Jackie Leung should get Progressive Salem support for her City Council campaign

I'm a proud member of Progressive Salem. It's great that the group has helped elect five progressives to the City Council, a majority. But here's some constructive criticism about how Progressive Salem decides who to endorse.

So far, Progressive Salem is sitting on its hands when it comes to the Ward 4 race in south Salem. This seems ridiculous, since the two candidates are...

Steve McCoid, the incumbent, who was narrowly elected in 2014 by about 200 votes. He defeated Scott Bassett, who was a Salem United candidate, which was a sort of precursor to Progressive Salem.

McCoid leans conservative. He favors building the Third Bridge, or Salem River Crossing, as evidenced by his being part of a four member City Council minority that voted in favor of an agreement that would have helped the project move forward. This puts him at odds with the five progressives on the council: Tom Andersen, Cara Kaser, Sally Cook, Chris Hoy, and Matt Ausec.

To date McCoid's largest contribution for his 2018 re-election campaign is $2,500 from the Oregon Realtors Political Action Committee. 

Jackie Leung is challenging McCoid. She's a graduate of the Willamette University College of Law and University of Iowa School of Public Health. She's the Chair of the Micronesian Island Community organization. Her bio reads like a liberal dream candidate.

She works as a Community Organizer with the COFA Alliance National Network. In addition to serving as Chairperson of the Micronesian Islander Community, Ms. Leung is also a Community Health Worker Supervisor, focusing on meeting the community health needs of the Micronesian community.  Ms. Leung is an active member and supporter of the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon. She also is active in multiple organizations, including the Hunger-Free Leadership Institute, Developing Equity Leadership through Training and Action. Her legal and public health background provide her with valuable insight into health policy, advocacy, and legislation. 

So why isn't Progressive Salem supporting a liberal woman of color over a conservative white man?

After all, Progressive Salem is supporting another woman, Micki Varney, in her campaign against Ward 8 incumbent Jim Lewis. Lewis is described on the Progressive Salem web site as "a conservative Republican who draws the majority of his support from homebuilders, developers and realtors."

Well, Steve McCoid also is a conservative who draws the majority of his support from the same homebuilders, developers, and realtors, judging by the contributions to his 2018 campaign so far. 

Why, then, is Jackie Leung currently getting so little love from Progressive Salem? Here's some theories, along with my critique of each, based on what I've been able to surmise about the Progressive Salem endorsement process. 

(1) Progressive Salem only backs candidates they feel they can go all in for. Door to door canvassing is a big part of the Progressive Salem success story. This takes a bunch of volunteers plus organizing time. OK, maybe Progressive Salem can't run a full bore canvassing campaign for both Micki Varney and Jackie Leung. But this doesn't stop the group from simply endorsing Leung as the most progressive Ward 4 candidate and urging a vote for her. That costs nothing, yet gives Leung increased credibility as a liberal alternative to the conservative Steve McCoid.

(2) Jackie Leung announced her candidacy after Progressive Salem arrived at its political game plan for the 2018 City Council elections. Well, plans can be changed. Progressive Salem should remain flexible until after the deadline for filing for City Council seats, which occurred recently. Incumbent progressive councilors Tom Andersen and Chris Hoy don't have challengers, so this frees up time, money, and energy for the Ward 4 and 8 contests being waged by Jackie Leung and Micki Varney. Failing to back Leung makes no sense, since she clearly is the most progressive Ward 4 candidate.

(3) Progressive Salem wants to win so bad, they won't back potential losers. Hopefully this theory isn't true, even though I've heard fellow local political junkies suggest it. Hey, every candidate is a potential loser. Elections are unpredictable. Nationally, Democrats are showing their strength by running candidates (who often are women) in 2018 races that in previous years would have been ceded to Republicans. Progressive Salem should endorse every progressive candidate who steps up to run in a City Council race. Repeat, every candidate. If they win, great. If they lose, at least progressives tried. Ward 4 is a "purple" ward, about evenly divided between left- and right-leaning people. Clinton beat Trump by just 20 votes in Ward 4 in the 2016 presidential election.

(4) Steve McCoid is a tolerable city councilor, so progressives should work with him, not against him. This is the worst reason I've heard about why Progressive Salem isn't endorsing Jackie Leung. It drives me nuts when liberals aren't willing to be as committed as conservatives are to getting a hold of the reins of political power. Conservatives controlled the Salem City Council for many years because they went all out to elect right-wing candidates.

Now progressives have a narrow 5-4 majority on the council and I hear talk of "Let's just all get along; McCoid and other conservatives can be worked with." That's the sort of mentality that will bring an end to the current progressive majority. Sure, it's good to be collegial. But collegiality should end when election time comes around and there's a clear choice between a progressive and a conservative.

Bottom line: there are many good reasons for Progressive Salem to endorse Jackie Leung for her Ward 4 campaign. Hopefully this will happen. It makes no sense for Progressive Salem to be neutral on the race between Leung and Steve McCoid. The group needs to endorse Jackie Leung, even if it doesn't feel it can help her with canvassing. 

Especially in 2018, the year of the woman candidate. 

Comments

[Jim Scheppke]

Brian, why does your analysis leave out the fact that McCoid has been endorsed by the five progressives on the City Council? You paint him with a broad brush as a "conservative" (bad!). He is more of a moderate (he is not a registered Republican). The situation is much more nuanced than you present here. The five progressives on the City Council obviously like working with McCoid and believe they can find common ground with him on most issues. Also, Jackie did not decide to run until the last minute, months after Progressive Salem had made their decisions about the May 2018 Primary. I think you are being unfair.

[Brian Hines]

Jim, just because some city councilors endorse an incumbent doesn't mean the incumbent is the most progressive candidate. Chuck Bennett got endorsed by some of the current progressives on the City Council when he ran against Carole Smith in 2016, even though Smith was by far the most progressive candidate. As I said in this post, I'm not big on the "go along to get along" thing when collegiality is valued over the best candidate.

[Bob Collin]

Interesting debate. Maybe the structural racial discrimination of Salem is part of it? My wife, an African American Professor of Law, has suffered many forms of racial discrimination here. Last year we went to lunch to celebrate the last day of her radiation treatment for cancer. We went to a place we’d gone for 14 years and know the owners who are women of color and always nice to us
The staff refused to serve us food. Businesses have also refused to honor coupons to her. We couldn’t find anyone who would rent to us so we had to buy a house. It goes on and on. It’s not just us.
This structure could affect the vernacular of our progressives here. Poor people, and people of color are excluded from electoral processes. One reason to be late to the party is the lack of invitation.
Just personal, and professional, observations to frame this discussion through a different lens.

[Salemander]

Bob Collin are you saying a restaurant in Salem refused service because your wife is black? What one was it?Something like that should be named.

[Jim Scheppke]

As a member of the Board of Progressive Salem, I would be very offended at any suggestion that Jackie is not getting our endorsement because she is a person of color. That had absolutely nothing to do with our decision to stick with the plans we made months ago and devote our limited resources to reelecting Tom Andersen and Chris Hoy in Wards 2 and 6 and electing Micki Varney to replace arch-conservative Jim Lewis in Ward 8. We recognize the need to elect more persons of color to serve as elected officials in Salem. We worked very hard last year to elect Levi Herrera-Lopez to a seat on the school board, but came up short. We will continue to look for persons of color that we can endorse and support in the years ahead. This is an important goal of Progressive Salem.

[Geoffrey James]

Steve McCoid has been endorsed by the five progressives on the City Council.
Steve McCoid is more of a moderate Independent.
Steve McCoid has been endorsed by the five progressives on the City Council and they obviously like working with McCoid and believe they can find common ground with him on
Jackie Leung did not decide to run until the last minute, months after Progressive Salem had made their decisions about the May 2018 Primary.
Jackie Leung is not getting our endorsement because she is a person of color?
I am a Progressive Salem board member, and I know we work hard to elect persons of color to serve as elected officials in Salem.
Our efforts right now, however, are devoted 100% towards getting Micki Varney elected as city councilor for Ward 8.

[Brian Hines]

Geoff, I didn't say that Progressive Salem has failed to endorse Jackie Leung because she is a person of color. I gave other reasons that could explain why this hasn't happened. I realize that Progressive Salem is putting a lot of effort into electing Micki Varney, but Progressive Salem could have various levels of endorsements.

Tier 1 would be a full-out campaign for a candidate with money donated and canvassing organized. Tier 2 could be offering a lesser degree of help with a campaign. Tier 3 could be a simple "we endorse ______", which indicates that this someone is the most progressive candidate.

Leung certainly is more progressive that McCoid, so she should get a endorsement from Progressive Salem. The fact that all five progressive city councilors are endorsing McCoid should be irrelevant. That's their mistake, in my view.

[Brian Hines]

Also... back in 2014 progressives worked hard to elect Scott Bassett in Ward 4 rather than his opponent, Steve McCoid. Yet now supposedly all five progressives on the City Council are endorsing McCoid. Wow. I don't get it.

As I've noted, McCoid favors building a Third Bridge. He voted for the Lone Oak Road Reimbursement District, which hasn't endeared him to people in the Creekside neighborhood. So there's good reason to support Jackie Leung, given the non-progressive nature of McCoid's policy positions.

If Bassett had been elected in 2014 rather than McCoid, I strongly doubt that the conservatives on the City Council would be endorsing Bassett. Yet the five progressives appear to be endorsing McCoid.

This is what drives me crazy about progressives. All too often they play nice, rather than playing to win. I respect conservatives not for their politics, but for their commitment to winning.

It demoralizes liberals to see progressives who have been elected to an office start to forget that their goal should be to elect more progressives, not endorse incumbent conservatives.

[Michael Slater]

I would be interested in knowing if Jackie asked for Progressive Salem's endorsement? From what I understand, endorsement requests go to a committee appointed by the Board who then make a recommendation back to the board on whether or not to endorse. So, as a regular member of Progressive Salem, I don't have any way to know who's seeking an endorsement or an opportunity to weigh in on that endorsement before a decision is made.

[Brian Hines]

Michael, yes, on March 5 a request was made to the Progressive Salem board by someone affiliated with Jackie Leung's campaign to endorse her Ward 4 candidacy. An email asked for an emergency meeting of the board and laid out reasons why it makes sense to endorse Leung. This person also noted to me that Progressive Salem decided last year what May 2018 races would be supported. So even before it was known who would run in each of the City Council races, Progressive Salem settled on which races to support.