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Scott Silber: Threat to Themselves and Others: Intervention on the Corporate Addiction to Power Before It's Too Late

Submitted by DavidDelk on Sat, 02/02/2013 - 22:10

When:  Sunday, Feb. 17, 7 PM
Where: First Unitarian Church, SW 12th and Salmon
Admission: $5-20 sliding scale.  No one will be turned away for lack of funds

A provocative evening discussing corporate personhood with Scott Silber, lead faculty at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Constitutional Studies and Democratic Development's Youth Organizing Institute, human rights and environmental organizer, and former Director of Colorado's Public Workers' Union.

Scott is the Executive Director of National Intervention, which treats money in politics as an addictive substance. Intervention calls for a national deadline for the ratification of any amendment that abolishes corporate personhood and requires publicly funded elections, viewing any such amendment proposal as an urgent "sobriety checkpoint" for any elected official.

In the event Congress fails to pass that amendment "sobriety test" in time, National Intervention organizes a block-by-block "12-Step National Recovery Platform" campaign, calling on all of us who may be enablers of the addiction system to draw strong boundaries in our relationship to the addicts in power for a new social contract (a New New Deal) while we still have time.

www.nationalintervention.org

Event co-sponsored by Alliance for Democracy, Economic Justice Action Group of the First Unitarian Church, Move to Amend PDX.

Join the event on Facebook and share with your friends.

Multnomah County considers corporate personhood resolution

Submitted by DavidDelk on Mon, 12/24/2012 - 11:16

On January 10, 2013, turn out as the Multnomah County Commission considers a resolution calling for Oregon's congressional delegation to support amending the US Constitution to overturn Citizens United, and eliminate the two court created doctrines of corporate personhood and money equals speech. We need you in the building showing your support for this.

Multnomah County Building 501 SE Hawthorne Portland OR Day/Date: Thursday, January 10, 2013 Time: 9:30 AM

Read the proposed resolution here.

Invite your Facebook Friends here.

More information from Alliance for Democracy, David Delk .

Michael Munk on Nike Tax Giveaway

Submitted by info on Wed, 12/12/2012 - 05:23
It is the genius of the 1%, who used to be called the “ruling class,” that its control of our politicians even when exercised brutally in the light of day can appear to Oregonians as just part of the natural order of things. Democrat Ginny Burdick of Portland and Republican Bruce Hanna quickly joined hands with the state’s major media http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/12/oregon_should_give_nike_the_as.html#incart_river to celebrate it with knee-jerk enthusiasm and demand that it be immediately translated into law.

Oregon Politicians on Their Knees to Nike

Submitted by info on Wed, 12/12/2012 - 05:16

David Delk brings us this cogent summary of the latest example of the difference between Democrats and Republicans. As Ralph Nader says, it is "the velocities with which their knees hit the floor when corporations knock on their door."  The Oregon Center for Public Policy documented that the tax break Nike wants to be continued--on a guaranteed basis--reduces its Oregon state corporate income taxes by 95%.  Because the Oregon Constitution requires taxation to be uniform, this guaranteed tax break would have to apply to all corporations, at least to any corporation making a $150 million investment in Oregon property over the next 5 years.  Under the proposed bill, the contractually-guaranteed tax break would last from 5 to 40 years.

The Oregonian front page story on Tuesday was about the special session of the Oregon legislature called by the governor for passage of special protection of Nike from changes in the certain aspects of the Oregontax code for the next five years.  Local activist Michael Munk dubbed it the Nike Corporate Welfare Law (read his blog statement here).  The Oregonian article noted that there were critics of the move but only quoted the Oregon Center of Public Policy in a single paragraph.  So much for fair and balanced reporting. 

Oregon Center for Public Policy later issued their own response in an email titled:  A Highly Dubious Assumption in the Governors Proposed Nike Deal.  It is available on line here.   Nike appears to be afraid that because the Oregon legislature might rework some tax policy, their special tax adjustment worked out with the Oregon legislature a decade or so ago in which only the in-state sales would be used as the basis for calculating the income tax owed to the state of Oregon might be changed. They say they want "certainty."  Previously, the rate was based on value of company property in Oregon, total number of employees and total company sales around the world.  With the passage of the Single-Sales Factor, Nike and other companies doing most of their business out-of-state (Intel, Precision Castparts, Boeing, Columbia Sportwear, for instance) received a very, very, very big tax break and we were left with decreasing tax revenues to pay for teachers, senior services, parks and other state services.  Nike is part of that chorus of business that likes to remind us of the importance of having a educated population that they can hire even as they do their best to lower the taxes they pay.

And note that we don't know how much taxes Nike paid before receiving the generous tax break or how much they pay now.  All such information is private and not to be disclosed of us or legislators.

The draft legislation to be considered is available here

Please contact your state Representative and Senator and demand that they vote no on this.  And further, that they change the law to require disclosure of corporate tax reports. Find your representative and senator here.

Our Candidates Did Well in the 2012 General Election

Submitted by info on Wed, 11/07/2012 - 06:36

The Oregon Progressive Party's candidates performed well in the 2012 general election.

Minor parties in Oregon are required to run at least one statewide candidate earning 1% or more of the vote. We ran 3 statewide candidates, and all of them exceeded 1%.

Our candidates for U.S. Representative did even better, earning from 3.1% to 4.2%. We cross-nominated the Democrat, Peter DeFazio, in the 4th Congressional District, and he won with 59% of the vote.

Our Candidate   Office Vote
Rocky Anderson
Robert Wolfe
Cameron Whitten
Chris Henry
Steven Reynolds
Woody Broadnax
Peter DeFazio		   President
Secretary of State, Oregon
State Treasurer, Oregon
Attorney General, Oregon
U.S. Representative, 1st Dist
U.S. Representative, 3rd Dist
U.S. Representative, 4th Dist		 0.2%
1.3%
2.4%
1.7%
4.5%
3.7%
59.1%

Also, the candidates we endorsed in non-partisan races did well.  Brad Avakian won the statewide Labor Commissioner race.  Amanda Fritz won re-election to the Portland City Council.

Willamette Week Article on Our Candidate, Robert Wolfe

Submitted by info on Wed, 10/31/2012 - 17:08

Big Bad Wolfe: An activist launches a campaign to oust Secretary of State Kate Brown

Willamette Week    October 31, 2012
by Nigel Jaquis

A light drizzle fell on Bob Wolfe as he stood outside a citadel of the Portland establishment like the lupine nemesis in the story of the Three Little Pigs.

Wolfe was rattling the doors of the Portland City Club’s luncheon debate Oct. 26 at the Governor Hotel between Secretary of State Kate Brown and her Republican challenger, Dr. Knute Buehler. Wolfe is also on the ballot as the Progressive Party’s candidate. But no matter how loud he knocked, the City Club would not let him in.

City Club officials denied Wolfe access because (as they said in an Oct. 17 email to him) he isn’t a “viable candidate.”

Wolfe won’t win, but his only goal is defeating Brown, whom he accuses of suppressing Oregon voters by routinely invalidating tens of thousands of petition signatures.

He barreled into the secretary of state’s race late, on Aug. 28, after Brown’s office said a measure to legalize marijuana, for which he was chief petitioner, didn’t qualify for the November ballot. He now wants to draw votes away from Brown using the potency of Oregon’s marijuana legalization supporters.

In the May primary, Wolfe helped raise $200,000 in national marijuana money for now-Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum (who’s married to WW publisher Richard Meeker). He spent another $50,000 on radio ads bashing her opponent, Dwight Holton, who as U.S. attorney for Oregon targeted medical marijuana clinics.

“We killed Holton’s candidacy,” Wolfe says. “Now we’re hoping to motivate people to vote no on Kate Brown.”    Read more ...

HEIST, Who Stole the American Dream?

Submitted by DavidDelk on Sun, 10/21/2012 - 23:11

Alliance for Democracy sponsors screening of HEIST, Who Stole the American Dream?

Friday, Oct. 26th, 7 PM, First Unitarian Church, SW 12th and Salmon

(Sponsored by Alliance for Democracy as a fundraiser for Alliance for Democracy; co-sponsored by KBOO Community Radio and Economic Justice Action Group)

HEIST: Who Stole the American Dream? is stunning audiences across the globe as it traces the worldwide economic collapse to a 1971 secret memo entitled Attack on American Free Enterprise System. Written over 40 years ago by the future Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell, at the behest of the US Chamber of Commerce, the 6-page memo, a free-market utopian treatise, called for a money fueled big business makeover of government through corporate control of the media, academia, the pulpit, arts and sciences and destruction of organized labor and consumer protection groups.

But Powell’s real “end game” was business control of law and politics. HEIST’s step by step detail exposes the systemic implementation of Powell’s memo by BOTH U.S. political parties culminating in the deregulation of industry, outsourcing of jobs and regressive taxation. All of which led us to the global financial crisis of 2008 and the continued dismantling of the American middle class.

Today, politics is the playground of the rich and powerful, with no thought given to the hopes and dreams of ordinary Americans. No other film goes as deeply as HEIST in explaining the greatest heist of our time. Moving beyond the white noise of today’s polarizing media, HEIST provides viewers with a clear, concise and fact-based explanation of how we got into this mess, and what we need to do to restore our representative democracy.

More Info: David Delk 503.232.5495, davidafd@ymail.com

Robert Wolfe's Voters Pamphlet Statement

Submitted by info on Sat, 10/13/2012 - 23:59


Secretary of State

Robert Wolfe

Progressive

Occupation: Selling Oregon wines worldwide (25 years)

Occupational Background: Journalist, with investigative reporting awards

Educational Background: College

Prior Governmental Experience: None (enough)

RECLAIM THE INITIATIVE PROCESS

Kate Brown’s policies stop normal citizens from using Oregon’s initiative process. Her arbitrary and hyper-technical requirements discard over 40% of all voter signatures, so only big corporations and unions can afford to use the system.

2000-02 saw 13 progressive measures on the Oregon ballot, including guaranteed school funding, single-payer health care, and the nation’s highest minimum wage.

2008-10, with Kate Brown’s bad rules, saw only ONE progressive measure on the Oregon ballot (medical marijuana dispensaries).

GET BIG MONEY OUT OF OREGON POLITICS

In 2006, Oregon voters enacted Measure 47 the nation’s strictest limits on campaign contributions, while requiring political ads to disclose their funding sources and amounts.

Kate Brown refuses to enforce Measure 47, so campaign spending on Oregon races has continued to skyrocket from $4 million in 1996 to $57 million in 2010 (not including Congress). Individual Legislative candidates spend up to $1 million and more. Oregon politicians spend more on legislative races, per capita, than in any state except New Jersey. (Oregonian (4/6/2010))

Kate Brown “has been silent on campaign finance reform and otherwise largely invisible,” says Willamette Week (5/25/2012). In 2008 she smashed the record for Secretary of State campaign spending ($1.2 million), taking contributions as high as $135,000 from a single union and over $116,000 from lawyers and lobbyists.

STOP GOVERNMENT INCOMPETENCE

As “Auditor in Chief,” Kate Brown’s accountants “audited” the Oregon Department of Revenue 3 times in the past 2 years but failed to detect huge fraudulent tax refunds, including a $2.1 million refund in 2012 to a woman who had never reported significant income. TurboTax discovered this fraud that Kate Brown missed. What else is out there?

SAVE THE STATE FORESTS FROM CLEAR-CUTTING

Kate Brown approved a 65% increase in clear-cutting in Oregon’s largest state forest (Elliott).

(This information furnished by Robert Wolfe.)

Nader Radio Ad for Wolfe

Submitted by info on Thu, 10/11/2012 - 16:45

Jefferson v. Romney

Submitted by info on Tue, 09/25/2012 - 16:01