorsements and contributions.
But Cruz is not an outsider, either; he is retiring Senator Gordly’s Chief of Staff, is well informed, has her support and the support of her backers.
His campaign has hit rough patches but may also be more interesting to some of the primary voters.
Cruz is edgier; Dingfelder more easy-going. You have to figure the edge is with Dingfelder, but bear in mind that central Portland doesn’t always go the conventional route.
http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2008/05/03/or-the-legislative-primaries-seven-picks/#more-1691
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Portland voters in House District 45, House District 46 and Senate District 23, NE and SE Portland, reflect the future of the state of Oregon
Senate District 23, made up of House Districts 45 and 46, reflects the future of Oregon more than any other district in the state.
This is the most diverse senate district in Oregon by every measure of income, race and ethnicity, with its new China Town emerging along the 82nd Avenue of Roses, and its International District along NE Sandy, with its high-income, its middle class and it’s low-income neighborhoods side by side.
More and more, the rest of Oregon will look like us, and we should take this opportunity in this Senate race to harness the strengths, the riches, the strong currents of change that our many cultures working together can bring forth. I am uniquely suited to carry our Senate District and our state forward as we adjust to who we are becoming.
Nearly every business located in Senate District 23 is a small business, and small businesses and the employment they offer are the backbone of the Oregon economy.
I see Portland Community College’s Southeast campus as the key to the long-term vitality of east Portland, providing training opportunities that lead to family wage jobs and serving as a critical civic hub that benefits the entire city and county.
But there are long waiting lists for these classes. The ESL, nursing and welding , First Responder (EMT) and other classes are long full, with only 1 in 8 nursing students able to get in, while rhe state faces the critical challenges of a nursing shortage and an aging population.
I fully support the bond measure that PCC will put before the voters in November, and I will champion investment in the entire pre-k through higher ed education continuum.
I will work to strengthen the links between PCC and its Marshall, Madison and Parkrose High feeder schools, using the guidance and resources made available with the passage of Senate Bill 300, Senator Gordly’s landmark Expanded Options bill, that provides opportunities for high school students to get on a college track by taking vocational or other academic courses not available in the high school .
I walk my dog daily through my Parkrose neighborhood, and as a Realtor, I am struck by the increasing number of homes for sale that lie vacant, each with its own story. I will work hard for you to increase state investments in affordable housing.
Cuts to the Oregon Health Plan hurt more residents of Senate District 23 than in any other senate district in the state, and I was among them.
My personal experience of homelessness, hunger, uninsured illness, and clinical depression, my experience as my elderly and fragile mother’s sole caregiver make me uniquely suited to address these issues in our community, and from the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, I will work hard to expand access to the Oregon Health Plan to cover the uninsured among us.
As the father of two Army National Guard soldiers first ordered deployed to Iraq more than five years ago, I am fully aware of the damage to our nation, our state and our community and the costs military families are paying in this longest and most mistaken war our nation has ever endured, a war that has cost me both of my sons.
The Oregon Senate has no counterpart to the House Veterans Affairs Committee, resulting in the stranding of important veterans and war-related bills.
I am calling for the establishment of a new Senate Veterans Affairs Committee to work jointly with the House, and I will serve there, ensuring that we are responding as a state to support these families in crisis.
Senate District 23 also has its own unique environmental challenges. There is noise and pollution from airport operations. Air quality is a serious concern for those of us who live near freeways and rail lines, which intersect the district in many places.
I have had the great good fortune to work for and learn from one of Oregon’s great public servants, one of the great ladies of our state and of our time.
With Senator Avel Gordly’s retirement, Oregon loses its most tireless and effective champion for underserved populations, for seniors and people with disabilities, for those living with mental illness, for access to health care, for children and families who have fallen through the cracks in the system, for justice for every person, and for taking principled, straightforward stands simply because it is the right thing to do.
I will commit myself to living up to her legacy and do my very best to honor her confidence in me in my service to you.
It’s not about me, it’s about you.
Sean Cruz
----------------------
The Oregonian Editorial Board on Senate District 23:
“Cruz…knows the issues well…”
“Sean Cruz, who has served as (Senator) Gordly's legislative aide and chief of staff for the past five years…is qualified for the job. He knows the issues that are important in the district, and he certainly knows how things get done in the Legislature. Most notably, he persuaded Gordly to push legislation, called ‘Aaron's Law,’ that gives families tools to punish parents for the crime of child abduction. “
===========================
Ridenbaugh Press on Senate District 23:
As in many of these primary districts, issues here aren’t distinctly philosophical: The 23rd is a solidly liberal Democratic district, and both contenders fit well within that framework.
But they are insiders of two distinctly different stripes.
Dingfelder, a four-term state representative from this area, would have to be considered the establishment choice, getting the larger share of endorsements and contributions.
But Cruz is not an outsider, either; he is retiring Senator Gordly’s Chief of Staff, is well informed, has her support and the support of her backers.
His campaign has hit rough patches but may also be more interesting to some of the primary voters.
Cruz is edgier; Dingfelder more easy-going. You have to figure the edge is with Dingfelder, but bear in mind that central Portland doesn’t always go the conventional route.
http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2008/05/03/or-the-legislative-primaries-seven-picks/#more-1691
----------------------------------
Think Blogolitical, Elect Sean Cruz!!!
www.blogoliticalsean.blogspot.com
www.seancruz.com
This is the most diverse senate district in Oregon by every measure of income, race and ethnicity, with its new China Town emerging along the 82nd Avenue of Roses, and its International District along NE Sandy, with its high-income, its middle class and it’s low-income neighborhoods side by side.
More and more, the rest of Oregon will look like us, and we should take this opportunity in this Senate race to harness the strengths, the riches, the strong currents of change that our many cultures working together can bring forth. I am uniquely suited to carry our Senate District and our state forward as we adjust to who we are becoming.
Nearly every business located in Senate District 23 is a small business, and small businesses and the employment they offer are the backbone of the Oregon economy.
I see Portland Community College’s Southeast campus as the key to the long-term vitality of east Portland, providing training opportunities that lead to family wage jobs and serving as a critical civic hub that benefits the entire city and county.
But there are long waiting lists for these classes. The ESL, nursing and welding , First Responder (EMT) and other classes are long full, with only 1 in 8 nursing students able to get in, while rhe state faces the critical challenges of a nursing shortage and an aging population.
I fully support the bond measure that PCC will put before the voters in November, and I will champion investment in the entire pre-k through higher ed education continuum.
I will work to strengthen the links between PCC and its Marshall, Madison and Parkrose High feeder schools, using the guidance and resources made available with the passage of Senate Bill 300, Senator Gordly’s landmark Expanded Options bill, that provides opportunities for high school students to get on a college track by taking vocational or other academic courses not available in the high school .
I walk my dog daily through my Parkrose neighborhood, and as a Realtor, I am struck by the increasing number of homes for sale that lie vacant, each with its own story. I will work hard for you to increase state investments in affordable housing.
Cuts to the Oregon Health Plan hurt more residents of Senate District 23 than in any other senate district in the state, and I was among them.
My personal experience of homelessness, hunger, uninsured illness, and clinical depression, my experience as my elderly and fragile mother’s sole caregiver make me uniquely suited to address these issues in our community, and from the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, I will work hard to expand access to the Oregon Health Plan to cover the uninsured among us.
As the father of two Army National Guard soldiers first ordered deployed to Iraq more than five years ago, I am fully aware of the damage to our nation, our state and our community and the costs military families are paying in this longest and most mistaken war our nation has ever endured, a war that has cost me both of my sons.
The Oregon Senate has no counterpart to the House Veterans Affairs Committee, resulting in the stranding of important veterans and war-related bills.
I am calling for the establishment of a new Senate Veterans Affairs Committee to work jointly with the House, and I will serve there, ensuring that we are responding as a state to support these families in crisis.
Senate District 23 also has its own unique environmental challenges. There is noise and pollution from airport operations. Air quality is a serious concern for those of us who live near freeways and rail lines, which intersect the district in many places.
I have had the great good fortune to work for and learn from one of Oregon’s great public servants, one of the great ladies of our state and of our time.
With Senator Avel Gordly’s retirement, Oregon loses its most tireless and effective champion for underserved populations, for seniors and people with disabilities, for those living with mental illness, for access to health care, for children and families who have fallen through the cracks in the system, for justice for every person, and for taking principled, straightforward stands simply because it is the right thing to do.
I will commit myself to living up to her legacy and do my very best to honor her confidence in me in my service to you.
It’s not about me, it’s about you.
Sean Cruz
----------------------
The Oregonian Editorial Board on Senate District 23:
“Cruz…knows the issues well…”
“Sean Cruz, who has served as (Senator) Gordly's legislative aide and chief of staff for the past five years…is qualified for the job. He knows the issues that are important in the district, and he certainly knows how things get done in the Legislature. Most notably, he persuaded Gordly to push legislation, called ‘Aaron's Law,’ that gives families tools to punish parents for the crime of child abduction. “
===========================
Ridenbaugh Press on Senate District 23:
As in many of these primary districts, issues here aren’t distinctly philosophical: The 23rd is a solidly liberal Democratic district, and both contenders fit well within that framework.
But they are insiders of two distinctly different stripes.
Dingfelder, a four-term state representative from this area, would have to be considered the establishment choice, getting the larger share of endorsements and contributions.
But Cruz is not an outsider, either; he is retiring Senator Gordly’s Chief of Staff, is well informed, has her support and the support of her backers.
His campaign has hit rough patches but may also be more interesting to some of the primary voters.
Cruz is edgier; Dingfelder more easy-going. You have to figure the edge is with Dingfelder, but bear in mind that central Portland doesn’t always go the conventional route.
http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2008/05/03/or-the-legislative-primaries-seven-picks/#more-1691
----------------------------------
Think Blogolitical, Elect Sean Cruz!!!
www.blogoliticalsean.blogspot.com
www.seancruz.com
Oregon Senate District 23, House District 45 and House District 46 voters have a choice!
Portland SD 23, HD 45 and HD 46 voters have a choice in the May 20 primary.
Most legislative "races" are uncontested, but NE and SE Portland voters do have an opportunity to choose between qualified candidates.
You, dear voter, may wonder what five years of hard work looks like, preparing to take on the responsibilities of an Oregon State Senator, preparing to move from a staff position to elected, serving the constituents of House Districts 45 and 46, and Senate District 23.
Here’s a way to look at it:
I built Senator Avel Gordly’s office listserve from scratch, voter by voter, constituent by constituent to reach more than 9,000 of you directly, instantly and at no cost to taxpayers.
I drafted dozens of speeches and newsletters across a wide range of topics for Senator Gordly, attended the hearings, did the research.
I take a great deal of pride in this work, and I did it for you, for all Oregonians and prospective Oregonians.
All of the newsletters I worked on are listed by title and archived electronically for easy public access.
The link to the website is below the list.
As a candidate for Senate District 23, I’m offering more of the same. Clear communication, no self-promotion, no cheerleading, no taking credit for someone else’s work.
And my priorities match retiring Senator Gordly’s just about word for word.
Read it here.
You be the judge.
Senator Avel Gordly
I-Portland
District 23
Town Hall: "Truths about Homelessness in the Beloved Community" is this Saturday, April 26
April 23, 2008
Fair Housing Council of Oregon Celebrates 40 Years of the Fair Housing Act
April 14, 2008
Senator Avel Gordly and Sisters of the Road Invite You to a Town Hall
March 20, 2008
1.New requirements will improve quality of care at Oregon nursing homes
2. Question to our readers
March 6, 2008
House Bill 3626 amended to include Senate Bill 1075 and other concepts
February 22, 2008
Invitation to Multnomah County Health Equity Initiative and Community Dialogues
February 20, 2008
1. Statement on Senate Bill 1075, sponsored by Senator Avel Gordly
2. Oregon State Hospital Oversight Committee meets February 6
February 3, 2008
1. Joint Oregon State Hospital Oversight Committee appointed, first public meeting February 1
2. DHS grants focus on supportive living opportunities for 307 individuals with mental illness
January 31, 2008
1. Senator Gordly’s 2008 Supplemental Session bill creates Task Force on Mental Health and Addiction Services for Underserved Populations, declares emergency, effective on passage.
2. Press release—Three Mental Health Advocacy Organizations Unite
January 23, 2008
1. Senator Gordly speaks against the stigmatization of mental illness
2. NAMI-Oregon advocates for change at Oregon State Hospital, end to stigma
3. What will it take to make state hospital priority No. 1? (Statesman Journal story)
4. State hosts Community Forum on Oregon State Hospital Replacement Project
5. DHS allocates $4 million to move mentally ill from jail into treatment
January 22, 2008
1. Oregon Health Plan Standard benefit package opens to limited new enrollment with lottery system
2. Link to Oregon Health Plan Application and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS)
January 14, 2008
February 2008 Supplemental Session Committee Schedules
December 27, 2007
1. Mental health issues: Oregon Public Broadcasting wants to hear from people with direct experience
2. Congresswoman Kilpatrick Introduces Legislation to Address the Mental Health Care Needs of America’s Military Personnel, Veterans, and Families
3. Surge in homeless veterans, increased risk factors
4. National Alliance on Mental Illness launches online Veterans Resource Center
November 9, 2007
1. The Mental Health Caucus
2. October 25 Presenter: Gina Nikkel, Executive Director, Association of Oregon Community Mental Health Programs
3. October 25 Presenter: Bob Nikkel, MSW, Assistant Director, Department of Human Services, Addictions and Mental Health Division (AMH)
4. Links to Community Services Workgroup Report
5. Letter from Mary Moore-Suever, Executive Director, Pendleton Academies
6. Links to Oregon Consensus Program and Oregon Solutions:
October 31, 2007
1. Oregon’s new Identity Theft Protection Act is October 20 town hall theme
2. Legislative Fiscal Office issues Budget Information Brief and Report
3. Lead Safe Portland event offers free toy screening, blood testing, and prevention workshops on October 28
October 18, 2007
1. Oregon Consumer Identity Theft Protection Act (SB 583) to go into effect
2. Child Support system disruption alert
3. Oregon Department of Education develops Get Ready Oregon website regarding changes to high school diploma
4. Invitation to Oregon State Library free lecture series
September 26, 2007
1. Mental Health Caucus update
2. Public Commentary Opportunity: Two important on-line surveys for bicyclists, pedestrians and commuters, and for bridge design choices in Multnomah County.
3. Link to Multnomah County Health Department August 17 newsletter
August 28, 2007
Bulletin: Multnomah County online public safety survey ends TODAY
August 24, 2007
1. On Condo Conversions
2. Senator Gordly’s floor speech regarding HB 3186 condominium conversions
3. HB 3186: Your Oregon State Legislature At Work
August 24, 2007
1. Join the Oregon Prescription Drug Program (OPDP) Purchasing Pool
2. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS) regarding the Oregon Prescription Drug Program Purchasing Pool
3. Frequently Asked Questions about OPDP and Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Coverage
August 20, 2007
1. Senator Gordly appointed to 2007-2008 Interim Committees
2. Complete list of Senate Interim appointment
August 16, 2007
1. Senator Gordly’s plans for the 2007-2008 interim and the February 2008 Special Session
2. Guest Opinion by Rob Johnson on Services for Seniors and the Disabled
July 31, 2007
Public Health Alert: West Nile Virus is Transmitted by Mosquito Bite!
July 25, 2007
Senator Gordly to host July 28 community forum on West Nile virus
July 16, 2007
On Looking Forward
June 28, 2007
Constituent Responses to Immigration Statement
June 15, 2007
Senator Gordly's Statement on Immigration Raids
June 14, 2007
Correcting an injustice--HB 2284
June 5, 2007
National Missing Children’s Day is Friday, May 25
May 25, 2007
Oregon Budget Surplus is a Forecast, Not a Solution
May 17, 2007
Call to Action: Tax Reform NOW-Don't Leave Salem Without It!
May 4, 2007
1. Senate Rules Committee will hold public hearing on Iraq Memorials
2. Workplace Bullying (SB 1035) hearing held
3. Senator Margaret Carter to speak at Mental Health Caucus April 26
4. Towing reform bills moving
5. Texts of Senate Iraq Memorials
April 23, 2007
1. Senate Bill 2—civil rights bill passes Senate
2. Mental Health Caucus meets Thursday, 8-9 a.m., Rm 343
3. Senate District 23 Town Hall on Revenue Reform this Thursday evening
4. Senate Bill 38 –affordable housing
5. Senate Bill 571—extends smoking ban
6. Joint Committee on Ways and Means schedules hearings in communities
7. Legislative Education Day is April 5 in the State Capitol
March 15, 2007
Resolutions honoring five Oregon transformational leaders on Senate floor April 5
March 15, 2007
1. Senator Gordly’s testimony on Celilo Falls before the Senate Judiciary Committee
2. SCR 10 Mourns the destruction of Celilo Falls
3. SJM 7 Housing restoration at Celilo Village
4. Mental Health Caucus to meet weekly
5. Senator Gordly co-sponsors Health Care Town Hall Saturday March 17
March 9, 2007
2nd Open Letter on the War in Iraq and National Energy Emergency Memorial\
February 16, 2007
Open Letter on the War in Iraq
February 2, 2007
Senator Gordly’s 2007 Legislative and Public Policy Agenda
January 31, 2007
1. Governor Kulongoski orders flags at half staff in memory of Oregon soldier
2. Towing Horror Stories—Part 2
3. Public Hearing on towing issues set before Senate Commerce Committee, January 31
January 26, 2007
Predatory Towing Horror Stories
January 24, 2007
Senior and Disability Caucus Formed
January 23, 2007
Senator Avel Gordly Named to Senior and Disability Caucus
January 18, 2007
1. Senator Gordly’s 2007 Public Policy and Legislative Priorities
2. Senate President announces 2007 Committee assignments
December 20, 2006
Townhall: Senators Take Nonpartisan Approach to Revenue Reform
September 14, 2006
Senate President Peter Courtney's Legislative Update
July 22, 2006
2006 Eastern Oregon Agricultural Tour
June 27, 2006
On the Kicker, Continued…
June 2, 2006
Governor Kulongoski's Kicker Time Out Proposal
June 2, 2006
Open Primary Elections
May 25, 2006
No Human Being is Illegal
March 17, 2006
Gordly Named to Human Services Committee
October 28, 2005
Measure 37 Found Unconstitutional
October 20, 2005
Governor Signs "Aaron's Law"
October 18, 2005
Report of the Senate Interim Task Force on Parental and Family Abductions
August 17, 2005
"Aarons Law" Aims to Curtail Abduction of Children by Parents
August 3, 2005
HB 2485 Methamphetamine Package Floor Speech
July 30, 2005
Senate Passes Comprehensive Reform of "Use of Deadly Force" Policies
July 26, 2005
Senator Gordly Supports School Stability and Investment Proposals
July 7, 2005
State Board Suspends License of Northeast Portland Cemetery Employee for Racist Behavior
July 7, 2005
Oregon State Police Budget in Critical Condition
June 15, 2005
Three Public Safety Budget Bills Pass Senate
June 13, 2005
Senate Senator Gordly Carries Budget Bills on Senate Floor
June 7, 2005
Gordly Attends Release Of Oregon State Hospital Master Plan Phase I Report
May 18, 2005
Governor Signs Bill Expanding Housing Options for Oregonians with Chronic Mental Illness
May 17, 2005
Senate Endorses Creation of Environmental Justice Task Force
May 6, 2005
Senate Committee Approves Expanded Options Program Easing Transition from High School to College
April 11, 2005
Letter to the Editor on Portland schools
March 31, 2005
Public Safety Subcommittee Update March 16, 2005
March 16, 2005
Executive Appointment Vacancies
March 16, 2005
Mental Health Parity Bill Moves Out of Senate Committee
March 10, 2005
Senate Democrats Urge Mental Health Parity
March 9, 2005
Public Safety Subcommittee Update March 4, 2005
March 4, 2005
Public Safety Budget Committee to Hold Community Hearing at Coffee Creek Facility Tuesday, February 8th
February 07, 2005
Senator Gordly’s speech on tax reform
Head Start Rally, Capitol Steps
February 03, 2005
Senator Gordly’s Governor's Marketplace keynote: The Road to Success
January 06, 2005
Senator Avel Gordly Named to Legislature's Budget Committee
December 21, 2004
Senator Avel Gordly Calls For Independent Investigation of Oregon State Hospital
September 24, 2004
We Need To Know Our History
Cultural Competence in Education
March 22, 2004
An Open Letter to the Oregon Congressional Delegation
February 13, 2004
Oregon Farm Workers to Receive Basic Human Rights Starting February 1
January 26, 2004
Sen. Avel Gordly Named To Legislature’s Interim Emergency Board
November 5, 2003
Sen. Avel Gordly Presents Her Tax Reform Plan to House Revenue Committee
click here to read related House Revenue Committee testimony
Historic Oregon Civil Rights Law Commemoration Friday
June 9, 2003
Portland Community Leaders And Activists Meet With Legislators On Reforms Following Kendra James Shooting
June 3, 2003
Senator Gordly: Oregon is in a Moral Crisis
May 16, 2003
Senator Avel Gordly Vows to Fight Cuts with Revenue
May 2, 2003
Labor Leader Cesar Chavez Honored By Senate
April 23, 2003
Remarks on SB 1: on Parity
April 3, 2003
Senate Panel Hears Bill Requiring Mental Health Parity in Health Insurance
April 3, 2003
NAMI Remarks/NAMI Day at the Capitol
February 27, 2003
Senator Avel Gordly Addresses Mental Health Group at Capitol
February 27, 2003
Sen. Avel Gordly Tours Mobile Classroom
February 17, 2003
East Central Portland Legislators Hold a Joint Town Hall
February 14, 2003
Free and Low-Cost Prescription Drugs are Available to Oregonians Losing State Services Because of
Measure 28’s Defeat
January 30, 2003
Some Free and Low-Cost Prescription Drugs Available to Oregonians Affected by Budget Cuts
Janaury 24, 2003
Remarks on SB 1: on Parity
April 3, 2003
Link to website: http://www.leg.state.or.us/gordly/news
=====================
The Oregonian Editorial Board on Senate District 23:
“Cruz…knows the issues well…”
“Sean Cruz, who has served as (Senator) Gordly's legislative aide and chief of staff for the past five years…is qualified for the job. He knows the issues that are important in the district, and he certainly knows how things get done in the Legislature. Most notably, he persuaded Gordly to push legislation, called ‘Aaron's Law,’ that gives families tools to punish parents for the crime of child abduction. “
===========================
Ridenbaugh Press on Senate District 23:
As in many of these primary districts, issues here aren’t distinctly philosophical: The 23rd is a solidly liberal Democratic district, and both contenders fit well within that framework.
But they are insiders of two distinctly different stripes.
Dingfelder, a four-term state representative from this area, would have to be considered the establishment choice, getting the larger share of endorsements and contributions.
But Cruz is not an outsider, either; he is retiring Senator Gordly’s Chief of Staff, is well informed, has her support and the support of her backers.
His campaign has hit rough patches but may also be more interesting to some of the primary voters.
Cruz is edgier; Dingfelder more easy-going. You have to figure the edge is with Dingfelder, but bear in mind that central Portland doesn’t always go the conventional route.
http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2008/05/03/or-the-legislative-primaries-seven-picks/#more-1691
Most legislative "races" are uncontested, but NE and SE Portland voters do have an opportunity to choose between qualified candidates.
You, dear voter, may wonder what five years of hard work looks like, preparing to take on the responsibilities of an Oregon State Senator, preparing to move from a staff position to elected, serving the constituents of House Districts 45 and 46, and Senate District 23.
Here’s a way to look at it:
I built Senator Avel Gordly’s office listserve from scratch, voter by voter, constituent by constituent to reach more than 9,000 of you directly, instantly and at no cost to taxpayers.
I drafted dozens of speeches and newsletters across a wide range of topics for Senator Gordly, attended the hearings, did the research.
I take a great deal of pride in this work, and I did it for you, for all Oregonians and prospective Oregonians.
All of the newsletters I worked on are listed by title and archived electronically for easy public access.
The link to the website is below the list.
As a candidate for Senate District 23, I’m offering more of the same. Clear communication, no self-promotion, no cheerleading, no taking credit for someone else’s work.
And my priorities match retiring Senator Gordly’s just about word for word.
Read it here.
You be the judge.
Senator Avel Gordly
I-Portland
District 23
Town Hall: "Truths about Homelessness in the Beloved Community" is this Saturday, April 26
April 23, 2008
Fair Housing Council of Oregon Celebrates 40 Years of the Fair Housing Act
April 14, 2008
Senator Avel Gordly and Sisters of the Road Invite You to a Town Hall
March 20, 2008
1.New requirements will improve quality of care at Oregon nursing homes
2. Question to our readers
March 6, 2008
House Bill 3626 amended to include Senate Bill 1075 and other concepts
February 22, 2008
Invitation to Multnomah County Health Equity Initiative and Community Dialogues
February 20, 2008
1. Statement on Senate Bill 1075, sponsored by Senator Avel Gordly
2. Oregon State Hospital Oversight Committee meets February 6
February 3, 2008
1. Joint Oregon State Hospital Oversight Committee appointed, first public meeting February 1
2. DHS grants focus on supportive living opportunities for 307 individuals with mental illness
January 31, 2008
1. Senator Gordly’s 2008 Supplemental Session bill creates Task Force on Mental Health and Addiction Services for Underserved Populations, declares emergency, effective on passage.
2. Press release—Three Mental Health Advocacy Organizations Unite
January 23, 2008
1. Senator Gordly speaks against the stigmatization of mental illness
2. NAMI-Oregon advocates for change at Oregon State Hospital, end to stigma
3. What will it take to make state hospital priority No. 1? (Statesman Journal story)
4. State hosts Community Forum on Oregon State Hospital Replacement Project
5. DHS allocates $4 million to move mentally ill from jail into treatment
January 22, 2008
1. Oregon Health Plan Standard benefit package opens to limited new enrollment with lottery system
2. Link to Oregon Health Plan Application and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS)
January 14, 2008
February 2008 Supplemental Session Committee Schedules
December 27, 2007
1. Mental health issues: Oregon Public Broadcasting wants to hear from people with direct experience
2. Congresswoman Kilpatrick Introduces Legislation to Address the Mental Health Care Needs of America’s Military Personnel, Veterans, and Families
3. Surge in homeless veterans, increased risk factors
4. National Alliance on Mental Illness launches online Veterans Resource Center
November 9, 2007
1. The Mental Health Caucus
2. October 25 Presenter: Gina Nikkel, Executive Director, Association of Oregon Community Mental Health Programs
3. October 25 Presenter: Bob Nikkel, MSW, Assistant Director, Department of Human Services, Addictions and Mental Health Division (AMH)
4. Links to Community Services Workgroup Report
5. Letter from Mary Moore-Suever, Executive Director, Pendleton Academies
6. Links to Oregon Consensus Program and Oregon Solutions:
October 31, 2007
1. Oregon’s new Identity Theft Protection Act is October 20 town hall theme
2. Legislative Fiscal Office issues Budget Information Brief and Report
3. Lead Safe Portland event offers free toy screening, blood testing, and prevention workshops on October 28
October 18, 2007
1. Oregon Consumer Identity Theft Protection Act (SB 583) to go into effect
2. Child Support system disruption alert
3. Oregon Department of Education develops Get Ready Oregon website regarding changes to high school diploma
4. Invitation to Oregon State Library free lecture series
September 26, 2007
1. Mental Health Caucus update
2. Public Commentary Opportunity: Two important on-line surveys for bicyclists, pedestrians and commuters, and for bridge design choices in Multnomah County.
3. Link to Multnomah County Health Department August 17 newsletter
August 28, 2007
Bulletin: Multnomah County online public safety survey ends TODAY
August 24, 2007
1. On Condo Conversions
2. Senator Gordly’s floor speech regarding HB 3186 condominium conversions
3. HB 3186: Your Oregon State Legislature At Work
August 24, 2007
1. Join the Oregon Prescription Drug Program (OPDP) Purchasing Pool
2. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS) regarding the Oregon Prescription Drug Program Purchasing Pool
3. Frequently Asked Questions about OPDP and Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Coverage
August 20, 2007
1. Senator Gordly appointed to 2007-2008 Interim Committees
2. Complete list of Senate Interim appointment
August 16, 2007
1. Senator Gordly’s plans for the 2007-2008 interim and the February 2008 Special Session
2. Guest Opinion by Rob Johnson on Services for Seniors and the Disabled
July 31, 2007
Public Health Alert: West Nile Virus is Transmitted by Mosquito Bite!
July 25, 2007
Senator Gordly to host July 28 community forum on West Nile virus
July 16, 2007
On Looking Forward
June 28, 2007
Constituent Responses to Immigration Statement
June 15, 2007
Senator Gordly's Statement on Immigration Raids
June 14, 2007
Correcting an injustice--HB 2284
June 5, 2007
National Missing Children’s Day is Friday, May 25
May 25, 2007
Oregon Budget Surplus is a Forecast, Not a Solution
May 17, 2007
Call to Action: Tax Reform NOW-Don't Leave Salem Without It!
May 4, 2007
1. Senate Rules Committee will hold public hearing on Iraq Memorials
2. Workplace Bullying (SB 1035) hearing held
3. Senator Margaret Carter to speak at Mental Health Caucus April 26
4. Towing reform bills moving
5. Texts of Senate Iraq Memorials
April 23, 2007
1. Senate Bill 2—civil rights bill passes Senate
2. Mental Health Caucus meets Thursday, 8-9 a.m., Rm 343
3. Senate District 23 Town Hall on Revenue Reform this Thursday evening
4. Senate Bill 38 –affordable housing
5. Senate Bill 571—extends smoking ban
6. Joint Committee on Ways and Means schedules hearings in communities
7. Legislative Education Day is April 5 in the State Capitol
March 15, 2007
Resolutions honoring five Oregon transformational leaders on Senate floor April 5
March 15, 2007
1. Senator Gordly’s testimony on Celilo Falls before the Senate Judiciary Committee
2. SCR 10 Mourns the destruction of Celilo Falls
3. SJM 7 Housing restoration at Celilo Village
4. Mental Health Caucus to meet weekly
5. Senator Gordly co-sponsors Health Care Town Hall Saturday March 17
March 9, 2007
2nd Open Letter on the War in Iraq and National Energy Emergency Memorial\
February 16, 2007
Open Letter on the War in Iraq
February 2, 2007
Senator Gordly’s 2007 Legislative and Public Policy Agenda
January 31, 2007
1. Governor Kulongoski orders flags at half staff in memory of Oregon soldier
2. Towing Horror Stories—Part 2
3. Public Hearing on towing issues set before Senate Commerce Committee, January 31
January 26, 2007
Predatory Towing Horror Stories
January 24, 2007
Senior and Disability Caucus Formed
January 23, 2007
Senator Avel Gordly Named to Senior and Disability Caucus
January 18, 2007
1. Senator Gordly’s 2007 Public Policy and Legislative Priorities
2. Senate President announces 2007 Committee assignments
December 20, 2006
Townhall: Senators Take Nonpartisan Approach to Revenue Reform
September 14, 2006
Senate President Peter Courtney's Legislative Update
July 22, 2006
2006 Eastern Oregon Agricultural Tour
June 27, 2006
On the Kicker, Continued…
June 2, 2006
Governor Kulongoski's Kicker Time Out Proposal
June 2, 2006
Open Primary Elections
May 25, 2006
No Human Being is Illegal
March 17, 2006
Gordly Named to Human Services Committee
October 28, 2005
Measure 37 Found Unconstitutional
October 20, 2005
Governor Signs "Aaron's Law"
October 18, 2005
Report of the Senate Interim Task Force on Parental and Family Abductions
August 17, 2005
"Aarons Law" Aims to Curtail Abduction of Children by Parents
August 3, 2005
HB 2485 Methamphetamine Package Floor Speech
July 30, 2005
Senate Passes Comprehensive Reform of "Use of Deadly Force" Policies
July 26, 2005
Senator Gordly Supports School Stability and Investment Proposals
July 7, 2005
State Board Suspends License of Northeast Portland Cemetery Employee for Racist Behavior
July 7, 2005
Oregon State Police Budget in Critical Condition
June 15, 2005
Three Public Safety Budget Bills Pass Senate
June 13, 2005
Senate Senator Gordly Carries Budget Bills on Senate Floor
June 7, 2005
Gordly Attends Release Of Oregon State Hospital Master Plan Phase I Report
May 18, 2005
Governor Signs Bill Expanding Housing Options for Oregonians with Chronic Mental Illness
May 17, 2005
Senate Endorses Creation of Environmental Justice Task Force
May 6, 2005
Senate Committee Approves Expanded Options Program Easing Transition from High School to College
April 11, 2005
Letter to the Editor on Portland schools
March 31, 2005
Public Safety Subcommittee Update March 16, 2005
March 16, 2005
Executive Appointment Vacancies
March 16, 2005
Mental Health Parity Bill Moves Out of Senate Committee
March 10, 2005
Senate Democrats Urge Mental Health Parity
March 9, 2005
Public Safety Subcommittee Update March 4, 2005
March 4, 2005
Public Safety Budget Committee to Hold Community Hearing at Coffee Creek Facility Tuesday, February 8th
February 07, 2005
Senator Gordly’s speech on tax reform
Head Start Rally, Capitol Steps
February 03, 2005
Senator Gordly’s Governor's Marketplace keynote: The Road to Success
January 06, 2005
Senator Avel Gordly Named to Legislature's Budget Committee
December 21, 2004
Senator Avel Gordly Calls For Independent Investigation of Oregon State Hospital
September 24, 2004
We Need To Know Our History
Cultural Competence in Education
March 22, 2004
An Open Letter to the Oregon Congressional Delegation
February 13, 2004
Oregon Farm Workers to Receive Basic Human Rights Starting February 1
January 26, 2004
Sen. Avel Gordly Named To Legislature’s Interim Emergency Board
November 5, 2003
Sen. Avel Gordly Presents Her Tax Reform Plan to House Revenue Committee
click here to read related House Revenue Committee testimony
Historic Oregon Civil Rights Law Commemoration Friday
June 9, 2003
Portland Community Leaders And Activists Meet With Legislators On Reforms Following Kendra James Shooting
June 3, 2003
Senator Gordly: Oregon is in a Moral Crisis
May 16, 2003
Senator Avel Gordly Vows to Fight Cuts with Revenue
May 2, 2003
Labor Leader Cesar Chavez Honored By Senate
April 23, 2003
Remarks on SB 1: on Parity
April 3, 2003
Senate Panel Hears Bill Requiring Mental Health Parity in Health Insurance
April 3, 2003
NAMI Remarks/NAMI Day at the Capitol
February 27, 2003
Senator Avel Gordly Addresses Mental Health Group at Capitol
February 27, 2003
Sen. Avel Gordly Tours Mobile Classroom
February 17, 2003
East Central Portland Legislators Hold a Joint Town Hall
February 14, 2003
Free and Low-Cost Prescription Drugs are Available to Oregonians Losing State Services Because of
Measure 28’s Defeat
January 30, 2003
Some Free and Low-Cost Prescription Drugs Available to Oregonians Affected by Budget Cuts
Janaury 24, 2003
Remarks on SB 1: on Parity
April 3, 2003
Link to website: http://www.leg.state.or.us/gordly/news
=====================
The Oregonian Editorial Board on Senate District 23:
“Cruz…knows the issues well…”
“Sean Cruz, who has served as (Senator) Gordly's legislative aide and chief of staff for the past five years…is qualified for the job. He knows the issues that are important in the district, and he certainly knows how things get done in the Legislature. Most notably, he persuaded Gordly to push legislation, called ‘Aaron's Law,’ that gives families tools to punish parents for the crime of child abduction. “
===========================
Ridenbaugh Press on Senate District 23:
As in many of these primary districts, issues here aren’t distinctly philosophical: The 23rd is a solidly liberal Democratic district, and both contenders fit well within that framework.
But they are insiders of two distinctly different stripes.
Dingfelder, a four-term state representative from this area, would have to be considered the establishment choice, getting the larger share of endorsements and contributions.
But Cruz is not an outsider, either; he is retiring Senator Gordly’s Chief of Staff, is well informed, has her support and the support of her backers.
His campaign has hit rough patches but may also be more interesting to some of the primary voters.
Cruz is edgier; Dingfelder more easy-going. You have to figure the edge is with Dingfelder, but bear in mind that central Portland doesn’t always go the conventional route.
http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2008/05/03/or-the-legislative-primaries-seven-picks/#more-1691
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