Salem Political Snark

School board election losses dismaying to progressives

About three weeks ago I was deeply upset when each of the Salem-Keizer school board candidates endorsed by Progressive Salem lost to conservative candidates.

And not by a little.

Marty Heyen defeated Raul Marquez 53% to 47%. Satya Chandragiri defeated David Salinas 52% to 48%. Danielle Bethell defeated Chuck Lee 54% to 46%.

Sure, turnout was just 20% of registered voters. But it's hard for progressives like me to look upon the result of the May 21 Special District Election as anything but an ass-kicking by conservatives.

I'm not sure why this happened. It's easier for me to come up with likely non-reasons for the progressive defeats. Such as, money.

A Salem Reporter story, "Average Salem-Keizer school board campaign tops $25,000," noted that incumbent Chuck Lee spent $50,500, by far the most of any school board candidate. Yet his opponent, Danielle Bethell, had the largest victory margin despite spending only about $15,000.

The story also says that the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555 contributed most of Lee's campaign funds, largely via $30,000 worth of in-kind contributions (canvassing and mailings).

Likewise, Raul Marquez is reported to have raised about $26,000 while his opponent, incumbent Marty Heyen, raised about $11,000. This seems to show that incumbency also doesn't explain the results, since the progressive incumbent lost, while the conservative incumbent won.

What caught my eye in the Salem Reporter story is the mentions of Oregon Right to Life, an anti-abortion group.

Anderson said the union stepped up its support for Lee to counter the influence of Oregon Right to Life funding in the race. The group gave Bethell about $3,700, making it her single largest contributor, though most of her contributions are from individuals and local businesses.

...This year’s lowest spender is Marty Heyen, who’s seeking re-election in zone 2. She’s raised about $11,000 to date and drawn most of her financial support from Oregon Right to Life.

Voters have also received mailings supporting Heyen sent by the Women’s Leadership Coalition. According to campaign filings, the Keizer group's political action committee is directed by Oregon Right to Life staff members.

...In zone 4, which has no incumbent, Satya Chandragiri has raised nearly $36,000 and David Salinas about $30,000. Both men have received large sums from individual donors, though Salinas has significant support from PCUN and other unions, and Chandragiri from Oregon Right to Life.

So it seems possible, if not likely, that the reason Bethell, Heyen, and Chandragiri won was a combination of conservative enthusiasm for the Right to Life candidates and progressive apathy in a low-turnout off-year special district election. 

After all, those opposed to abortion are zealous about this, often basing their vote on this issue alone, while progressives/liberals tend to be more eclectic in their politics --  being concerned about many issues, which means it is difficult to get them to vote in a local election lacking national significance.

I've also heard that Salem's mega-churches could have played a role in the school board races by backing the Oregon Right to Life candidates, though I haven't gotten any evidence that politics was preached from the pulpit, or in church communications.

Bottom line: even though Salem is a liberal town (Keizer, much less so), progressives need to find ways to get their voters off of their butts in off-year local elections. I tried to do this via Facebook posts, but obviously that wasn't enough.

Hopefully wiser political minds than what I possess are pondering how to wake the liberal electorate in Salem so they don't slumber through any more Salem-Keizer school board races.

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.