IN a letter to the editor of the The Oregonian, OR Progressive Party state council member wrote:

The Oregonian continues to repeat Kate Brown's talking points of favoring campaign finance reform. The record suggests that is a smoke screen to get votes. In fact, as Secretary of State, she has had the opportunity to enforce Measure 47, passed in 2006 by the state's voters, with strict limits on campaign contributions and expenditures. She has chosen not to enforce the law.

In the present legislature she has proposed two bills - one a constitutional amendment to allow limitations on contributions in candidate elections only. An effective amendment would also cover independent expenditures in candidate elections as well spending on initiative campaigns. The second would set some contribution limits in candidate elections but leaves gaping holes, and then, to add insult to injury, would overturn those limits contained in the voter approved Measure 47.

If Ms. Brown were truly in favor of campaign finance reform, she would have enforced the law which already exists instead of trying to eliminate it.

(c) 2015 Ted Rall, All Rights Reserved (reprinted with permission)

Our party stands for keeping fossil fuels in the ground. Public resources should be dedicated to clean, renewable energy such as wind and solar power.  

We urge the Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission to vote No on the proposed zoning amendment that will allow propane to be piped through an environmentally sensitive area. That zoning has existed since 1989 and exists to stop  environmentally dangerous activity like this proposed terminal. Why change it now?

Environmentalists worry that storing this propane could result in a massive explosion that would endanger thousands of citizens. In addition to accidental explosions, trains with 100 cars of compressed liquid propane are easy targets for terrorism.

The Canadian company Pembina wants to use Portland as its major export point for fossil fuels shipping to Asia.

We urge residents to attend the March 17 Planning and Sustainability Commission meeting and oppose the export terminal.

Tuesday, March 17, 3:00 PM
Planning and Sustainability Commission (PSC)
1900 SW 4th Ave.
Portland OR

Send comments to psc@portlandoregon.gov with "Terminal Zoning" in the subject line or send a letter to the PSC at above address, Attn: Terminal Zoning

More information is available on this informative flyer from ILWU, Columbia Riverkeeper, and Audubon Society of Portland. 

The Oregonian
January 16. 2015
by Jeff Mapes

Spending on Oregon legislative campaigns appeared to rise to a record level last year – but this time Democrats had a decided financial advantage.

An analysis by The Oregonian/OregonLive of campaign disclosure reports shows that legislative candidates spent about $23.7 million last year running for office.

That's an increase from the nearly $23 million spent by candidates in 2012, according to a similar analysis by The Oregonian/OregonLive two years ago. Studies done in past years by the National Institute on Money in State Politics, which focused on fundraising instead of spending, add to evidence that Oregon's legislative campaign spending hit a record last year.

Catch a bus to Salem to Rally on the Capitol Steps for Health Care for All!

We want everyone to be able to attend.  Reserve yourself a seat on a bus to Salem.  We ask for $15 to cover the cost of the buses.  IF you can not pay the full price and need a scholarship please contact Robin Cash robinjc@pacifier.com or call or text 503-421-6125.  Also, if you would like to help cover the costs of the buses so that more people can participate who otherwise could not afford it, please also contact Robin Cash about making a donation.

If you would like to be a Bus Captain, contact Robin Cash.

Note:  Board your bus at 9am.  Buses will be returning from Salem to Portland approximately 3:30 to 4:00 pm.

OPP calls for end to negotiations of more NAFTA-style trade agreements and no Fast Track Authority for the President

So, when the President and his largely Republican and corporate-friendly Democratic party allies in Congress now talk about making passage of Fast Track Authority and the Trans Pacific Partnership the number one area of cooperation in the new Congress, we must demand that the President stop negotiating these new agreements and that Congress not grant him Fast Track Authority.

Support a 28th constitutional amendment by printing this as a post card and then mail a copy to each of your US Senators and Representatives. Complete instructions and addresses are available on the Alliance for Democracy website here.

Rally before Sen Wyden's Portland Town Hall Meeting

Saturday, January 3, 2:00 PM, (Town Hall meeting starts at 2:30 PM)
Portland Community College, SE Campus
SE 82nd and Division

Sen Wyden is having a series of town hall meetings and, at this one in Portland, we will rally to let Sen Wyden know that we do not support the same old Fast Track Authority (FTA) which he has opposed in the past. FTA has been used in the past to speed corporate trade agreements (like NAFTA, CAFTA and the most recent US So Korea Agreement) through Congress without the usual democratic process - FTA allows limited debate and no amendments. More information on other town halls meeting is available on the Economic Justice Action Group of 1st Unitarian Church website at http://www.ejag.org/events.html

Sen. Wyden has indicated that he is working with Republican Senator Hatch, new chair of the Senate Finance Committee, to present a modified Fast Track Authority bill for approval as one of the most pressing pieces of business for the new session of Congress.  But if that modified FTA does not allow Congress to fully debate the agreements presented and allow amendments to the agreements to be presented, debated and voted on, then it will still be the same old Fast Track Authority.

We need to tell the Senator that we don't want to speed job destroying environmentally harmful,corporate trade agreement which attack the soverienity of the nations through Congress.  We expect, we demand full debates and then rejection of such agreements.

If you can't be at the rally, then please email and call his office with the messge that you are paying attention and that you expect him to represent you, not the corporate interests which drive the writing of agreements like the Trans Pacific Partnership, the Trans Atlantic Free Trade Agreements and the Trade in Services Agreement.

Portland City Council to consider withdrawing from FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force

Brad Schmidt
Oregonian
December 2, 2014

The Portland City Council, led by Mayor Charlie Hales, is considering withdrawing city police officers from the federal Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Hales on Monday scheduled a Dec. 18 meeting where the City Council will consider "withdrawal from JTTF involvement." The 2 p.m. meeting is scheduled to run 90 minutes.

The move from Hales, a long-time skeptic of task force involvement, may have the political support in City Hall to dissolve the Police Bureau's hazy relationship with the group. Commissioners Amanda Fritz and Steve Novick have questioned involvement and have criticized the city's skimpy annual reports about the partnership.   Read Article at Oregonian.

Portland Premier of Internationally Acclaimed Film
"Shadows of Liberty"
 Friday, December 12 at 7:00 PM, The Oregon Labor Center,  3645 SE 32nd Ave
Cost:  Free, with donations appreciated.

Sponsored by Alliance for Democracy, Move to AmendPDX, Economic Justice Action Group of First Unitarian Church, KBOO, OR AFL-CIO

ABOUT SHADOWS OF LIBERTY: Shadows of Liberty reveals the extraordinary truth behind the news media: censorship, cover?ups and corporate control. Filmmaker Jean-Philippe Tremblay takes an intrepid journey through the darker corridors of the American media landscape, where global conglomerates call the shots. For decades, their overwhelming influence has distorted news journalism and compromised its values.  In highly revealing stories, renowned journalists, activists and academics give insider accounts of a broken media system. Controversial news reports are suppressed, people are censored for speaking out, and lives are shattered as the arena for public expression is turned into a private profit zone.  Tracing the story of media manipulation through the years, Shadows of Liberty poses a crucial question: why have we let a handful of powerful corporations write the news?

FEATURING: Danny Glover, Julian Assange, Dan Rather, Amy Goodman, David Simon, Daniel Ellsberg, Norman Solomon, Janine Jackson, Dick Gregory, Roberta Baskin, Robert McChesney, John Nichols, Kristina Borjesson, Chris Hedges, and many more.

The Oregon Progressive Party (OPP) stands in solidarity with the people of Ferguson MO in their struggles for justice in a system based on injustice, especially for those whose skins are black or brown. The immediate issue is the killing by a white police officer, Darren Wilson, of a young black man, Michael Brown, compounded by the refusal by the local grand jury to indict that officer on any charge. While the grand jury's refusal to indict was expected, still the people of Ferguson are outraged. And the people of all America are outraged not only by this white on black killing but also because of the system of injustice represented by this process is only a symptom of the institutional racism and classism present in America today.

HEALTH CARE FOR ALL OREGON 2015 RALLY AND LOBBY DAY

Join the Oregon Progressive Party and 
Health Care for All Oregon
on the steps of the Oregon capital in Salem on

February 11, 2015
11 AM - 1 PM

The 2015 legislative session will have started earlier in the week and we gather to tell our state representatives and senators that we need a health care financing system in Oregon which is
Affordable
Universal
and results in better health care outcomes
for all Oregonians.

We need a Single Payer Healthcare system to replace the private for-profit insurance system we have now.

Register today to go and rally and then to lobby our elected officials. Register here.

Everybody In, Nobody Out!
Because health care is a human right!

The Oregon Progressive Party congratulates the voters of Oregon for their overwhelming rejection of Measure 90, the "top-two primary."

With two-thirds of all votes counted, Measure 90 is losing by a vote of 67% NO to 33% YES.

"The out-of-state billionaires spent $4.7 million in order to control Oregon's future elections, but they failed," said Dan Meek (a Portland attorney active in opposing Measure 90).

The "yes" side has reported spending nearly $6 million, while the "no" side spent $1.3 million.  But the "no" side also had many dedicated volunteers who spread the word that Measure 90 would destroy democracy in Oregon.

Former top-level Enron energy trader John Arnold contributed $2.75 million to support Measure 90, and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg added $1.93 million.  So over 80% of all the funds for Measure 90 came from billionaires who neither live nor work in Oregon.

John Arnold made his mark on society as one of the top managers of the Enron energy trading operation.  That was the bunch who caused the phony "West Coast Energy Crisis" of 2000-2002 with their fraudulent trades, which resulted in rolling blackouts and huge rate increases.   Later studies have shown that it cost the California economy alone over $42 billion.

"Burn, baby, burn.  That's a beautiful thing."  That is what Enron traders were recorded as saying as a fire approached a major transmission line, because it caused the line to be "derated" or shut off, thus drastically increasing electricity prices.

For information about Measure 90's money and how it would have destroyed Oregon's democracy, see http://saveoregonsdemocracy.org.

Our health care system is broken. We pay more for health care than any other industrialized nation, but we cover the smallest percentage of people. Under the Affordable Care Act, many Americans remain without access to health care. For lack of health insurance, thousands of Americans die each year. For those who do have health insurance, large co-pays and deductibles send many into debt. And it's the taxpayer who picks up the tab for the subsidized plans. The Affordable Care Act is less than a band-aid. It is a giveaway to the insurance companies.

Imagine if health care were a human right. Imagine a health care system that puts people before profits. Imagine if everyone had access to health care. Imagine health care that doesn't push people into bankruptcy. Imagine doctors and patients making health care decisions, not insurance companies. Imagine health care including dental, optical, and mental health care for all.

The Oregon Progressive Party supports local and federal efforts to create universal access to health care. Everyone in, no one out. We need health care, not health insurance.

"Of all the forms of inequity, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane."
--Martin Luther King Jr., 1966

We support the efforts of these organizations:

Health Care For All Oregon - hcao.org
Mad As Hell Doctors - MadAsHellDoctors.com
Simgle Payer Action - SinglePayerAction.org
Healthcare Now! - healthcare-now.org
Physicians for a National Health Program - pnhp.org