FOR RELEASE:  February 6, 2012

CONTACT:
Dan Meek
dan@meek.net
503-293-9021

Daniel Meek, an attorney representing the Oregon Progressive Party, today testified at the Oregon Legislature against a bill to criminalize using any form of "electronic communication" to organize or join in any protest constituting civil disobedience.

"This is the kind of law you might find in Myanmar or Turkmenistan or North Korea or Zimbabwe, but not in Oregon," said Meek.  Several persons associated with the Occupy movement also testified against the bill.

SB 1534, with 12 Senators co-sponsoring (only 16 votes are needed to pass the Senate), would make it a Class C felony for anyone to send an email (or a tweet or text or blog post) "with the intent of causing two or more other persons to engage in specific conduct constituting a crime" that itself is only a misdemeanor.  A Class C felony is punishable by a fine of up to $125,000 and a prison term of 5 years.  A misdemeanor, such as disorderly conduct or failing to disperse when ordered or making an unreasonable noise, is punishable by $2,500 fine and 6 months in jail.  So SB 1534 makes sending the email a far more serious crime than the misdemeanor being suggested in the message.   Read more ...

Oregon's 1st District: My choice for Congress

Letter to Editor by Robert Enninga (Beaverton)
January 20, 2012

Note: This letter is followed, on the Oregonian website, by dozens of comments, the vast majority in support of voting for Steven Reynolds. To see the comments, click on the title above.

I have always proudly and enthusiastically voted and returned my ballot the day after it arrived in my mail. But this "special election" for representative in the 1st Congressional District became anything but special as we once again suffered the ad nauseam bombardment of negative attack ads from both the Republican and Democratic candidates and their supporting organizations. Disgusted, I found for the first time in my 40 years of voting that I was prepared to write in "None of the above" on my ballot, rather than vote for either perpetrator of the same old hyper-partisan "politics as usual."

When I opened my ballot envelope, though, I was thrilled to find that I had another choice: Progressive Party candidate Steven Reynolds, an "Unemployed, Disabled Veteran" and "West Point Graduate." I know nothing at all about Reynolds other than what he submitted for publication in the Voters' Pamphlet. But I found that I agree with every word that Reynolds wrote.

I too believe that Congress is a "dysfunctional organization" that has become an "embarrassment." And I also know that Reynolds has not participated in the politics of personal attack, as have the Democratic and Republican candidates in this race. And that counts, for me.

This one is simple. Steven Reynolds, thank you for your service to our country and for the personal sacrifices you have made. You earned my vote, and I very much hope that my fellow voters of Oregon's 1st Congressional District, regardless of their party affiliations, will see the wisdom of saying "no more politics as usual" and will join me in voting to send you to Congress to represent the state of Oregon.

I am going to work backwards and try to remember all that we have done or tried to do. First, we just came off the Hawthorne Bridge last Friday, it was cold and just two of us stood to announce the war in Iraq was not over, just the removing of the “Uniforms” was reported. We did have the president tell us that the Iraq War was over, but presidents do lie from time to time. I remember another president on May 1, 2003 who announced that major hostilities were over; as he landed on the carrier, USS Abraham Lincoln. There is the hope that this president is telling the truth and we can cheer the end of the war in Iraq, now we only have his word and I have always taken the word of a politician with a grain of salt. What we must do as a first step is stop bombing other nations at will; until that happens these undeclared wars will continue. So, we will continue protesting on the bridges because we need to keep telling all who drive past us to keep up the pressure until all the wars in the Middle East are officially over. Someday all who called for invasion, occupation and the destruction of Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza, Yemen, Libya, and others will be called before a judge to be tried for violations of the Geneva Convention and our laws. If you think we are finished causing wars, you are foolish. We will control the Middle East or destroy ourselves in the process. Iran is now being called the same names as we called Iraq just before “Shock and Awe.”    Read more ...

Host David Delk interviews Portland attorney Greg Kafoury on the status of American civil liberties under President Bush v under President Obama. Greg Kafoury finds they are worst under Obama and that the opposition which Bush generated to his policies have not materialized, even as the Bush policies have continued and the status of civil liberties has deteriorated under Obama.

http://blip.tv/populist-dialogues/12-4-greg-kafoury-civil-liberties-unde...

We were on the Hawthorne Bridge about 4:00 PM and enjoyed our outside shower. The rain and cold caused both of us to ask, what the hell were we doing, but we did get the sympathy vote. We did have a few people who were walking in the rain thank us for doing what we are doing. The bicyclists were with us and gave us the V sign or rang their bells in support. This was our second protest of the day.

Survey USA issued poll results on January 4 for the special election for U.S. Congress in Oregon. Our candidate, Steven Reynolds, is pulling 8% of all surveyed voters under the age of 35 and 2% of all voters overall.  This bodes well for the future.  Younger voters are waking up!

Mayor Sam Adams will present to the city council a resolution dealing with corporte personhood and making clear that money is not speech. While the resolution is pretty good, changes need to be made to it to remove the references to the constitutional amendments which have been proposed by Sen. Merkley as well as Rep. Schrader.

Please sign the petition addressed to Mayor Adams and the Commissioners at http://www.change.org/petitions/city-of-portland-to-congress-we-the-peop...

In Oregon, #OWS Has a Golden Opportunity to Get a Representative In Congress

by Krist Novoselic
Seattle Weekly
December 22, 2011

Krist Novoselic, seen here with Steven Reynolds, was the founding bassist in Nirvana, and is the chairman of Fair Vote.

Occupy Wall Street has an extraordinary opportunity with next month's special election for Oregon's U.S. House District 1. One of the four candidates on the ballot that voters will receive in the mail is Steven Reynolds, the nominee of the Oregon Progressive Party. This group's platform is a virtual mirror of OWS issues. It's all there: anti-corporate personhood, controls on banking, and an equitable democratic system, among other proposals.    Read more ...

"Establish as a position of the Portland City Council that corporations should not receive the same constitutional rights as natural persons do, that money is not speech and independent expenditures should be regulated."

Thus reads the first sentence of a new proposed resolution for the City of Portland.

Earlier in the week Mayor Adams proposed a resolution regarding corporate personhood and money as speech. You can read his proposal here. The resolution would establish official instructions for the city's lobbyists to work on these issues as part of the 2012 Federal Legislative Agenda for the city.

The Resolution needs changes.    Read more ...

The Portland City Club has refused to allow any minor party candidates to participate in its January 6 noontime "debate" for candidates running to replace David Wu in Congress.

The minor party candidates are Steven Reynolds of the Oregon Progressive Party and James Foster of the Libertarian Party of Oregon.

These candidates present views that are far different from the Democrat or the Republican.  See the Table of Issues on this page.  But the Portland City Club believes that their views should not be shared with its members or the public by means of the broadcast of Friday's noontime program.

Progressive Party members, including Steven Reynolds, protested this decision outside the City Club's meeting at the Governor Hotel on December 17.  Here is a KBOO Interview with Steven Reynolds outside the hotel.
    Read more ...

As published in the New York Times on Novbember 28, 2011:

Lawrence Lessig suggests a $50 federal income tax credit for political campaign contributions. Oregon has had a similar $50 state income tax credit for decades ($100 on a joint return). It has worked well, with about 100,000 Oregon tax returns claiming about $8 million in tax credits annually. So the big-money-addicted Oregon legislators have repealed it, effective at the end of 2013, so they can focus on their main sources of financing — huge contributions from corporations, unions and wealthy individuals.

DAN MEEK
Portland, Ore.
Nov. 17, 2011

The writer is chief attorney for Fair Elections Oregon, the group that promulgated an Oregon statewide campaign finance reform law in 2006.

Move to Amend, the national advocacy group for end corporate personhood and making clear that money is not speech, has unveiled their proposed constitutional amendment. Simple, straightforward and containing no loopholes, unlike the various proposals which have been introduced in the US House and Senate recently by Sen. Udall/Merkley, Rep. Jim McGovern and Rep. Deutch. These proposed amendments address either only one issue or leave large loopholes. The Move to Amend language follows.

Amendment

Section 1. Corporations are not people and can be regulated.

The rights protected by the Constitution of the United States are the rights of natural persons only. Artificial entities, such as corporations, limited liability companies, and other entities, established by the laws of any State, the United States, or any foreign state shall have no rights under this Constitution and are subject to regulation by the People, through Federal, State, or local law. The privileges of artificial entities shall be determined by the People, through Federal, State, or local law, and shall not be construed to be inherent or inalienable.

Section 2. Money is not speech and can be regulated. 

Federal, State and local government shall regulate, limit, or prohibit contributions and expenditures, including a candidate’s own contributions and expenditures, for the purpose of influencing in any way the election of any candidate for public office or any ballot measure. Federal, State and local government shall require that any permissible contributions and expenditures be publicly disclosed. The judiciary shall not construe the spending of money to influence elections to be speech under the First Amendment.

Section 3. Nothing contained in this amendment shall be construed to abridge the freedom of the press.

CD-1 Race Draws Alternative Views

April Baer | November 20, 2011 | Portland, OR

Another candidate for the general election in the first Congressional District has been nominated.

The Oregon Progressive Party nominated Steve Reynolds, an Army veteran who spent a year teaching English in China. This is his first run for office. He says the debt ceiling debate motivated him to think about how he could improve on the way incumbent representatives handled themselves.

"I got angry, you know? They're doing nothing. And I can do nothing better than they can do nothing as far as I'm concerned."

The Progressive platform calls for protecting Medicare and Medicaid, cutting military spending, and providing universal employment, simialr to the WPA programs enacted during the Great Depression.

Reynolds joins Democrat Suzanne Bonamici and Republican Rob Cornilles on ballots that will be mailed starting January 13th.

The Pacific Green Party of Oregon was scheduled to hold its nominating convention Saturday as well. 

© 2011 OPB

Bring Our Money Home!
(what's left of it)

From the organizers of Occupy Portland:

Opening a new account at the local credit union or community owned bank (such as Albina Community Bank in Portland).  Then you can start moving your money when you want.