Salem Political Snark

Good election night for Dems. Now, let's turn Salem more progressive.

Ah, the sweet smell of Democratic election victories has temporarily banished the stench of Trump's disastrous presidency from my political nostrils.

It looks like Kentucky has chosen a Democrat, Andy Beshear, to be the next Governor. Yes, Kentucky, where Trump won by 30 points in 2016, and where Trump campaigned last night for the Republican incumbent, Matt Bevin.

Sweet! 

Of course, I'm confident Trump will claim that if he hadn't supported Bevin, the race wouldn't have been as close as it was, with Beshear on top by about 5,000 votes. But no matter how Republicans spin the Kentucky outcome, it's still a notable win for Democrats.

I'm also thrilled that for the first time in 26 years, Democrats control Virginia -- Governor plus majorities in both the state House and Senate. So says this Washington Post graphic.

What's cool is that Democrats pulled off control of the Virginia state legislature with district maps drawn by Republicans in 2011. Now that Dems control redistricting, they will be able to do the map drawing after the 2020 census. Which should turn Virginia even more blue.

On the down side, Mississippi looks like it will elect a Republican governor. But that is just a minor blemish on some really encouraging news for Democrats. The swing of suburbs into the Democratic camp that was evident in the 2018 midterms seems to have continued into 2019.

Now us progressives have to keep the momentum going into 2020.

Locally, it isn't too early to start focusing on the prospect of progressives at least maintaining their 6-3 majority on the Salem City Council, and hopefully increasing it.

Trevor Phillips, an Emergency Room physician, has announced that he is running for the Ward 3 council seat currently occupied by a conservative, Brad Nanke, who isn't running again. Give his Facebook page a "like" so you can stay informed on the progress of the Phillips campaign. 

Here's why he is running.

Vanessa Nordyke is the progressive choice in the Ward 7 race.

She recently was chosen by the City Council to serve as the Ward 7 councilor for the rest of Sally Cook's term, which ends on December 31, 2020. In the May 2020 election Nordyke will face a conservative opponent, so we need to work to make sure Nordyke is able to serve Salem for a full four-year term.

Check out her web site. Nordyke's background is hugely impressive. 

Vanessa Nordyke is a third-generation Salem lawyer and a Senior Assistant Attorney General at the Oregon Department of Justice.

Vanessa’s dedication to Salem goes back to her teens, with work on issues like homelessness, veterans, mental health and more. Vanessa has served on a quartet of City of Salem boards: the City of Salem Youth Advisory Commission, Social Services Advisory Board, Community Police Review Board, and the Citizen Budget Committee. She co-founded the Marion County Veterans Treatment Court. She co-captained a mock trial team of Latinx students through the Salem-Keizer Coalition for Equality.

In 2018, Vanessa made history as the youngest ever-elected President of the Oregon State Bar, a unified bar of approximately 19,000 lawyers and judges statewide. As President, Vanessa spearheaded a statewide mental health initiative for the Oregon legal community. Her passion for destigmatizing mental illness led Vanessa to develop and conduct mental health trainings all over the state. After completing her OSB presidency, Vanessa resumed her focus on Salem by joining the YMCA Board of Directors and KMUZ Community Radio’s Advisory Council.

Vanessa is a proud graduate of South Salem High School, Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and University of Oregon School of Law. She is the recipient of Oregon DOJ's Excellence in Justice Award, the Marion County Bar Association’s Government Lawyer of the Year, Outstanding Mentor Award from Willamette University College of Law, and the University of Oregon School of Law’s Outstanding Young Alumnus Award.

Vanessa is a proud dogmom and loves karaoke, traveling, cooking, and the great outdoors.

Oregon Right to Life behind deceptive Marty Heyen postcard

If you got this postcard in the mail, don't be fooled by the Women's Leadership Coalition name in the return address. Actually that group is an Oregon Right to Life organization. Below you'll find proof of this.

So keep this deception in mind when you cast your ballot in the May 21 Salem-Keizer School Board election. Heyen is running against Raul Marquez, a much better candidate who isn't beholden to a special interest like Oregon Right to Life.


Here's how I know Oregon Right to Life is behind this postcard. It didn't require much sleuthing.

The return address -- P.O. Box 20103, Keizer, OR -- matches the address of one of the people listed as a director of the Women's Leadership Coalition PAC: Lois Anderson, the political director for Oregon Right to Life. Here's a screenshot from the ORESTAR database in the Secretary of State's office.

Note that all of the directors of the Women's Leadership Coalition PAC are employed by Oregon Right to Life. The Oregon Right to Life PAC also is a major contributor to the Women's Leadership Coalition PAC, having given $35,000 to it in the past eight months. UPDATE: originally I said $10,000 in seven months, but someone called my attention to two large Oregon Right to Life donations in September 2018 that totaled $25,000.

So it seems clear that the blandly-named Women's Leadership Coalition actually is a front group for an extremist organization, Oregon Right to Life. 

Extremist, because Oregon Right to Life is a fanatical single-issue group that fantasizes Planned Parenthood is plotting to get its tendrils into the Salem-Keizer School District in order to enrich itself by foisting abortions on students.

Part of the proof presented by Oregon Right to Life is a Google Maps image that shows a Planned Parenthood clinic in Salem indeed is several blocks away from McKay High School.

Gosh, that's proof of... well, the clinic being several blocks away from McKay High School -- nothing else. There's a Kaiser Permanente Medical Office even closer to McKay High School, but Oregon Right to Life isn't bothered by that.

So why is Oregon Right to Life backing Marty Heyen via a front group, rather than being open about this?

Probably because a 2014 Pew Research Center survey found that 63% of people in Oregon favor abortion being legal in all/most cases. Among Oregon women the percentage almost certainly is higher.

UPDATE: I've gotten results for Salem and Keizer on 2018's Oregon Measure 106, which would have banned public funds from being used on abortions unless necessary to save a woman's life. It was defeated statewide by about 64% No and 36% Yes.

Here's the local results. This shows that Oregon Right to Life is out of touch with voters in Salem and Keizer. Note that every ward in Salem, even the most conservative ones, supported abortion rights.

I've heard that a Women's Leadership Coalition, a.k.a. Oregon Right to Life, postcard supporting school board candidate Danielle Bethell also either has been sent out, or will be.

Here's the people to vote for in the school board election: David Salinas, Raul Marquez, and Chuck Lee. Believe me: I've heard them speak. They're all impressive candidates.

Salinas and Marquez (left and center in the photo) will bring fresh perspectives to the school board. Lee, running for re-election, brings experience. Mark your ballot for these three.

 

Oregon Right to Life trying to take over Salem-Keizer school board

Students should be able to learn without anti-abortion zealots interfering with their education. But that's the plan of Oregon Right to Life: take control of the Salem-Keizer school board in the May 21, 2019 election.

Three of the seven current school board members are backed by Oregon Right to Life: Kathy Goss, Jesse Lippold, and Marty Heyen. The photo above was in a 2017 blog post where Oregon Right to Life bragged about the election of Goss and Lippold, saying:

Pro-life voices on school boards are important for several reasons. Not only do school board members affect education policy, they become community leaders with influence beyond their offices. Most importantly, their efforts keep Planned Parenthood away from our children.

Now Oregon Right to Life is supporting the re-election of Heyen and the election of two other candidates: Danielle Bethell and Satya Chandragiri. If all three were elected, Oregon Right to Life would have a 5-2 majority on the school board.

UPDATE: someone emailed me a mailing Oregon Right to Life sent prior to the 2017 Salem-Keizer school board election that says "A Critical Election for the Unborn." Here's a PDF file. Scroll to the end of this post to see images of the mailing. It's nasty. There's an absurd claim that Planned Parenthood has a financial interest in pushing students to use their abortion services -- which only are about 3% of the services they provide nationwide.
Download Right to Life mailing in 2017

Campaign finance reports show that Heyen, Bethell, and Chandragiri each have gotten $2666.66 from the Oregon Right to Life PAC via in-kind contributions.

It strikes me as strange that this exact number was contributed to the three Right to Life candidates, since 666 is viewed as the "mark of the beast" to some Christians, being a symbol of something flawed or God's enemies.

Well, hopefully voters will see Heyen, Bethell, and Chandragiri as the flawed candidates. 

They didn't mention Oregon Right to Life in the candidate statements published by the Statesman Journal. So they're trying to run stealth right-to-life campaigns. (See here, here, and here.)

Likely this is because they know that Oregonians favor sex education in schools and support the women's health services provided by Planned Parenthood.

There are much better choices: Raul Marquez, David Salinas, and Chuck Lee.

UPDATE: Here's images of the above-mentioned mailing Oregon Right to Life sent to voters prior to the 2017 Salem-Keizer school board election.

Raul Marquez will add much needed diversity to the Salem-Keizer school board

Raul Marquez. David Salinas. Remember those names when you fill out your ballot for the May 21 Special District Election where three board members of the Salem-Keizer School District will be elected.

Then, vote for Marquez and Salinas! 

Last Saturday I got to hear Raul Marquez speak and answer questions at a house party hosted by Salem city councilor Tom Andersen and his wife, Jessica Maxwell. 

David Salinas and Raul Marquez

He's a really impressive young man.

This photo of Salinas and Marquez was shared on Facebook by Councilor Andersen. Salinas couldn't make the house party due to a family emergency. From what I've heard about Salinas, I'm confident that he'll also be an excellent addition to the seven-member school board.

A big reason why was brought up by Marquez: "No one on the school board looks like me. Yet over 50% of the students are people of color."

Here's what the current Salem-Keizer school board looks like.

Electing Marquez and Salinas will add some much-needed diversity to the Salem-Keizer School Board. Wiser decisions are made when a group is composed of people with varying backgrounds and experiences. 

At the house party Marquez spoke of his low-income upbringing. Enjoying music, he had to rent an instrument during his time at McKay High School because his family couldn't afford to buy one. He said that it wasn't the highest quality instrument, not surprisingly.

Impressively, Marquez led a successful campaign to raise $400,000 for a homeless youth shelter, Taylor's House. Here's excerpts from a Salem Reporter story:

Taylor’s House is Salem’s newest shelter, a home for teens and young people between 11 and 18 who are homeless or in foster care and don’t have another place to go. Employees work with teens on completing high school or a GED, finding work and resolving family problems.

...Taylor’s House opened in December [2018], less than a year after then-high school student Raul Marquez presented the idea to the United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley’s board and asked for their support.

Marquez walked out of that meeting with a commitment of $100,000, and quickly raised an additional $300,000, including $200,000 from the Legislature, to buy and renovate the small blue house in a residential neighborhood just north of downtown.

Raul Marquez now is a Willamette University student. He told us house party guests, "I know how to listen and act collaboratively with others."

Sounds like perfect qualifications for the first young Latino Salem-Keizer school board member.