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State Integrity Investigation gives Oregon an F
The long-standing State Integrity Investigation of the Center for Public Integrity and Public Radio International has granted Oregon an overall F grade on avoiding corruption in state government.
Oregon's overall rank fell from 14th to 42nd, the biggest drop of any state.
We have been saying for years that Oregon's lack of limits on political contributions and repeal of laws requiring that political ads identify their funders makes Oregon government inherently corruptible. Now the leading national investigation of State integrity agrees with us.
We are very different from the establishment parties.
| Dem | Rep | PROG | |
| Real campaign finance reform, particularly in Oregon | NO | NO | YES |
| "Medicare for All" comprehensive health care | NO | NO | YES |
| Taxes on working prople should be lower than taxes on the wealthy | NO | NO | YES |
| Oppose cuts in Social Security & Medicare benefits | NO | NO | YES |
| Increase minimum wage to $15 or more NOW in all of Oregon | NO | NO | YES |
| Regulate diesel toxic air emissions | NO | NO | YES |
| Employment for All (public works projects, WPA style) | NO | NO | YES |
| Increase income taxes on big corporations and the wealthy | NO | NO | YES |
| Oppose Wall Street bailouts | NO | NO | YES |
| Repair, improve infrastructure (transportation, water systems, etc.) | NO | NO | YES |
| Oppose NAFTA, WTO, Trans-Pacific Partnership "free trade" deals; support local products & services | NO | NO | YES |
| Oppose war in Iraq, Afghanistan; bring troops home now and stop sending in more | NO | NO | YES |
| Slash military spending and foreign bases | NO | NO | YES |
| End occupation of Palestine | NO | NO | YES |
| Oppose spying on Americans, including drones | NO | NO | YES |
| Equal rights for all; same-sex marriage | NUVR | NO | YES |
| Clean energy; no coal, gas or nuclear subsidies | NO | NO | YES |
| Oppose shipping coal or oil for export from Pacific Northwest ports | NO | NO | YES |
| Oppose offshore oil & gas drilling | NO | NO | YES |
| Legalize marijuana possession and use | ??? | NO | YES |
| End “corporate personhood” and constitutional rights for corporations | NO | NO | YES |
| Require labeling of genetically engineered food (GMO) | NO | NO | YES |
| End the U.S. Senate filibuster; restore majority rule | NO | NO | YES |
| NUVR = not until very recently | |||
OREGON ISSUES
1. We have worked for real campaign finance reform. Oregon Democrats and Republicans have never enacted limits on political campaign contributions but have repealed voter-enacted limits 3 times. Democrats in state office are refusing to enforce the campaign finance reform Measure 47 enacted by Oregon voters in 2006. Campaign spending for Oregon state offices has skyrocketed from $4 million in 1996 to $57 million in 2010. Spending by candidates for Oregon Legislature increased another 13% in 2012. Winning a contested race for the Legislature now typically costs over $600,000, sometimes over $1 million.
2. The initiative and referendum should be available to grass-roots efforts. The Democrat Secretary of State is now discarding over 30% of all voter signatures on initiative petitions due to arbitrary, hyper-technical, and unnecessary rules, raising the cost of petition drives so high that only corporations, unions and the very wealthy can afford to use it.
3. The State Treasurer should direct part of Oregon's $87 billion of investment funds to invest in local public works and jobs for Oregonians instead of vulture capitalists, corporate raiders, leveraged buyout artists, and fossil fuel corporations and vendors.
4. We want fair taxation. Oregon has the 4th highest income taxes of any state on lower-income working families and is still at the bottom in taxes on corporations.
5. We want to stop government promotion of gambling, including video poker, video slots, and approval of private casinos.
6. We oppose installation of police "spy cameras" and use of drones to spy on Oregon citizens.
7. We oppose using public money to subsidize rail transport of oil or coal through Oregon communities.
OPP at 2015 Oregon Legislature
|
The Oregon Progressive Party is taking stands at the Oregon Legislature. As bills are scheduled for committee hearing, we take our positions. The Oregon Legislature's committees will not accept the submittal of testimony, until a bill is scheduled for committee hearing. That requires any interested person to keep track of the schedules for dozens of committees. This is not a good way to encourage public participation. You can learn about these bills at the website of the Legislature. Go to https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2015R1 and click on Bills in the upper right area. You can add your comments about these bills below. You can click on OPP's Legislative Group to join it. You can read our testimonies at Progressive Party Testimonies. The table below shows bills we supported or opposed. Bold means that the Legislature passed the bill, and the Governor signed it. On the whole, the 2015 Legislature did nothing of signficance that we supported. The 15 enacted bills we supported were not very consequential. |
| We Supported | We Opposed | |
|
HB 2020 HB 2074 HB 2077 HB 2134 HB 2178B HB 2272 HB 2237 HB 2315 HB 2336 HB 2447 HB 2448 HB 2489 HB 2559 HB 2600 HB 2627 HB 2638 HB 2704 HB 2790 HB 2791 HB 2850 HB 2940 HB 3043 HB 3193 HB 3194 HB 3225 HB 3250 HB 3252 HB 3262 HB 3287 HB 3297 HB 3331 HB 3349 HB 3415 HB 3470 HB 3478 HB 3505 HB 3551 HJM 4 |
SB 14 SB 118 SB 130 SB 190 SB 286 SB 294 SB 313 SB 314 SB 317 SB 330 SB 332 SB 375 SB 409 SB 415 SB 477 SB 575 SB 610 SB 631 SB 668 SB 673 SB 691 SB 710 SB 713 SB 732 SB 852 SB 853 SB 878 SB 911 SB 928 SB 940 SJR 4 SJR 5 |
HB 2058 HB 2158 HB 2178 HB 2892A HB 3090 HB 3096 HB 3212 HB 3269 HB 3273 HB 3445 HB 3500 HJR 29 SB 75 SB 189 SB 292 SB 294 SB 521 SB 580 SB 611 SB 675 SB 814 |
Democrats Vote to Increase Military Spending to Record High
Submitted by info on Thu, 12/09/2021 - 14:39
Update December 14: Today the U.S. Senate passed this bill by 86-13. The Democrats voted in favor of it by 42-7. Thanks, Democrats, for wasting money on military adventurism.
169 Democrats (out of 222) just voted with Republicans to increase military spending to $768 billion per year. That’s more than Trump’s last defense budget. Last year, Trump crowed about his massive $738 billion for the U.S. military. Now, Democrats want $768 billion for the military.
More tha 3/4 of the Democrats in the U.S. House voted with Republicans to throw billions more at defense contractors, weapons, and war. The Democratic establishment has learned nothing from decades of trillion dollar wars and disinvestment in housing, education, and the social safety net.
The Senate is expected to rubber stamp this bill and send it to the White House for signature.
Senate to vote on Nat War Budget after 11-29-21
Submitted by DavidDelk on Sat, 11/20/2021 - 01:22
https://truthout.org/articles/sanders-announces-hes-voting-no-on-778-bil...
The US Senate is set to vote for the National Defense Authorization Act of 2022 on Thursday. This is likely the most important action we each can take today:
Call Sen. Merkley and Wyden and tell them to join Bernie Sanders in voting No to the National Defense Authorization bill due for a vote in the Senate on Thursday.
They have both voted No before and they need to do it again. The budget proposed by Pres. Biden was an INCREASE over 1.4% billion over the last Trump war budget. And then the House and Senate Armed Services committee approved an additional $25B to the Biden war budget.
Sen Wyden is a 503-326-7525;
Sen Merkley is at 503.326.3386.
Tell them to vote no, but to approve any amendments which would decrease the budget. Sen. Bernie Sanders has proposed such an amendment. And he as said that he will vote no.
Please call every day.
David
OPP NOV 2021 newsletter now available
Submitted by DavidDelk on Thu, 11/11/2021 - 13:28
The Oregon Progressive Party Nov 2021 newsletter is now available at https://conta.cc/30irY3h Read the OPP War and Peace Report, learn about the Portland Tenents Union efforts for a City of Portland ordirance to end landload haressment of tenants, why OPP signed onto a letter written by Veterans for Peace to the Portland City Council and more.
NDAA War bill approved overwhelmingly by US House
Submitted by DavidDelk on Sun, 10/03/2021 - 03:15
Votes on HR4350 – National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) For Fiscal 2022 and certain amendments.
Link to Govtrack.us for this bill: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/hr4350
HR4350 is the first of two bills to enact the national war budget. The second bill will be the National Defense Appropriations Bill, later this year.
HR4350 was overwhelmingly enacted in the US House - 316 yes/113 no. The no vote was 38 Democrats and 75 Republicans. The yes vote was 181 Democrats; 135 Republicans. So this is a bipartisan win for war which would not have been enacted except for the strong Yes vote by the Democrats. In addition to the vote on the bill, there were lots of amendments offered, some of which got votes as well. This bill now moves to the US Senate for a vote. If they approve the bill with changes, a Joint Committee will be formed to work out the differences, with another vote required in both Senate and House to approve the compromise bill. Otherwise, it will go to the President for his signature. Below is the voting summary on certain amendments and the major bill by Oregon US Representatives.
Vote on HR 4350
National Defense Authorization bill vote due this week
Submitted by DavidDelk on Fri, 09/17/2021 - 02:26
The House of Representative is scheduled to vote on HB4350, National Defense Authorization Act, during the week of 9-20-21. Phone calls to all Oregon Representative are called for with a message of Vote No on HB4350.
Note that ahead of this vote, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has introduced 7 amendments to this bill. One of the amendment would end the transfer of surplus military weaponry and equipment to police departments throughout the US. Other amendments deal with Colombia, Saudi Aradia, and arms sales to Israel. Read about this and the other amendment in this press release by Rep. AOC. We don't know who might be supporting or co-sponsoring these amendments but I would hope that Reps. Blumenauer, Bonamici and Defazio would.
How about calling them and asking them to support these amendments? Tell them that they should vote Yes on each of AOC's amendments and vote no on HB4350, even if all of AOC's amendments are adopted. HB4350 as originally proposed by Pres. Biden ($753 Billion) was already larger than Pres. Trump's last defense budget and then that was increased by $25 billion by the House Armed Services Committee. It is time for a peace dividend; time to move from war funding to peace funding and filling the needs of the American people.
Finding Contact information
Find phone number and other contact info for our OR Representatives here. If you live in Washington, find them here.
OPP files Amicus Brief to support the initiative process
Submitted by DavidDelk on Wed, 09/01/2021 - 00:08
If a voter as been classified as inactive by election authorities, should that person lose their ability to sign an initiative petition? That is the heart of a OR Supreme Court case now being argued.
The OR Secretary of State has said, “Yes, you should.” But her decision has been challenged in a case now before the OR Supreme Court.
Dan Meek, legal council for the OR Progressive Party, will argue on the Party’s behalf that the right of an inactive voter to sign petitions is retained by the voter and the signature should be counted, noting that prior decisions in Maryland and New York, both with similar constitutional language to Oregon’s, have found that inactive voters do not lose their right to sign just because they have been labeled inactive. As long as they meet the qualifications to be a registered voter, their signatures should be counted.
This is of interest to us at OPP because we have been active users of the initiative process. Mr Meek has pointed out that there are about 500,000 Inactive voters in Oregon and that in every signature drive, 3-5$ of all signatures are disqualified because the signers are labeled Inactive.
Rally/March for Peace and Justice 9-10-21 in Portland
Submitted by DavidDelk on Wed, 08/25/2021 - 21:32
Oregon Progressive Party has endorsed a rally organized by Peace & Justice Work marking the 20th anniversary of the beginning of America's endless wars.
9/11: Twenty Years of War, Stoking Fear, Erasing Rights and Misdirected Funding
Expanded Friday Rally/March for Peace and Justice
Please mask up and stay distanced for safety
Location: Pioneer Courthouse Sq, SW Yamhill & Broadway, Portland
Date/time: Friday, September 10-2021, 4:30 - 6 PM
Join with Code Pink supporting Rep. Lee call for $350 bilion Pentagon budget cut
Submitted by DavidDelk on Sat, 08/07/2021 - 00:33
Support Rep. Lee legislation to cut Pentagon budget $350 billion.
Code Pink action is call for US Representatives to support Rep. Barbara Lee's legislation to cut US Defense Dept budget by $350 billion. https://www.codepink.org/leepentagon21 Note that at this point no OR Rep is co-sponsoring this legislation. We need to ask Sen. Merkley and Wyden to introduce this into the Senate as well.
Rep. Lee's bill here.https://www.codepink.org/leepentagon21 Note that at this point no OR Rep is co-sponsoring this legislation. We need to ask Sen. Merkley and Wyden to introduce this into the Senate as well. Rep. Lee's bill here. https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-resolution/476/text?q... "> The bill number is HR 476.
Find contact info for members of Congress here: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member
National Securites Power Act (S2391) needs support
Submitted by DavidDelk on Fri, 07/30/2021 - 02:06
Win without War notifies us that Senators Lee, Sanders and Murphy have introduced a bill into Congress to reassert the constitutional balance between the Congress and the Executive Branch in the exercise of the war power, an unbalance which currently favors the executive branch in pushing the nation toward war. The bill is the National Securities Power Act, S2391, text here.
Win without War also has a petition addressed to our OR Senators asking that they co-sponsor this bill in the Senate. Sign the petition here.
Let's Tax the Rich, Bezos
Submitted by DavidDelk on Sat, 07/24/2021 - 23:42
David Delk, Chair of the OR Progressive Party, submitted this letter to the editor July 22, 2021
After returning from his self-indulgent space joyride, Jeff Bezos said, “Every astronaut who’s been up into space, they say that it changes them.” He added that his joyride was thanks to the efforts of Amazon customers and employees, “You guys paid for all of this.”
In 2007 and 2011, Bezos, the world richest man (worth $177 billion) paid no federal income tax while the median American household earned $70,000 and paid 14% ($9800).
Perhaps his changed mindset will include a desire to pay his taxes.
