Salem Political Snark

Conservatives up to dirty tricks in Ward 6 City Council race

Thanks to a Salem Reporter story by Joe Siess, "Newly formed PAC jumps into Salem council race as election winds down," I learned about the latest dirty trick that conservatives desperate to regain control of the Salem City Council are playing on voters.

In almost every local election cycle something like this occurs. The basic reason is that while liberals value playing fair (naturally with some exceptions), conservatives value doing whatever it takes to win.

Here's how the Salem Reporter story starts out.

Dru Draper says his days-old political action committee has jumped into Salem’s contested council race to make it more fair.

But the candidate supposedly benefitting from the late spending smells a political trick.

And so do others watching the three-way race for a seat on the Salem City Council representing northeast Salem.

The candidates include Deanna Garcia, Mai Vang and Logan Lor, and voters in Ward 6 will decide who will represent them come Election Day – Tuesday, May 20. 

Marion County Clerk Bill Burgess told Salem Reporter that so far 10.5% of ballots in Ward 6, or 1,241 out of 11,846 ballots, have been turned in. He said voter turnout is typically between 20-25% and that 30-40% of ballots come in on the final couple of days before the election.

Voters received the two-sided flyer in their mailboxes last week urging their support for Lor.  

The flyer was distributed by a political action committee called Citizens for a Better Salem.

State government records in the ORESTAR system show that the Citizens for a Better Salem PAC was formed on May 8, 2025. This political action committee shows a grand total of zero contributions, zero revenues, and zero expenses.

Yet it was able to send out a mailing supporting Logan Lor to residents of Ward 6, images of which were included in the Salem Reporter story.

Given that Draper is a Republican political strategist and former spokesman for the Republican caucus in the Oregon Senate, it seems clear that his newly formed PAC has only one purpose: to split the votes of Ward 6 residents between the two candidates who lean liberal, Logan Lor and Mai Vang (Vang is endorsed by Progressive Salem) to increase the chance that the more conservative candidate, Deanna Garcia, will come out on top.

Because this is a special election to fill the Ward 6 City Council vacancy created when Julie Hoy was elected Mayor, the candidate with the most votes wins outright, while generally it takes winning 50% of the votes plus 1 to win in May without going to a November election runoff between the top two candidates.

I take this last minute dirty trick by Dru Draper and his Citizens for a Better Salem PAC to be a sign that Mai Vang is running a strong campaign that has struck fear into the Chamber of Commerce and other conservative supporters of Deanna Garcia who desperately want to shrink the majority of progressives on the City Council to a slim 5-4.

Hopefully Mai Vang will still win. If Garcia does, and it's by a slim margin, we'll never know the role these last minute mailings had on the race. Dirty tricks shouldn't pay off with a victory, but sometimes sleazy tactics pay off in elections.

One thing that Salem Mayor Julie Hoy and President Trump have in common

Understand: I'm not equating Julie Hoy, the Mayor of Salem, Oregon, with Donald Trump, the President of the United States. Though they're each conservative, fortunately Hoy isn't nearly as obnoxious and dangerous as Trump.

But they do have this in common. Both Hoy and Trump benefit from the fact that doing something illegal or unethical can be done quickly, while holding someone to account for such an action can take months or years.

This relates to the adage, "Justice delayed is justice denied." Wikipedia explains:

"Justice delayed is justice denied" is a legal maxim. It means that if legal redress or equitable relief to an injured party is available, but is not forthcoming in a timely fashion, it is effectively the same as having no remedy at all.

This principle is the basis for the right to a speedy trial and similar rights which are meant to expedite the legal system, because of the unfairness for the injured party who sustained the injury having little hope for timely and effective remedy and resolution. 

Today I phoned the Oregon Government Ethics Commission to check on the status of a complaint I filed against Mayor Hoy on March 12 of this year. My complaint alleges that Hoy engaged in prohibited private serial communications with a majority of the City Council, which led to the forced resignation of City Manager Keith Stahley.

As noted on its web site, the Ethics Commission has 60 days for its staff to conduct a Preliminary Review of the complaint. I was told that the 60 days has expired (which I already knew). The next step is for the Ethics Commission to decide at its June 13 meeting whether there is cause to move to the Investigation Phase, which can be 180 days. After that there can be a Contested Case Hearing and an Appeal to the Court of Appeals.

So the whole process can take the better part of a year, or even longer. Meanwhile, Hoy enjoys what I allege she was able to do: get rid of a City Manager she didn't like through an unethical action prohibited by state law. That happened quickly. Holding Hoy to account will require many more months, assuming the Oregon Government Ethics Commission agrees to investigate my complaint.

Also today, the United States Supreme Court held a hearing on Trump's executive order that he issued on his first day in office declaring that birthright citizenship isn't the law of the land, even though it is part of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. 

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

Trump issued the order because he wants to deport everyone who is in this country illegally. Doing away with the citizenship of children born to undocumented migrants would make that easier. However, the Supreme Court paid little attention to whether Trump's executive order is unconstitutional, because almost certainly it is.

The debate centered on whether district court judges could issue injunctions that apply to the entire country, in the case to forbid the Trump administration from not recognizing the citizenship of almost all children born in the United States (exceptions include children born to parents who work in a foreign embassy). A New York Times story says:

The Supreme Court heard arguments on Thursday in a case related to President Trump’s executive order trying to end so-called birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to undocumented migrants. But the question before the justices was narrower: whether a single district court judge has the power to block a policy across the country.

...Shortly after being sworn in to his second term, Mr. Trump signed an order that reinterpreted the meaning of the 14th Amendment, which has long been understood to grant automatic citizenship to nearly everyone born on U.S. soil.

The order seeks to deny citizenship to babies born to undocumented migrants and visitors without green cards. As a practical matter, that would start with agencies in the executive branch refusing them citizenship-affirming documents like Social Security cards.

Multiple courts around the country have blocked the government from obeying that order, ruling that it is most likely illegal. They did so using universal injunctions, or orders that apply nationwide and cover people in similar situations who were not parties to the cases. At this stage, the Trump administration is challenging only the ability of courts to issue such orders.

...One of the major themes drawn out by lawyers for the plaintiffs was the practical effect of doing away with nationwide injunctions in a case that touched on an issue affecting all Americans. The lawyers worried that before the Supreme Court issued a final ruling on the question of birthright citizenship, there could be “chaos on the ground” if some states were allowed to keep the practice and others states did not.

Jeremy M. Feigenbaum, New Jersey’s solicitor general, pointed out that if Mr. Trump’s policy prevailed in certain states, children of immigrants born there might not be able to get Social Security numbers. That could become a problem, he suggested, if they later moved to states that did recognize them as citizens, particularly if they tried to apply for government benefits.

Mr. Feigenbaum also noted that if a person’s citizenship depended on what state they were in, there could be widespread confusion about their immigration status as well. He wondered aloud whether the children of immigrants might be subject to deportation in states that did not recognize birthright citizenship and yet be shielded from removal in states that did.

Some of the justices raised an important issue.

If the Trump administration never appeals adverse rulings by lower courts to the Supreme Court, then if a nationwide injunction isn't in effect, undocumented migrants who were born in the United States and live in the 28 states where courts haven't ruled against Trump could be deported for an indefinite period -- giving Trump what he wants by delaying justice, which means justice denied.

So this is why Mayor Hoy and President Trump have something in common. Each politician is benefitting from a legal system that moves much more slowly than it took for apparently illegal/unethical actions to be carried out by Hoy and Trump.

Oregon's Attorney General leading 12-state lawsuit challenging Trump tariffs

It warmed my Oregon heart to see my state prominently featured in a Politico story today, "'There is No Rational Basis Behind What the President is Trying to Accomplish': Oregon's Attorney General is suing to block Trump's tariffs -- and he might win." Excerpt:

Attorney General Dan Rayfield

Dan Rayfield, Oregon’s rookie attorney general, says he didn’t want to spend his first months in office fighting presidential edicts in court. But along with the consumer protection and law-and-order duties that more typically define his role, the Democrat is now a key combatant in Donald Trump’s trade war, leading a 12-state lawsuit challenging the president’s sweeping tariff regime.

Rayfield, 46, is among the newest in a band of Democratic state attorneys general that’s been strikingly coordinated in challenging and stalling Trump’s avalanche of executive orders slashing federal spending, restricting birthright citizenship, gutting diversity and inclusion programs and much more since Jan. 20.

The looming impact of the tariffs in his trade-dependent Pacific Northwest state made taking the lead on the lawsuit an easy call, says Rayfield, who served as speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives before winning the AG post in November.

“Right now, in Canada, they are literally pulling [Oregon] products off of shelves,” he told POLITICO Magazine last week as he attended meetings in New York.

Rayfield has worked closely with Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes in leading the suit, which challenges Trump’s invocation of the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, enacted in 1977 and now used for the first time to impose tariffs.

“It’s an unprecedented misuse of emergency powers,” said Rayfield.

California was the first state to file suit over the tariffs last month (perhaps unsurprisingly, given its economic heft and Gov. Gavin Newson’s political profile). But Rayfield’s suit — State of Oregon, et al., v. Trump — is expected to be taken up first, and will likely be cited in the U.S. Court of International Trade this week, where judges will consider a private company’s challenge to the tariffs.

Here's the Introduction to the State of Oregon, et al., v. Trump lawsuit.

1. The Constitution assigns to Congress, not the President, the “Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises.” Art. I, § 8. Yet over the last three months, the President has imposed, modified, escalated, and suspended tariffs by executive order, memoranda, social media post, and agency decree. These edicts reflect a national trade policy that now hinges on the President’s whims rather than the sound exercise of his lawful authority. By claiming the authority to impose immense and ever-changing tariffs on whatever goods entering the United States he chooses, for whatever reason he finds convenient to declare an emergency, the President has upended the constitutional order and brought chaos to the American economy.

2. The President has no authority to arbitrarily impose tariffs as he has done here. The text and history of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)—the statute the President has invoked for the most damaging of his tariffs—confirm that the President cannot impose such tariffs under that law. And even if it did, it would not allow the worldwide tariffs he has imposed, which were not a response to an emergency as IEEPA defines it and have no nexus to the circumstances that purported to justify them.

3. Because these tariffs are unlawful, this Court should declare that they are not in force, enjoin the Defendant agencies and officers from enforcing them, and vacate the agency actions implementing them.

The Oregon Department of Justice issued a May 7 media release about the lawsuit:

Attorney General Dan Rayfield today led a coalition of attorneys general in filing a motion for a preliminary injunction to halt implementation of President Trump’s illegal tariffs. The motion seeks a court order pausing the tariffs imposed under four of President Trump’s executive orders without congressional action.

“These tariffs are doing real damage to Oregonians and our small businesses. Families cannot be expected to pay more at the store at a time when they’re already struggling to afford the basics.” Rayfield said. “The President can’t just slap on tariffs that hurt working people without following the law. I don’t know many families who can afford an extra $3800 a year.”

The motion asks the U.S. Court of International Trade to order federal agencies to stop collecting illegal tariffs President Trump imposed on most products worldwide. These tariffs impose a 145 percent tariff on most products from China, a 25 percent tariff on most products from Canada and Mexico, and 10 percent tariffs on most products from the rest of the world. It also asks the Court to put on hold President Trump’s plan to raise tariffs on imports from 56 other trading partners on July 9.

One analysis found that the average household will pay $3800 extra annually due to the tariffs. Businesses say they are already struggling. Todd Nelson is the co-owner of Bountiful Farms in Woodburn, and said the relationships he has spent years building with Canada have been greatly damaged.

“Many Canadian nurseries now have ‘Buy Canadian First’ initiatives, and just in the last few months, I’ve had several long-standing orders canceled. It’s not just disappointing – it’s heartbreaking,” Nelson said.

Oregon state agencies and universities are also bracing for significant cost increases, with budgets set before tariffs were in place. This will ultimately result in reduced services or delayed investments.

Economic analysis submitted to the court shows that state and local governments in the 12 states joining the motion stand to pay at least $3.4 billion per year in additional costs due to the tariffs. The states also submitted a Federal Reserve report noting that businesses “expected elevated input cost growth resulting from tariffs” and that “Most businesses expected to pass through additional costs to customers.”

Under Article I of the Constitution, only Congress has the “Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises.” The executive orders cite the powers granted by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), but that law applies only when an emergency presents “unusual and extraordinary threat” from abroad and does not give the President the power to impose tariffs. Congress enacted IEEPA in 1977. No President had imposed tariffs based on IEEPA until President Trump did so this year.

The case is entitled State of Oregon, et al., v. Trump, et al. (Case No. 1:25-cv-00077-GSK-TMR-JAR) and is pending before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade.

The case is led by Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes. Also joining the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York and Vermont.

Vanessa Nordyke makes closing argument for Salem's livability levy

City Councilor Vanessa Nordyke is an attorney. Today she made a presentation to the Salem City Club that she called a closing argument for Measure 24-514 on the May ballot -- which is unofficially called the livability levy, being a property tax increase to fund the library, parks, and Center 50+.

Nordyke said that she chose her black suit because it's what she likes to wear to a closing argument. "Closing," because ballots need to be postmarked on or before May 20, or put in a drop box before 8 pm on the 20th. That's just eleven days away.

Here's a slide from her presentation that I consider to be one of the most persuasive reasons to vote for the measure, if someone hasn't already made up their mind about the livability levy.

In the top row on the very right is a logo of the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce. In the middle of the third row is the logo of the Marion County Democrats. It's rare that these organizations are on the same side of a major issue, especially one that involves a tax increase.

But there they are, strange bedfellows, united in their view that Salem is best served by having a properly funded library, parks, and senior center. Nordyke's next slide said, "And now, a few words from the organized opposition to the levy..." There weren't even a few words, because there's no organized opposition.

One reason is described in the following excerpt from a valuable Salem Reporter story about Measure 24-514 by Rachel Alexander that was published a few days ago, "Salem Reporter answers your questions about city tax levy and what comes next."
Download Salem Reporter answers your questions about city tax levy and what comes next - Salem Reporter

Why doesn’t the city just spend less?

City officials have taken some steps to cut costs, including freezing hiring on some vacant positions, eliminating an assistant city manager job and curtailing travel and supply spending.

But some rising expenses are outside the city’s control. Pension rates, a major driver of growing city expenses, are set by the state. Salem will spend about $11 million more this year paying those costs for already-retired workers.

An outside committee of business and nonprofit executives reviewed the city’s budget early this year. They concluded the city was already providing services more efficiently than other Oregon cities, and that the issues with the city’s budget were largely due to structural issues outside city control.

Erdmann said that review was what led the home builders to endorse the levy.

City officials say more cost-cutting would mean reducing services.

If the livability levy doesn't pass, cuts would be extreme. Here's a few examples: the library would only be open 20 hours per week, with over half of library staff laid off; all hard (permanent) restrooms in 70 neighborhood parks would be closed; Center 50+ would cut two part-time employees, reducing outreach, programming and volunteer recruitment.

So I urge you to vote YES on Measure 24-514. We've got to keep Salem livable.

If criticizing Israel is antisemitic, then I'm an antisemite

Antisemitism used to mean what it actually is: hostility toward Jews, including hatred, discrimination, and prejudice. But lately in some circles the meaning of the word has expanded to something that it isn't: criticism of Israel.

This is completely wrong. It conflates two separate things, the Jewish religion and the nation of Israel. There are lots of people in Israel who strongly oppose policies of the current right-wing Israeli government, which is headed up by Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Many, if not most, of those people are observant Jews. So are they antisemitic, somehow being prejudiced against themselves? Of course not. They simply disagree with what their government is doing. This includes how Netanyahu and his cronies are conducting the war against Hamas.

Yet in this country Trump and his acolytes have been trying to equate anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian protests with antisemitism. That's ridiculous. There's good reason to believe that the Israeli government is committing war crimes against the two million or so people who live in Gaza.

Protesting this deserves praise, or at least a recognition that everyone in the United States, citizen and non-citizen alike, are entitled to express their views about the war freely. 

My own viewpoint is in line with how most Americans seem to see the Israeli-Hamas conflict. Hamas was wrong to start the war on October 7, 2023. Israel was justified in striking back against Hamas. However, the rules of war require that civilian casualties be minimized and that civilians not be forced to leave their homes or denied humanitarian aid such as food, water, and shelter.

Israel has failed to comply with both of those requirements. Gaza has been almost completely destroyed, with the population continually forced to move from one area to another by Israeli forces. An estimated 15,000 children have been killed in Gaza, with over 25,000 injured. That infuriates me.

I'm also deeply angered by Israel severely limiting humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, most of whom have no connection with Hamas and the October 7 terror attacks. Amnesty International tells it like it is:

Israel must immediately end its devastating siege on the occupied Gaza Strip which constitutes a genocidal act, a blatant form of unlawful collective punishment, and the war crime of using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, said Amnesty International, marking two months since Israel reimposed a ban on the entry of aid and commercial goods into the Strip on 2 March 2025.  

By blocking the entry of supplies critical for the survival of the population, Israel continues its policy of deliberately imposing conditions of life on Palestinians in Gaza calculated to bring about their physical destruction; this constitutes an act of genocide.  

Harrowing new testimonies gathered by Amnesty International throughout April reveal the catastrophic human cost of Israel’s two-month long total siege, where starvation and denial of life-saving essentials are being used as weapons of war in flagrant violation of international law. 

“The extent of human suffering in Gaza for the past 19 months has been unimaginable, and it is a direct consequence of Israel’s ongoing genocide. Apart from a brief respite during the temporary truce, Israel has relentlessly and mercilessly turned Gaza into an inferno of death and destruction,” Erika Guevara Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy, and Campaigns at Amnesty International. 

“For the past two months, Israel has completely cut off the supply of humanitarian aid and other items indispensable to the survival of civilians in a clear and calculated effort to collectively punish over two million civilians and to make Gaza unlivable. This is genocide in action.  

“The international community must not continue to stand by as Israel perpetrates these atrocities with impunity. States, especially Israel’s allies, must act now and take concrete measures to pressure Israel into immediately lifting its total siege and allowing the unhindered entry of humanitarian aid and its safe distribution across all of Gaza. A sustained ceasefire is essential to ensure that can happen.” 

This week in the Hague, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is holding public hearings to examine Israel’s obligations in relation to the presence and activities of the United Nations (UN) and other international organizations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), including the provision of humanitarian assistance. Amnesty International reiterates the critical urgency of allowing UNRWA, other UN agencies and humanitarian organizations, to carry out their life-saving work across the OPT without obstructions.   

Israel’s refusal to allow aid into Gaza also flouts repeated ICJ orders to ensure Palestinians have access to sufficient humanitarian assistance and basic services. 

So, yes, if criticism of Israel is antisemitic, then I'm proud to be labeled an antisemite -- because I abhor how Israel is using starvation and forced displacement as a weapon of war against the people of Gaza.

Trump's first 100 days are a litany of failures

After a long stretch of having no problems with our Starlink satellite internet, the only high speed broadband option available to us out here in rural south Salem, Oregon, our router has developed a serious connection problem. 

Meaning, no wi-fi, despite my best efforts over the past four hours to figure out what the problem is. Of course, this being an Elon Musk company, it isn't possible to get any support via phone, so I'm waiting for a reply to the support request I sent via the Starlink iPhone app.

That request went out via a dreadfully slow cellular connection (our cell service is as bad as our broadband service, which is limited to 7 Mbps DSL, aside from Starlink, when it's working).

Since I'm addicted to writing a daily post for one of my three blogs, I figured that I'd keep my daily post habit fed in a simple fashion by sharing the end of a great piece by David Remnick in the May 5 issue of The New Yorker. It's titled "100 Days of Ineptitude." Naturally he's referring to Trump.

The record of failure after a hundred days is, at once, astonishing and predictable. With no evident purpose, Trump has alienated Europe, Japan, Mexico, and Canada, further undermined NATO, and made even more plain his affection for Vladimir Putin.

He has sanctioned his benefactor Elon Musk to hoist a chainsaw and commit mayhem against government agencies that save countless human lives. With evident pleasure, Trump has deported more than two hundred people (nearly all of whom have no criminal record) to a Salvadoran gulag. With his tariff proposals, he managed to destabilize the global economy in a flash, perhaps the worst own goal in history.

As part of his revenge campaign, he has waged a war of intimidation against dozens of scholarly, commercial, and legal institutions. Some, like Columbia University, Amazon, and Paul, Weiss, have caved, choosing the path of obedience over principle. Shari Redstone, of Paramount, would rather trash the independence of "60 Minutes," the most respected investigative outlet on television, than resist the absurd attacks of Trump and his lawyers.

The enduring emblem of this Administration and its duplicity is undoubtedly STRUMP, a meme-coin scheme that has brought many millions of dollars in profits to the President and his fellow-investors. Few seem to mind. Trump has normalized presidential corruption.

If one were forced to choose two representative events in the life of the Administration so far they would surely be the White House meetings with the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, and, six weeks later, with the Salvadoran President, Nayib Bukele.

In the first, Trump treated a moral hero as an ungrateful scoundrel. In the second, he treated a sadistic dictator as a soulmate. It is hard to recall a scene in the Oval Office more revolting than that of Trump's smiling request to Bukele to build five more prisons, because "the homegrowns are next."

In recent weeks, there have been encouraging signs of opposition to Trump, on the streets and in the courts. Cory Booker, Chris Murphy, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Bernie Sanders are among the clearest voices of dissent on Capitol Hill. But accommodation and cowardice remain the norm.

"We are all afraid," the Republican senator Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, said to a gathering in Anchorage. No doubt. The threat of retaliation is no joke, but the Senator's plaintive cry does not exactly meet the demands of the moment. This is not primarily a matter of competence or a clash over policy.

The Trump Administration is carrying out a coordinated assault on first principles. "The limits of tyrants," Frederick Douglass said, "are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." The President will persist in his assault until he feels the resistance of a people who will tolerate it no longer.

Vote for the progressive candidates in the Salem-Keizer school board races

We live in polarized political times. School board elections are part of this dynamic. Sure, it'd be nice if candidates for the Salem-Keizer school board positions on the May 2025 ballot all could be judged individually.

But that's not the world we live in. As has been the case recently, there are two slates of candidates, progressive and conservative. A Salem Reporter story about the Zone 7 candidates for the upcoming school board election says:

As has become standard in Salem, two ideologically opposed slates of school board candidates are running in the nonpartisan races.

Mel Fuller is endorsed by Community for Salem-Keizer Schools, a coalition of union and progressive groups including the Salem-Keizer teacher union and farmworker union PCUN. The group says it’s endorsing “experienced leaders who know that students thrive when they get the support they need to meet high expectations,” and who will focus on protecting public education.

Jeremiah Radka is supported by Marion + Polk First, a conservative political action committee involved in school board and city council races. The group says its candidates focus on schools performing with “academic rigor, quality, and hands-on training” as well as bringing police back into local schools.

Here's the full slate of candidates endorsed by Community for Salem-Keizer Schools. They're the best candidates, in my opinion.

We've seen what happens when right-wing zealots take control of a school board.

Books are banned that don't fit with an extreme conservative purity test. Excessive top-down control prevents teachers from doing what they're good at, helping their students learn. Schools become fortresses, scaring students, rather than buildings with a common sense level of security.

So that's why voters should embrace the progressive slate of candidates and reject the conservative slate. We can't have the political party that wants to do away with the Department of Education and views "diversity" as a dirty word taking over the Salem-Keizer School Board.

Our students deserve better than that.

Vote Yes on Measure 24-514, the livability levy

It's got a nice alliterative ring to it... livability levy. The official name for what Salem voters will consider on the May 20, 2025 ballot is Measure 24-514. 

The measure increases property taxes to pay for the library, parks, and Center 50+. If it doesn't pass, drastic cuts will have to be made to these important components of our city's livability. What kind of city would Salem be without them?

Not one most people would be proud of.

These are difficult times. Our national politics are a divisive mess. Prospects for the economy don't look great. Inflation is moderating a bit but prices are still too high on many things. 

So it's understandable why some will be reluctant to mark Yes on Measure 24-514. Since ordinary people have to find ways to reduce costs, why can't the City of Salem?

Because there's solid evidence that the folks at City Hall have (metaphorically) looked under the sofa cushions for loose change, and there's simply not enough money in the general fund to fund the library, parks, and Center 50+ without this property tax increase.

Today the Salem Reporter had a story by Abbey McDonald, "Timeline: How Salem's city government got to its current budget crisis." Here's excerpts related to the need for Measure 24-514.

This month, voters in Salem will decide whether to support or reject the city’s proposed new property tax as the city faces deep cuts to the Salem Public Library, in parks, at Center 50+ and across city services.

The levy is the latest attempt by the city to balance its budget, after years of cuts, studies and other efforts to raise revenue. Spending has outpaced revenue due to measures in the 1990s which limited how much the city could bring in property taxes, and as state-mandated pension payments increase.

...February [2025]: A committee of financially-savvy executives tasked with looking at the city’s budget to find waste release their findings: the city’s budgetary woes are less about wasteful spending and inefficiencies and are largely due to structural problems outside Salem’s control.

...April [2025]: City leaders release their budget proposal for the year, with deep cuts to city services including 51 full time city jobs. It includes cutting library staff by 23, closing the West Salem branch and cutting the main branch to 20 hours per week.

The Salem Area Chamber of Commerce issues its endorsement of the levy. Gov. Tina Kotek says she supports the effort. Salem Reporter hosts a town hall inviting community members to ask city leadership about the levy.

Here's three "accomplishments" by Trump that make this Democrat happy

We've now endured 100 days of Trump's second term in office. Those three-plus months have been a disaster for the United States and the world.

Trump has damaged economies by his insanely high and poorly thought out tariffs. Trump has failed to stop the Israel-Hamas and Russia-Ukraine wars. Trump has decimated vital government services through mindless budget and personnel cuts. Trump has been chastised by federal judges and the Supreme Court for failing to obey the rule of law.

But the news isn't all bad. Here's three "accomplishments" (the quotation marks point to irony) by Trump that make me happy as a progressive Democrat. 

(1) Trump single-handedly kept Canada's Liberal Party in power. Before Trump started to call the Prime Minister of Canada "Governor," a reference to his repeated threats to make Canada the 51st state, that country's Conservative Party was heavily favored to regain power through parliamentary elections.

However, yesterday Canadians voted to keep the Liberal Party in power under Prime Minister Mark Carney because the Conservatives were seen as being too close to Trumpism, being a sort of maple leaf MAGA, or MCGA. Here's an excerpt from a BBC story, "Trump made Carney's turnaround victory possible."

Mark Carney and the Liberal Party have claimed a remarkable victory in the Canadian election – and it appears to have come with a big assist from Donald Trump.

The US president's constant badgering of America's northern neighbour and taunts about making it the 51st US state since his return to office in January coincided with a dramatic reversal in fortune for the centre-left party.

Carney has been almost singularly focused on his neighbour, and this was reflected in his victory speech. After warning that the US wanted Canada's land and resources, Carney declared: "President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us. That will never ever happen."

Until Trump's return to power, Pierre Poilievre's Conservative Party had held what looked like high and insurmountable ground in voter preference polls amidst general dissatisfaction with the state of the Canadian economy and almost a decade of Liberal government under then leader Justin Trudeau.

(2) Trump has erased $150 billion of Elon Musk's net worth. Before Musk bought Twitter and turned it into a right-wing shadow of its former self, I thought Musk was an appealing visionary and businessman. 

But seeing Musk steadily descend into sharing Trumpian conspiracy theories, along with blatant lies, soured me on Musk. My distaste deepened after Trump made Musk the head of DOGE, giving him free rein to fire federal employees for no good reason, take over confidential computer systems in Social Security and the IRS, and generally act like an annoying asshole.

At first Tesla's stock price rose after Trump was elected, as investors believed the company would benefit from Musk's close association with Trump.

It's been a pleasure to watch the stock price of Tesla sink as Musk's popularity with the public declined. Gosh, who could have predicted that if the CEO of Tesla starts trashing the values of Democrats, who are big fans of electric cars, they'd look elsewhere for an electric car purchase. (Lots of people predicted this, actually.)

So since so much of Musk's net worth is tied up in Tesla stock, Musk has lost around $150 billion since mid-December.

The steep decline in Tesla stock has contributed to Musk's net worth falling sharply over the past few months. Despite rising valuations for Musk's private ventures, the steady decline in the stock of his publicly traded car company has wiped about $150 billion off his net worth since mid-December. Still the world's richest person with a net worth of $335 billion, that's down sharply from a peak of almost $480 billion just a few months ago.

(3) Fireworks may be in short supply for the nation's 250 year anniversary of our independence in 2026. Our dog doesn't like fireworks. I'm OK with them, but since we live in a rural area where every year idiots set off illegal fireworks despite the high wildfire danger around July 4, I'd be happier with fewer fireworks.

Which Trump is well on the way to accomplishing through his tariffs on Chinese exports. Here's excerpts from a Washington Post story, "Trump is softening his tariff talk. But the damage may already be done."

With 14 months remaining before the United States’ 250th birthday on July 4, 2026, Stacy Blake should be placing big orders with the Chinese factories that supply her fireworks company in St. Joseph, Missouri. But she’s not. And she blames President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The same president who’s making plans for a “grand celebration” of this national milestone has imposed sky-high import duties that will make that star-spangled festival tough to pull off.

With the trade war causing U.S. orders to dry up, Chinese fireworks factories have begun shutting down. That threatens to disrupt the industry’s production schedule, leading to serious shortages, said Blake, co-owner of Schneitter Fireworks & Importing.

“We’ve got a huge problem ahead of us going into next year,” said Blake, who is also president of the National Fireworks Association. “This season is when Chinese manufacturers would be manufacturing our products right now for 2026, for the 250th. Very little production is happening. They have halted it.”

...Almost all of the fireworks that Americans purchase for personal use are made in China; three-quarters of the pyrotechnics featured in more elaborate community celebrations are Chinese.

In 2019, recognizing the lack of domestic production, Trump exempted the industry from his first China tariffs.

This time, however, he has not granted a similar waiver, leaving scores of small businesses facing crippling extra costs. Importers who cannot afford 145 percent taxes have told their Chinese suppliers to freeze shipments, which could mean some consumer favorites for celebrating the July Fourth holiday this year will be hard to find, said Blake, Schneitter Fireworks’ co-owner.

Without immediate relief from Trump’s tariffs, American importers will miss their turn in the Chinese production line for 2026. Fireworks factories will soon enter their annual summer shutdown. And when they reopen, they are scheduled to fill European orders before producing what Chinese consumers demand.

Mai Vang is best choice for Ward 6 city council seat in May 20 election

There are three candidates running in the May 20 special election to fill the remaining term in the Ward 6 city council seat that was vacated by Julie Hoy when she was elected Mayor of Salem last year. 

Mai Vang, Deanna Garcia, and Logan Lor all deserve credit for stepping up to the citizen activism plate and taking a swing at being elected to this time-consuming zero-pay volunteer position.

I believe Mai Vang is most deserving of Ward 6 votes, and I say this only partly because she is endorsed by Progressive Salem, which happens to be my political "tribe." She also appears to be the best qualified candidate.

Today the Statesman Journal had a good story by Whitney Wordworth about the Ward 6 city council race. It pointed out that usually in city council races the contest is between a progressive and a conservative, mirroring our national political scene. 

The mayor and Salem City Council are nonpartisan, unpaid positions but typically fall between "progressive candidates" and "business candidates," with the latter tending to draw large donations from developers and political action committees. 

That explains the reference to "monied interests" pushing forward their candidate in the Progressive Salem endorsement above -- the business candidate being Deanna Garcia.

Here's the About Mai Vang statement on her campaign web site. She has a background that seems to make her a good fit for the ethnically diverse Ward 6 neighborhood that she hopes to represent on the Salem City Council.

Hi there!

I am a first generation Hmong-American. My parents were refugees of the Vietnam War and were resettled in Missoula, Montana in the early 1990s. I am the oldest of 6 kids. I grew up in a family oriented culture and lived in a multigeneration household. So I have always had one foot in the traditional expectations of my culture and one foot in the American culture, where anything is possible.

Hmong is my first language so I didn’t learn English until I went to school. And from that moment, I was given the role of translator for parents, grandparents, other family members.

Growing up, money was always tight, so I spent summers out in my parents’ garden growing and harvesting vegetables to then sell at my family’s booth at the Missoula Farmer’s Market. I spent many early Saturday mornings getting to know my local community.

During these times, my community also showed up and helped us in every way they could. They helped my family and me build a strong foundation to stand on and make the U.S. feel like home. This is something that I carry with me wherever I go– to give back and help build my community stronger so everyone can feel like they’re home.

I came to Oregon to attend Willamette University College of Law (go Bearcats!). I have always been interested in politics, especially in local government because it was where I could see the impact on my everyday life, my neighbors, and my city.

My husband and I were attracted to Ward 6 by all the new housing development. We found a beautiful place that was in our rent budget. One of the best things we discovered about Ward 6 was that we were right in the middle of everything! Just a few minutes’ drive to Fred Meyer and all the restaurants and shops on Lancaster but also just a few minutes to downtown Salem.  I can proudly say I can navigate around Salem without getting lost about 95% of the time!

With all the great things about Ward 6, I also noticed some things that concerned me—particularly pedestrian safety and traffic. So I went to my neighborhood association to voice my concerns and seek solutions. It was here where I got to know my neighbors and learned that they also shared the same concerns I did. They also brought other concerns to my attention and I have been active ever since.

Right now Ward 6 doesn’t have someone to listen to their concerns and, most importantly, show up for them. I am committed to doing that. That’s why I’m running to represent Ward 6.