november 2022 general election ❀
I wrote a sentimental essay for this voter guide about going to the river, watching my dog’s silky ears crimp as they dried, and afterward talking about the backswing into conservative hell that my friends and I think we’re only about halfway through (my best guess is maybe eight more years of this insufferable, unyielding, low-brow extremist, demagogue-ass “don’t say gay” shit).
Of course, in the days since writing that, the gears in Portland kept turning.
This morning, less than a hundred hours before the election, information from sources still trickling into my email inbox, I went downstairs with the aforementioned dog who was nipping at the bottom elastic of my sweatpants to inform me that he needed to pee. I have a horrible cold. The rain has been harassing me personally.
A man crossing the street locked eyes with me, and said, “I need your help. Will you help me?” He was loud. It was freezing and he wore just black jeans and a damp Street Roots zip-up hoodie.
I stopped. “What do you need?”
He stopped too. I saw his eyes trace my face and look back up. He was choosing his words carefully in his mind. “I need your support,” he said.
“Okay,” I said. “What support do you need?”
“Our mayor,” he began, and then I knew what he was going to say next. I started nodding. He started nodding too, and then we were bobbing goofily in unison, him in the middle of the wet street, me gripping my dog on the sidewalk. “Our mayor hates us, with these homeless sweeps and this forced camp stuff. We need your support. Will you tell people that we’re walking on City Hall today? Starting at the Portland Farmer’s market and then City Hall by 2.”
I said, “Yes. It’s so fucked up. I will. Can I do anything else?”
He shook his head, “We need your support. That’s all.” He kept walking and I kept walking.
He’s talking about Resolution 929, evil brainchild of Ted Wheeler and Dan Ryan, which at its core just wants to erase the visibility of houseless folks on our streets. You can’t change my mind on this. I’ve heard people talk about how it’s just internment camping for the houseless, and I agree without even thinking it’s hyperbolic.
I keep thinking about this man’s phrasing. Our mayor hates us. There is something seriously fucked up with your policy if the people most impacted interpret it as hatred.
Failures from top down for decades have produced this untenable, unlivable soup, where even my friends with secure jobs and no dependents dissolve into tears of hopelessness about stable, affordable housing when they receive no-cause or bullshit-cause evictions from their landlords who want to flip to higher-paying tenants or sell. Rental hike limits that passed in the state legislature are expiring in January 2023, resulting in looming 14.6% rent hikes for Oregonians. So a $1,500/month one-bedroom apartment (THE FUCKING AVERAGE RENT IN PORTLAND) could legally bump to $1,719.
And these motherfuckers, instead of investing every single penny in JUST GIVING OUT RENTAL VOUCHERS, BUYING OR LEASING EMPTY HOUSING AND HOTELS, AND ACTUALLY LISTENING TO WHAT HOUSELESS PEOPLE WANT, are trying to rapidly ban encampments and make “homeless villages” that unhoused folks literally keep saying they don’t want. Not enough autonomy. A risky population density with no reliable means of resolving conflict or ensuring safety. No real consideration of proximity to the areas that individual people are more comfortable with.
Sure, the Resolution includes some perfunctory nods to the construction of affordable housing units that will take years and additional funding from the state, some nods to acquiring preexisting housing options. I am at this point frustrated by every single penny spent on these “sanctioned campsites” and not spent literally on putting money or housing directly in the hands of people. Too many swaths of Portland and Oregonian governmental oversight for “resource distribution” and so-called “sustainable solutions” for houselessness severely lack warmth, compassion, dignity, and direct pathways to placing people who want it directly into housing options.
There are so many clowns in this race, reader. They are honking and squeaking and smearing their face paint on their drinking glasses. This election, more than so many others, seems to hold houselessness at the center of its crucible. Even Kotek’s campaign is trying to appeal to moderate and right-ish voters by saying in a very tough, no-nonsense manner, “I’ll clean up the trash.”
Is this how we are talking about our unhoused neighbors? We’ll clean up the TRASH?
FUCK THE TRASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What I hate most of all is how I flip through the State Voters’ Pamphlet and everybody has a hot take on houselessness and crime. I hate how most of these people will avoid eye contact with houseless folks and then turn around and use them as political pawns without having the first idea about what it’s actually like to be houseless or what it might feel like to stand in the rain and panhandle at a freeway entrance.
It’s — how you say? Despicable.
Races are down to the wire, and we will all have to live with the material consequences of this election. You already know that our unhoused neighbors, our baby students, our BIPOC beloved, those of us who rely on OHP, SNAP, Section 8, our queer and trans angel babes, our fish and wildlife — these are the ones who will suffer most if our elected officials and laws slip further toward conservative resource cutting and the law-and-order clown brigade.
✿
If you’re reading the guide, you probably already know that I’m a nobody. I don’t work in politics. Thank god. LOL. I am mixed-race Korean and white, queer, femme, able-bodied. My family of origin have faced steep housing instability, poverty, and institutionalized trauma for decades. Now I have access to a lot more resources because I am a public school counselor. My own home is safe and stable. But even with all my education and middle-class employment, my family are still in the clutches of cyclical poverty and trauma, medical racism, precarious housing. In all my thinking, I hold my family’s experiences with an ember of anger and sadness, and with care for our complexity which I know is the kaleidoscopic complexity of all people, especially those who have suffered because of systemic harms. I hope you use my guide as one of several resources. I write it because I love to be in conversation with y’all, and I want you to know at least the context that I do. I have bet wrong before and I know I will again.
I tried to stay focused. lol. You don’t have lots of time and neither do I. I didn’t mention unopposed candidates, even the ones I stan. I stick to Portland, and mostly MultCo. I skipped some people when I didn’t have much to add to the discourse. I could have written an essay about almost everything, but I wanted to focus on the races that feel very close and very dire. Only 20% of Multnomah County have turned in their ballots, as of November 3rd. It’s something like the 3rd worst voter turnout in the state. In many of the more conservative counties, turnout looks more like 30%. We have the population density here in Multnomah to move the needle A TON.
Send the text messages to all your friends and acquaintances. Perfect opportunity for the upside down smiley emoji. Just, “Have you voted yet? Need help finding your ballot or getting a new one? We live in hell hehe 🙃”
You can turn in your ballots WITHOUT A STAMP, JUST IN YOUR MAILBOX OR ANY USPS BLUE BOX, all the way until 8pm Election Day (if you miss Tuesday’s mail pickup at your house, make sure to drop off — ballots must be POSTMARKED 11/8 to be counted). Also any library. Look up ballot drop box locations here.
If you need a replacement ballot, go here. To track your ballot, go here.
If you come up against dead ends, DM me and I will try to personally get you the resource or solution you need. If you have the capacity, cast a wide net offering this same type of assistance to folks in your community.
I consulted:
The State Voters’ pamphlet itself. Alpha and Omega. Riddled with breathtaking typos provided by candidates and parties. Worth a gander, with popcorn. I laughed. I gasped. I learned a lot.
The Imagine Black voter guide — helpfully includes a bunch of different counties, not just Multnomah. Imagine Black, formerly PAALF, is an org composed of Black leaders with an eye toward intentional movement building and Black self-determination and political interests.
The Asian-American Pacific Islander Network of Oregon, aka the APANO voter guide, available in tons of different languages, about candidates all across Oregon, beautifully illustrated, with values, priorities, and challenges solicited directly from candidates.
The Street Roots endorsements and writeups. They always influence me significantly with their sharp lens on houselessness. Their coverage this time around was particularly detailed and helpful.
East County Rising’s endorsements
OPB’s ballot guide. Really great statewide information.
Basic Rights Oregon’s endorsements. Really helpful statewide info, plus they’ll tell you who’s queer. ;)
My Oregon educator’s union, the Oregon Education Association’s endorsements.
Labor and worker’s rights union SEIU’s endorsements.
Hot. Goss. I love your hot goss. Thank you for all the insightful DMs and emails, all the juicy screenshots of text conversations and unhinged emails from Betsy Johnson LMFAO, all the hearsay. I love u, u get me. No gossip too small, I say.
hehe. we have to do this. god.
Candidates
US Senator: Ron Wyden
Wyden came to speak to Tina Kotek canvassers on a Sunday in October and the man’s skin looks so soft. It’s actually wild. Was not expecting from an older white man. This is a man who has worn SPF for decades, maybe because he believes in climate change. And let that be a lesson to you!!!
Anyway. Dems on the national stage may very well be bleeding out even though we have the presidency. The wins we’ve experienced with the tenuous blue majorities so far are perhaps coming to a halt. Shoutout to the $10/$20K loan forgiveness. Please re-elect Ron Wyden. He does literally care about working people, schools, the cost of prescription drugs. He will tax corporations when he can, god love him. Very reliable Blue track record. We say “ok Ron!”
His main competitor, Jo Rae Perkins, is not a vibe. She thinks schools are politically indoctrinating students (???), is anti-vax, wants to defund public schools, thinks the government should deregulate climate change prevention while we literally have heat waves of 108 in Oregon, hates undocumented people without understanding barriers against legal immigration, and is proudly 100% pro-life. Her Voters Pamphlet statement does that hilarious thing where she quotes herself as “Jo Rae” at the bottom.
Dan Pulju, the progressive candidate who might conceivably funnel votes from Wyden sneaks in a little scary hippie anti-vax line. He says, “Pro-choice on abortion rights AND covid ‘vaccines’” (sic). Why the quotes around “vaccines”? Don’t tell me you think they’re micro-chips omg.
US Representative, 1st District: Suzanne Bonamici
Safe seat for Bonamici but I feel I must tell you that I learned through my powerful gossip ring that she’s a real sweetheart.
US Representative, 3rd District: Earl Blumenauer
Truly love that Pacific Green candidate David Delk says, bolded and underlined, “I will not vote for any ‘defense’ budget unless it is a reduction of at least 50% over the previous year’s budget.” Extremist girlie!
But no, we have to keep Blumenauer in the federal mix because it’s a real shitshow out there in DC and he has lots of connections and has more clout and competence than, like, a total newbie, or an attorney who unironically says that we need law and order. Earl is working toward combating climate change in our actual lifetimes, Medicare negotiation re: the cost of prescription drugs, etc.
US Representative, 5th District: Jamie McLeod-Skinner
Currently, this race is projected to be “lean” or “tilt Republican” by several polling research institutions. Not cute!!!
The 5th district, you may remember, has been redrawn to snake all over damn Oregon, including parts of Eastern Oregon that do tend to run redder. People outside of Multnomah county are turning in their ballots at a rate of 12%+ higher than us. This is a very risky seat. I am stressed. This is one to make sure you talk to your friends and family about.
Our reproductive rights are on the federal chopping block and we need to elect a Dem to this spot in a huge way. The clown-ass Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and now the plan is to use a Herculean amount of time, staff, resources in Congress to codify the same protections of Roe. Nationally, this midterm election is brutalista, evidenced by the millions of emails we are receiving from Joe Biden Himself, saying, “I am asking you, Marissa, to singlehandedly stop the absolute fucking end of the fucking world!!!! It will be all your fault!!!! DONATE AND A TEDDY BEAR IN A VENDING MACHINE WILL MATCH YOUR DONATION THREEFOLD!!! I HAVE BEGGED ON MY HANDS AND KNEES BUT THE TEDDY BEAR WON’T DO IT UNTIL IT SEES YOU WITH ITS BEADY LITTLE PLASTIC EYES CLICK IN THE THREE DIGITS OF YOUR CREDIT CARD CVV NUMBER, YOU APATHETIC LITTLE SLUT!!!!!”
So yeah I can like at least vote for Jamie. She’s a dyke and you love to see a dyke in power, especially over Repub. Lori Chavez-DeRemer who uses police siren colors in her campaign ads, touts a pro law-and-order agenda (yikes), calls allocation of resources to people suffering “pro-crime” LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL, and was a literal Trump delegate at the Republican National Convention.
JMC endorsed by everybody: tons of labor unions, nurses, educators, environmental orgs.
This rundown from Street Roots does a wonderful job of showcasing the disorganized thinking of Chavez-DeRemer, including these gems:
Chavez-Deremer's website says “there’s no solution in sight” for Oregon’s homelessness crisis. Her campaign materials reflect this stance, making no mention of policies to address the housing and homelessness crisis in Oregon.
Her website reads, “The drug crisis has impacted the homeless population the most.” Chavez-DeRemer blames “drugs pouring in from our Southern border” fueling the “drug crisis” in Oregon, saying the border must be “secured” to “stop the influx of crime and drugs.”
It is unclear if Chavez-DeRemer supports using or increasing federal funds for permanent housing, transitional housing or emergency shelters though she says she supports “alternatives.”
“Additionally, we can solve the homelessness crisis by offering safe alternatives to get people off the streets,” Chavez-DeRemer’s website concludes, but provides no information on what those “safe alternatives” would be, nor policy proposals to make “safe alternatives” to homelessness available.
On the other hand, McLeod-Skinner’s writeup says:
When it comes to housing and homelessness, McLeod-Skinner said she supports short- and long-term solutions, including funding permanent housing, transitional housing and emergency shelters and providing wraparound services while increasing the public access.
McLeod-Skinner said long-term solutions to the housing crisis must include developing more affordable housing and making home ownership more affordable to working-class families to help “move people out of cycles of generational poverty.”
Governor: Tina Kotek
According to Five Thirty Eight, Kotek and Christine Drazan (whom I would fight on the street and probably win even though I’m 5’1” — I’m just scrappier than her???), are within ONE PERCENTAGE POINT OF EACH OTHER!!!! LMAOOO!!!!!!!!! VERY NICE!!!!!! AWESOME!!!!!!
If you look closely at the data linked above, you can see that independent Betsy Johnson is still pulling 10.2% of the vote. I was curious where folks who bailed from Johnson would land, and you can see a slight uptick in Kotek favorability. I am no data analyst and I’m an Asian who doesn’t really vibe w math, but there’s a correlation here. So the name of the game is still to sway any Johnson voters you have in your life, or perhaps even more importantly, to help your communities find their ballots in their stacks of unopened mail or get to the Multnomah County Elections office to pick up a replacement ballot if the ballot is MIA.
If you are a person who has your reasons for not voting, I get you. I am wondering if you would find your ballot and just vote for Tina Kotek and leave the rest of this shit blank.
This is not a candidate who is just the lesser of two evils. Tina Kotek is one of the most overtly pro-worker candidates we’ve ever had run for this office. Christine Drazan is not here expanding sick leave or raising the minimum wage. Tina Kotek did that. She has hustled with a hard progressive line as Speaker of the House in an extremely divided and hostile state, pushing for wildfire relief, affordable housing and rent stabilization, pandemic assistance, education and student wellbeing. My daily life as a public school educator has been improved by the Student Success Act, which was passed in 2019 after Tina Kotek and Peter Courtney literally formed the Joint Committee on Student Success in 2018. I have truly lost count of the times that we got to do the right thing for students and families at my Title I public school in the numbers of deep East Portland because of funding we received from the Student Success Act. Because of the SSA, my students have technology that still works that they got to use during the distance learning era of the pandemic. I got to be paid over the summer of 2021 to maintain school counseling duties at my full rate of pay for students and families in summer school. Kotek wants to move Oregon schools from an 81% high school graduation rate to a 90% graduation rate by 2027 and she’s the only candidate in this race who has any idea what kind of resource allocation, infrastructure, data analysis, and feedback solicitation that will require. Kotek’s history working with students and children resonate with educators unions who just really think she respects what we do.
There’s so much money being poured into Drazan from national Republican interests, because the right wants to spank Oregon and make an example of us. We are the snowflake libs, we throw soup cans at cops, we are obsessed with pronouns, whatever. So the backsliding will be immense. I don’t believe any shit about Drazan being a moderate or being reasonable or being nice. I don’t care. Think with your critical thinking prefrontal cortex and understand that a governor does not work alone. There is a vast political pressure network, a staff, an agenda. Corruption, bribery, special interests, not to mention true values coming to light once in power.
And fuck everyone who so quickly believes that Kate Brown and Tina Kotek are the same. They’ve cooperated a lot, sure, but also why are you so mad about Kate Brown? Cuz she tried to make y’all mask so people wouldn’t die?????????? Cuz life is still hard because these Republicans keep skipping out on votes they can’t win and they only believe in representative democracy when they are the winners????? ENOUGH!!!!!
I believe that the office of Kate Brown is like…so tired. So ready to go on vacation for a long time when they leave office. And I think they green-lit Tina Kotek dragging Kate’s name in the mud for these tough love campaign ads they’re showing on Hulu while I am just trying to watch Joel Kim Booster’s episode of Celebrity Jeopardy wherein Kotek says in front of a bush, “I will do what Kate Brown couldn’t do. I will clean up the trash” or something.
I say this to say that Kotek has retained most of her staff for the past ten years because she’s fair, kind, pleasant, a hardass at times, not perfect at times, but ultimately endorsed by APANO, NAYA, Latino Network, Building Power for Communities of Color, Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste, Basic Rights Oregon, all the labor unions, all the educator unions, all the pro-choice unions, mental health providers of Oregon, and MY MOTHER, MAMA YANG.
To be clear, THIS IS THE ONLY BETSEY JOHNSON WHOSE CONTINUED SUCCESS I AM INTERESTED IN!!!!!!
State Senator, 19th District: Rob Wagner
Wagner is the current State Senator running to keep his Democratic seat away from Ben Edtl, the Republican endorsed by the Oregon Firearms Federation, Oregon Right to Life, and none other Q Anon princess Kim Thatcher whose pamphlet blurb implies that Edtl has the power to singlehandedly “restore public safety.”
Wagner is a reliable Dem, and it’s very important to keep him in his seat in a world where Republican State Senators walk out of votes and get flown to Koch Brothers golf retreats. He had a large hand in SB 52, which mandates that schools have politics that address suicide prevention, as well as SB 664, which requires Holocaust and genocide education, and also helped close the intimate partner violence gun ownership loophole, which bans convicted stalkers from purchasing firearms.
State Senator, 24th District: Kayse Jama
I have been following Jama for years and I’m so glad to see him in the Oregon State Senate. He proudly shares his positionality as Black Muslim, Somalian-born, and a former refugee. He is the current chair of the Housing Committee and just really consistently out here fighting for renters to afford and stay in their homes. Read more about his 2022 Legislative Session accomplishments here. We love to see worker protections extended, compensation for wrongly convicted people, money in the hundreds of millions of dollars toward affordable housing and supporting homeownership.
State Representative, 41st District: Mark Gamba
Gamba has been a public servant for a long-ass time and has the chops to be very effective as a State Rep. He’s lefty with a competent hand in finite budgets from his time as mayor of Milwaukie. Gamba understands that government has an obligation to take care of its people, including caring for the unglamorous and ordinary parts of being alive like our roads, healthcare infrastructure, parks, sidewalks. He also has the endorsements of more big-picture and ambitious progressive causes, too, like Sunrise PDX and Basic Rights OR. I believe he’ll consistently act in a manner that is pro-choice, pro-worker, and pro-environment. He’s running against Republican Ron Reynolds who is yet another person using fear tactics around crime.
State Representative, 42nd District: Rob Nosse
Keep Rob in his role! He’s one of our Dem majority whips and works his ass off to make sure progressive legislation is getting passed in our state. He’s your local friendly gay dad who has helped allocate funds to so many worthy fights, including more investment in mental and behavioral health in Oregon, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, and even allocating American Rescue Plan money to Street Roots so they could buy a new building for operations.
Endorsed by several workers unions, Planned Parenthood, the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, Basic Rights Oregon PAC, etc.
Opponent Scott Trahan’s writeup in the State Voters’ Pamphlet includes unhinged right-wing dog-whistling, like “It’s Time to Unshackle Oregon’s Economy” LOL at these white dudes using unshackling rhetoric, it is so gauche. Another of his priorities is, “It’s Time to Unleash the Power of Parents.” This is code for defunding public schools who teach, idk, actual comprehensive sex ed and accurate history, in favor of deregulated charter schools.
State Representative, 43rd District: Tawna Sanchez
Keep indigenous Tawna in her role!!! She has been extremely effective as a State Rep, and I truly love to see MSWs policymaking around mental health. She has kept track of details, like who’s gonna staff the 988 suicide crisis hotline?
Here are some of her key accomplishments in the 2022 legislative session: $400m for affordable housing/supporting houseless folks, $200m for workforce development education programs, $150m for mental and behavioral health workers, HB 4013A, which waives public university fees and tuition for former unaccompanied homeless youth.
CRUCIALLY, Sanchez has a deft understanding of DHS and DHS services (like TANF, EBT, etc.), and she supports reforms and improvements WITHOUT wanting to gut funding.
State Representative, 44th District: Travis Nelson
Read the super sharp Imagine Black’s endorsement of Travis Nelson here. We celebrate Nelson’s background as a nurse, and then as a union leader for nurses, as a janitor, a landscaper, and elected representative. Nelson believes, as I do, that housing for all is the path forward that our houseless neighbors and those of us in extreme precarity around housing security actually want. He names, like so few candidates have so far, that there is a FUCKING FULL-FLEDGED WORKFORCE SHORTAGE IN OUR SCHOOLS! There are not enough subs, positions of teachers, especially of Special Ed teachers and teachers in Title I schools, just NOT FILLED IN NOVEMBER OF 2022. Investment in EDUCATORS and SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE is how we get better outcomes in schools!!! Nelson is Black, queer, pro-sex work decriminalization, pro-reparations for Black people, endorsed by everyone we like.
Nelson is running against full clown white man Rolf Schuler who doesn’t seem to believe that COVID-19 is a thing but does think public school teachers are intentionally keeping secrets from parents. Terrifyingly, Rolf also cites spending three years doing “humanitarian aid in Cental Asia” and as an Asian woman I am CRINGING and GAGGING!!! EW!!!!
State Representative, 45th District: Thuy Tran
What if I said, “Paging Dr. Thuy!” I’m not going to. But what if I did. In a way, I did.
Anyway. I really appreciate that she says she would not cut OHP and wants to expand affordable healthcare for all Oregonians. I am VERY worried about the erosion of OHP in this midterm election! She would be a partner in the larger effort for housing affordability, and is very pro-choice and may bring some new energy to cap-and-trade and other emissions-cutting efforts.
Her illustration and statement in the APANO guide are worth looking at.
State Representative, 46th District: Khanh Pham
Pham snags a coveted endorsement from Imagine Black and she represents my district in SE Portland. I’m especially excited to vote for her. IB highlights that she has pledged not to accept cop money, believes explicitly that indigenous and Black people have been disproportionately affected by environmental racism in their workplaces and communities, is pro-unions and pro-housing for all, and supports laws that would ban military-style assault rifles. Her first term was fruitful, including $$ for Afghan refugee families, signing into law and allocating real money for Renters’ Rights to Cooling, which is a tangible protection for renters who are especially at the mercy of landlords’ whims as climate change’s extreme temperatures only rise.
Read more in Pham’s 2022 legislative session summary. It’s really engaging and well-written. Shoutout to the staff member in charge of this!!
State Representative, 48th District: Hoa H Nguyen
Have I already told the story about how I once went to an Attendance Intervention training with Hoa Nguyen back when I was…23? I was broke, joyfully slutty, working as an Attendance and Engagement Specialist at one of my most favorite schools in St. Johns, and I ended up in the same room with Nguyen, who was a Student and Community Engagement Specialist at the time. I remember her talking a lot about centering student and family needs, and coming from a place of non-judgment. I also remember her watching and listening to others much more than speaking. Really love that she has this opportunity to create some family and youth-centered change in Oregon. We gotta elect her!
Endorsed by Imagine Black, APANO, East County Rising, etc etc etc etc.
Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries: Christina E. Stephenson
If you’re like…what does BOLI even do…according to their website, “[BOLI] protects employment rights, advances employment opportunities, and protects access to housing and public accommodations free from discrimination for all Oregonians.”
When I think about how a Republican governor is a coin-toss away, I think about how we see worker and housing rights eroded in other places where there’s Republican control. That means trans people with no recourse if they are discriminated against in the hiring process, cuts to family and maternity leave, paid sick leave being undermined, civil rights complaints going unaddressed. It seems IMPERATIVE to me, especially if we end up with fucking CHRISTINE DRAZAN, that we have a BOLI Commissioner who has been endorsed by the last five BOLI Commissioners, who will make sure that businesses can’t take away healthcare coverage for abortion services from their employees, and who will create smarter pathways for employment.
Opponent Cheri Holt is backed by both Christine Drazan and Betsy Johnson which is really a yikes. She vaguely talks about cutting taxes, which I always hate because it’s education and social services to get cut first. She is supported by special interest groups who historically block paid sick leave and raises to minimum wage.
Multnomah County, Commissioner, Chair: Jessica Vega Pederson
This is a coin-toss for a lot of people, but I am still here for JVP for a few reasons. The Imagine Black endorsement means a lot to me, as does the Portland Association of Teachers, APANO, East County Rising.
Basically Sharon Meieran is also progressive-ish, right? And she says rightfully that approximately staying the course with the status quo doesn’t seem to be making that much of a difference, and that there are too many meetings and not enough action.
But in the wake of the ugly yucky disaster pile of Portland Resolution 929, the mass homeless camps thing, I am thinking of this writeup from Street Roots that you should read.
While Meieran does say that she has and will consult with houseless people about what they actually want and need, she ends up favoring a plan that essentially is just more mass homeless camps, more shelters, more temporary solutions that most houseless people don’t really even want.
And while MultCo and City of Portland funding is mixed up and tied together in many ways, now that we have to grapple with the phenomenal waste of money that Res. 929 will be, I AM SPECIFICALLY. LOOKING. AT. COUNTY. MONEY. USED. FOR. HOUSING. HOUSING VOUCHERS. LEASES AND PURCHASES AND INVESTMENT IN UNUSED MOTELS AND HOTELS, AFFORDABLE HOUSING. HOUSING. EVICTIONS PROTECTIONS. AND HOUSING.
JVP says getting people into permanent housing should be our North Star. I agree.
East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District, Director, Zone 3: Mike Guebert
Incumbent Mike Guebert runs a way more progressive show than challenger Jake Kerslake, a young, fourth-gen farmer who seems to really lack a plan and is just gonna be way more traditional and conservative in his land practices. Young Jake lacks the experience to bring insight to the complex dealings of this conservation district in a time of extreme climate chaos. Guebert has an established track record of allocating land to farmers of color and using science and data to improve water retention, carbon sequestration, and work toward better farmland and pasture outcomes.
City of Portland, Commissioner, Position 3: Jo Ann Hardesty
Pay special attention to this race and talk to your community about it.
Did you know that you can sign up for the USPS to scan your mail so you get a little summary of what’s arriving in your mailbox every day? Sometimes when I am in a meeting that I don’t want to be a part of, I’ll just sneak a peek. So I didn’t even need to open my mailbox to see a trash-ass piece of election mail from Rene Gonzalez where he took an out-of-context quote from Jo Ann Hardesty saying, “I’ll be as rude as I want to.”
FIRST OF ALL. LET JO ANN BE RUDE. WHY DO WE WANT POLITICIANS TO BE ANGELS???? YOU’VE NEVER BEEN RUDE???? HARDESTY IS MORE DIRECT THAN YOUR AVERAGE “NORTHWEST NICE” PERSON. AND SHE’S BEING IRONIC. HAVE YOU HEARD OF IT
SECOND OF ALL. IT IS SO FUCKING RACIST. TO TRY TO DEPICT. A BLACK WOMAN. AS FIRST AND FOREMOST. BEING RUDE. AS IF THAT SAYS IT ALL. AS IF THAT’S THE WORST THING ABOUT HER. IT’S TRYING TO CALL INTO THE VOTERS’ MINDS ALL OF THEIR NEGATIVE STEREOTYPING AROUND “ANGRY BLACK WOMEN.” ABSOLUTELY FUCK OFF.
THIS FOOL DIDN’T EVEN HAVE THE RESPECT TO CITE HER SPECIFIC POLICIES THAT HE DISAGREES WITH. PROBABLY BECAUSE HER POLICIES ARE PRETTY GOOD.
CLOWN. FLOP. Rene Gonzalez. This fucking guy. Do not elect this man. With his fucking $77,000 elections fine that he managed to weasel his way out of — about the huge, corrupt discount he was getting on his elections HQ space downtown. A 3,000+ square foot space that market value would rent for $6,900 a month, being rented to him as a “favor” for $250 (the elections contribution limit LOL how convenient) a month. Who got a team of hs buddy REAL ESTATE AGENTS to talk about how $250 a month is a fair market rate because of the ~homelessness crisis in downtown Portland!~ Let’s call a spade a spade here. This is CHEATING. It is LAZY and BLATANT. He’s just hoping you have enough contempt for houseless people that you’ll file it away in an ethical grey area.
This dude has received support from folks who are pro-cop, pro-landlord, pro-criminilazing houselessness and street sweeps, pro-life, anti-LGBTQ. This dude started an FCKING ORG called ED3000 that pressured and lobbied legislators to re-open schools at some of the worst points of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020!!!!!!! Against the wishes of LITERALLY ALL THE EDUCATOR UNIONS AND PUBLIC HEALTH GUIDANCE! I always wondered with the folks who wanted schools to re-open schools so bad: DO YOUR KIDS HATE U AND U WANT THEM OUTTA THE HOUSE?????
But Gonzalez is making huge inroads with wealthier Portlanders, NIMBY types who cringe at the sight of houseless people and just want them out of sight and out of mind. People who think that more cops will result in safer neighborhoods LOL are you new.
AND THESE MODERATES AND CONSERVATIVES are saying to themselves, their little tokenizing brains, “Oh…I’m not racist because Rene Gonzalez is also — what’s the PC term for those people? Ah yes. He’s a ‘person of color.’” THIS IS NOT A ONE-TO-ONE SWAP. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT A LIGHT-SKINNED, WHITE-PASSING, 5th GENERATION MEXICAN AMERICAN WHO LITERALLY NONE OF MY MEXICAN FRIENDS FUCK WITH, BELOVED BY LANDLORDS, BELOVED BY COPS. VERSUS A COMPETENT, EXPERIENCED, PRINCIPLED DARK-SKINNED BLACK WOMAN.
KNOCK IT OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!
TALK TO YOUR PEOPLE ABOUT JO ANN. We will lose a HUGE voice for people of color, for houseless neighbors, for police accountability. She tried to pump the breaks on Resolution 929. She believes in evictions protections and rent caps.
I found the Merc’s endorsement of Jo Ann pithy and helpful. This is the article to share with your moderate family members if you need help. It states:
Commissioner Hardesty has championed Portland Street Response, the city’s first unarmed team of first responders dedicated to mental health calls, which met its lofty first-year expectations in April. Hardesty spearheaded the city’s outdoor homeless shelter program at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, has pushed back on Mayor Ted Wheeler’s destabilizing homeless camp sweeps, and established the Portland Clean Energy Fund to support small green organizations (all while decreasing the city’s carbon emissions). And, while it’s easy to poke fun at, Hardesty’s plan to slow traffic and increase visibility in areas of Southeast Portland's Mt. Scott-Arleta neighborhood is the one city program that has proven to decrease gun violence in the past year. It’s been years — decades, perhaps — since we can remember a city commissioner accomplishing so much during their first term.
Ballot Measures
We’re gonna zip through this, babes.
Measure 111: Amends Constitution: State must ensure affordable healthcare access, balanced against requirement to fund schools, other essential services: Yes, do this.
Establishing affordable healthcare as a right is really important. OHP compared to so many other states’ Medicaid is so much stronger. My mom has stage four esophageal cancer and other disabilities. She is getting top-of-the-line care at OHSU’s nationally-ranked Knight Cancer Institute that is almost entirely covered by her OHP state Medicaid. When I think about having a Republican governor, I ALSO think about ballot Meausures like this protecting OHP in case power gets corrupted and cuts are attempted.
The first Argument in Favor from generic ~rural communities~ cites, “In 2019, 60% of all bankruptcies in Oregon included medical debt. In that same year, 16% of Oregonians reported delaying medical treatment due to costs.” This is some dark shit. Plus we know that it costs the state less if healthcare is more accessible at earlier stages of treatment. Vote yes plz!
Measure 112: Amends Constitution: Removes language allowing slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for crime: Yes, oh my god.
We still are gonna have jails just extorting the labor of incarcerated people and paying them pennies. But we have to get rid of this language that allows free labor.
Oregon Sheriffs oppose it, lol, by saying that it could have unintended consequences for certain reformative programs that incentivize good behavior or provide skill-building opportunities. I scoured the language of the ballot measure and, patronizing language aside, I just don’t think that’s going to be an issue.
Measure 113: Amends Constitution: Legislators with ten unexcused absences from floor sessions disqualified from holding next term of office: HELL YEAH HAHAHA
To get on the ballot, these Ballot Measures start by collecting 10,000 signatures. I remember signing this on Hawthorne and laughing with the person collecting signatures. “Fuck these Republicans,” I said, handing the pen back. “Babies,” they said. This is an extremely pointed Constitution amendment that would finally introduce real consequences for folks in the minority who just fuck off instead of staying, representing their constituents, and casting their vote, even if their vote is, like, No on Taxing Corporations for Carbon Emissions. By just…going MIA and hanging out on the Koch Brothers’ ranch, they are WASTING taxpayer dollars, WASTING time and effort, and making a joke of this whole process. As of now, they just get a little fine and slap on the wrist.
Important to note that if Dems were ever in the minority, we’d have to adhere to this too. The point is that if we elected you, go vote on the floor. That’s your JOB.
Measure 114: Requires permit to acquire firearms; police maintain permit/firearm database; criminally prohibits certain ammunition magazines: No
I know a lot of people endorse Measure 114 because it will, one way or another, mean fewer guns on the streets and our gun violence problem is immense. I know. So many of us have lost loved ones to gun violence, or been scared because of gunshots in our neighborhoods. And more restrictions on gun ownership seem really important. I have students afraid of school because they worry about mass shootings. They cry during lockdown drills. They scour my counseling office, filled with stuffed animals and twinkly lights, whispering, “Okay, we could hide under your desk if a shooter came. But Miss Marissa, your office is in the front of the school. They could shoot right through the window and get us from the parking lot.”
I just really, really hear the voices, especially of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people when they say that further legitimizing policing is not the move, like allowing the police to decide rather arbitrarily who gets to have a gun and who doesn’t, and then of course disproportionately penalizing and jailing communities of color who don’t feel okay going through this process or who get denied. All this while THESE STREETS ARE DANGEROUS and people are afraid and it’s not like we have robust infrastructure for safety to protect the people.
This is not our only chance to pass gun reform. We have other avenues and other chances with nearly every other office in the state. Banning assault rifles, different systems of background checking, etc. But this isn’t it, not with these rules.
I can understand yes votes. Suicide, accidents, shootings. I do think a yes vote has the potential to reduce the numbers on these things. Make your own decision here, of course.
County Measure 26-230: Amends charter: replaces gender binary pronouns with gender-neutral terms: Yes
Don’t overthink it. Of course we’re voting for this. The nonbinary and trans people I know are not losing sleep over whether the county charter is using they/them pronouns, but like. This is nice, and the right thing to do, and a helpful precedent for gender-neutralizing all kinds of government documents. Also it’s free. It’s a charter amendment.
County Measure 26-231: Amends charter: voting rights to be extended as legally allowed: Yes
This affects folks’ right to vote on county measures, like for chair, commissioners, sheriff, and other county initiatives, including folks who have been sentenced to felonies, and folks who are noncitizens. These legal residents live here, are paying over $100 million in taxes every year, and we can vote to legally extend the right to vote for better representation. The folks opposing this just actually don’t want democracy to include immigrants, nonwhite people, felons, etc. because usually that means the right-wing loses power.
County Measure 26-232: Amends charter: County officials elected using ranked choice voting; runoff elections eliminated: YES
Let’s do it. Ranked choice county, ranked choice city. This is REALLY good because it helps with this splitting-the-vote issue that happens, especially with more diverse or progressive candidates who often don’t get the vote because we’re worried it’ll siphon votes from a more establishment candidate. So we’re in this fear cycle of reinforcing the status quo because a slip to the right would be devastating. RCV would allow us to vote closer to our ideologies and see who can make inroads by truly swaying hearts and minds, not just reinforcing the blue vs. red endless establishment rodeo.
County Measure 26-233: Amends charter: annual jail inspections by commissioners with volunteers, reporting: YES
Jails bad, unsafe, COVID-19 petri dish, corrupt, spooky. More frequent inspections possibly good, possibly harm reductionist, have already in the past revealed inequities in MultCo jails like worse conditions for folks with mental illness and Black folks.
County Measure 26-234: Amends charter: establishes ombudsman function in county auditor’s office: Yes
Ombudspeople are specifically in place to investigate complaints. It seems like a really good idea to make sure there is someone in this role at the AUDITOR’S OFFICE.
County Measure 26-235: Amends charter: auditor unrestricted access to information, required “right-to-audit” clause: Yes
This is mostly language to explicitly clarify that auditors can have unfettered access to information, to prevent loopholes and stonewalling when agencies don’t really want to be audited. Currently, without the right-to-audit in a timely manner clause, agencies can reaaaaaaaaally drag their feet when providing the information needed for audits that may have a huge impact on governance and treatment.
County Measure 26-236: Amends Charter Review Committee qualifications, appointment, length; requires public engagement: Yes
The county charter is subject to review every six years, and currently, legislators nominate folks to sit on that committee, which meets to review over the course of 11 months. This Mercury article provided helpful information about why this is coming up for change at all; namely, the people who sat on the committee proposed this change. They said that they didn’t have enough time to do a deep review, so this measure would increase the length of time for review. This measure also establishes a selection protocol to replace folks who may have to leave the review committee. It also creates a different process for appointment that is designed to alleviate the Portland-centric representation on the committee, ultimately decided by the Chair, whom we hope will do a good job choosing representation. Worth a go.
Portland Measure 26-228: Amends Charter: Changes Portland’s government structure and process for electing city officials: YEP
Just keep in your mind while reading all of this: we tend to believe that decentralizing power is a good thing, on balance.
If you want a very clear breakdown of what this charter means and doesn’t mean, please visit PDX Charter Facts and truly click through. I will provide y’all an overview but what’s most important to me is the benefit and reasonableness of additional representation in a city of our size, the potential for new, marginalized voices to be elected, and a shakeup of a tediously closed and out-of-date system of city governance. For those reasons, I’m voting yes, and I think you should too.
Take stock of who opposes this ballot measure, and why they might be opposing it. We got Mingus Mapps and Ted Wheeler who don’t want to lose the amount of influence they have, but who have not managed to inspire confidence with their terms so far, instead taking credit for the groundwork laid by others (Mapps), literally pouting at public testimony hearings when he is critiqued (Wheeler), etc. We got the Portland Business Bureau who supported this charter reform all the way through the Spring when they thought it would be surface level, perhaps including woker language around community involvement, but who withdrew support with a quickness when they realized that a larger, more diversely elected city council would significantly reduce their special interest power that has been Dick Cheneying and runnin’ the real show for years and years.
I received four brilliantly-written emails from folks who have researched or worked for months on this charter reform, and a common thread emerged from each: the benefits far outweigh the risks, and the risks are being grossly exaggerated and overcomplicated by folks who are resistant to change and reducing the power of special interests.
This charter reform would increase city council from 5 to 12, move from at-large (meaning, not tied to one specific geographical area) representation to district representation, institute ranked-choice voting, create a city administrator oversight position appointed by the mayor, and boot the mayor out of the council voting process except as a tie-breaker.
The mayor would be an at-large administrator, oversee budget, and would work closely with the city administrator. The city council would grow significantly in representation, especially creating inroads for queer people, renters, people of color, and other underrepresented folks to have a seat at the table, and would focus on passing laws and approving budgets.
City councilors wouldn’t be in charge of the daily operations of City Hall or manage bureaus anymore. They would primarily be a law and policymaking body with more time and impetus to actually engage with constituents.
With ranked-choice voting, voters can vote more closely in alignment with their values without worrying about “splitting” the vote. Just like in the county version of ranked-choice voting, this creates much greater opportunity for less-likely candidates to make it further, but ONLY if they really convince voters. This is not some sneaky inroad for vote-stealing. This provides infrastructure for instant runoffs, and literally just more opportunity for different voices, in an insular City Hall where developers and landowners and honestly just white dudes have a disproportionate say in what gets done.
All of these pieces matter because currently there is BLATANT favoritism and cahoots between the major and certain members of city council. BLATANT!!! With a larger, more representative council, the algae pool of power gets significantly diluted. We have shenanigans at every fucking turn. We have elected city commissioners in charge of bureaus spending a ton of time learning how to manage them and not enough time engaging with constituents or working on our actual laws and policies.
One person who has been working for two years on this charter reform, meticulously reaching out to the community to discern what is important to us, tweaking and re-tweaking the provisions to get us more equitable representation that actually has a chance of working, highlights that we are going to fully run out of political capital if we don’t pass this now. The opposition says, “Oh, uh, there are too many problems. Let’s keep tweaking and put it on the May ballot.” Political capital is finite and the amazing amount of campaign resources already put toward this November ballot measure cannot be replicated in May. And voters won’t pass it. We’ll be stuck with an incredibly frustrating system of governance that does not represent the larger, more diverse population of our city.
Metro Councilor Ashton Simpson summarizes:
Anyone who wants to see safer streets, more bike lanes, and a government more responsive to the campaigns of active transportation advocates should be voting to adopt a new charter for Portland’s city government. Despite wholly inaccurate rhetoric from the measure’s skeptics, Portland’s charter reform consists of three simple components; professional, centralized management of our bureaus, ranking candidates in future city elections, and creation of four City Council districts each electing three representatives. Each of these changes will not only make our local government more efficient and accountable, but each will also make it easier for us to make Portland a more safe, walkable, equitable city for everyone.
If these things still seem confusing on paper, don’t worry. For the voters, it will look like ranked-choice voting. More values-aligned representation. And hopefully better governance with less creepy special-interest influence. We just won’t know ‘til we try. But I would tend to defer to the charter reform committee comprised of deeply thoughtful people who have been working on this for literal years.
Metro Measure 26-225: Renews local option levy; protects natural areas, water quality, fish: Yes
Lol one of the arguments in opposition is just titled “METRO HAS ENOUGH PARKS MONEY.” To which I would say, “No, it doesn’t.”
Please vote for this. It does not increase tax rates, just continues a levy that’s already in place. If we run out of this levy, with an increasing population that likes to and deserves to use parks and natural spaces, we start to see basic train maintenance, wildlife protections, and accessibility measures eroded.
PCC Measure 26-224: Bonds to construct job training space, improve classrooms, safety, technology: Yes
You know I’m gonna vote for money to community colleges, PLZ!!!! Street Roots’ article, as usual, was very helpful to suss out what exactly will get funded, with no additional cost to taxpayers, to boot. Things like ROOF REPAIRS.
Bonus generalization:
Across the state, school bonds are popping up. I urge all of you, wherever you are, to vote yes on the bonds supporting David Douglas, Beaverton, Bend La-Pine, and everywhere. Schools are bleeding. Teachers are leaving. Buildings are falling apart. The Marion County School District bond back in May failed and it SUCKS. School bonds tend to pass by hairline majorities.
Happy voting. We aren’t doing this because we love these systems. We’re doing it because we’re not electing a MAGA governor without a fucking fight. We’re not getting overwhelmed by how long the ballot is and letting slip all kinds of crucial opportunities to protect our most vulnerable. We cede no ground. We are petty, ruthless, and meticulous. HEHE!!!
ﾟ･:*｡(ꈍᴗꈍ)ε｀*)~｡*:･ﾟ
Love ya. Take care of you and yours.
xoxo,
bitchtucci
ps. I am hustling extremely hard to get my mama, the center of my universe, the most powerful and devastating force of love and pain in my life, my Mama Yang, back to Korea for a homecoming trip as she confronts her terrifying esophageal cancer diagnosis. Her treatment seems to be going well but I am afraid we will lose our chance for her to see her homeland again. I think I have enough to pay for one or possibly both of our flights, but definitely not enough for her to fly business class which SHE DESERVES!!!! and will be better for her back pain, and probably not enough for a rental car which we will need because she can’t walk long distances or easily take public transit. If you have connections to Korea Air or Air Canada, I’m looking at flights through them. Ditto for any hotels in Seoul — Marriott, Lotte, Novotel, any other international hotel chains? Airbnb credits or discounts? And if you want to throw some sugar on the Mama Yang homecoming trip, I’m @marissayangbertucci on venmo, cash app, paypal. hehe. love u. We’re gonna get her there. This spring!!!!
