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Out and About with Joe and Roberto

Submitted by info on Sun, 01/08/2012 - 12:00

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.

Our Candidate Pulling 8% of All Voters Under 35 Years Old

Submitted by info on Thu, 01/05/2012 - 04:12

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!

Sign Petition ref: PDX Resolution on Corporate Personhood

Submitted by DavidDelk on Wed, 12/28/2011 - 13:38

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...

Seattle Weekly Writes of Our Candidate for Congress

Submitted by info on Fri, 12/23/2011 - 01:19

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

by Krist Novoselic
Seattle Weekly
December 22, 2011

Krist and StevenKrist 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 ...

Mayor Adams proposes resolution on ending corporate personhood

Submitted by DavidDelk on Sun, 12/18/2011 - 15:12

"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 ...

Party Protests Exclusion of Our Candidate from Portland City Club Debate

Submitted by info on Sat, 12/17/2011 - 02:27

Steven ReynoldsThe 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 ...

Our Candidate for Congress Defeats the Conventional Candidates

Submitted by info on Thu, 12/08/2011 - 17:25

New York Times Publishes Letter from OPP Co-Founder

Submitted by info on Mon, 11/28/2011 - 13:32

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 unveals corporate personhood amendment

Submitted by DavidDelk on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 00:05

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.

OPB Covers Our Candidate for Congress

Submitted by info on Mon, 11/21/2011 - 14:29

CD-1 Race Draws Alternative Views

Steven Reynolds

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