Politics & Government
This Election Season REQUIRES ALL Candidates To Speak Up For Democracy
Many of these candidates are part of the problem not the solution especially those who have been or are currently office holders
The Ellmyer Report - An Occasional Political Newsletter
About ten years ago three huge, environmentally disastrous coal terminals were proposed in Oregon. Not a single member of Oregon’s legislature opposed the plans. With indefensible, mindless partisanship Republicans got on board with the railroads while Democrats lined up with the unions. Personal and tribal political interests trumped the well being of all Oregonians. Pathetic and shameless yet very revealing of political character. If it wasn’t for governor John Kitzhaber and the remarkable efforts of a legion of us citizen activists Oregon would be covered with a filthy blanket of coal dust. So, the political cowardice expressed by most of these candidates reviewed below is no surprise.
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I was a voter during the Johnson Viet Nam era, the Nixon Watergate era, the Regan Iran Contra era and the G.W. Bush Iraq/Afghanistan wars era. All of these presidents trafficked in misinformation, disinformation, coverups and outright lying to the American people.
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The failures of our elected officials at every level to speak out against these travesties of political leadership have been painfully observed.
Most of these candidates below are behaving as though this election is just business as usual. It is NOT. Many of these candidates are part of the problem not the solution especially those who have been or are currently office holders.
Being unwilling to publicly affirm these statements is a sign of political ineptitude, cowardice or both. Sadly, Ignorance, hubris and fear dominate candidates’ choices.
The overall political climate this election season is dramatically different from the past requiring a more comprehensive consideration of candidate competency. National and regional forces will have a meaningful impact on the public office jobs they seek.
These five Gatekeeper Statements will determine if candidates for Metro, Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties, Portland city council and competitive House races have the broad political knowledge, courage, character and values to warrant voter trust to hold any public office.
1. Donald Trump is a clear and present danger and an existential threat to our American democracy including democracy in Oregon.
2. The Republican Party has devolved into a political cult run exclusively by, for and about adjudicated rapist, anti-democracy, election denier, insurrectionist provocateur and criminal defendant Donald Trump.
3. The blatantly unethical behavior of some judges on the Supreme Court and bad partisan decisions has meaningfully devalued:
a) the credibility of the Court,
b) the very concepts of law and justice we hold dear,
c) and endangered the lives and prosperity of Oregonians, especially women.
4. Florida Federal judge, Aileen Cannon, whose MAGA-style judicial corruption is only exceeded by her legal incompetence, should be removed from overseeing defendant Donald Trump’s stolen classified national security documents and violations of the Espionage Act case.*
5. The Metro Regional Government must immediately establish and execute a publicly vetted REGIONAL Public Housing Policy.
These Gatekeeper Statements are designed to tell us if these candidates possess the basic political skill to not only see but publicly acknowledge the “Elephants” in the room.
ON The Bus
These candidates passed the test. They appear to have a good foundation for public decision making. Voters should consider giving them their support and vote.
Clackamas County Candidates
Position 4
Rae Gordon, raegordonforcc@gmail.com, https://raegordonforclackamascounty.com
Multnomah County Candidates
Position 3
T.J. Noddings, tjnoddings@gmail.com, https://tj4housing.com
Applicants for Matching Funds for Portland City Council NOT Yet City Council Candidates
District 1
Cayle Tern, cayleforpdx@gmail.com, https://www.cayleforpdx.com
District 2
Michelle DePass, depass.michelle@gmail.com
District 3
Theo Hathaway Saner, theohathawaysaner@gmail.com, https://weshinepdx.org/person/theo-hathaway-saner/
District 4
Jeremy Beausoleil Smith, Jeremy4PDX@gmail.com,
Michael Trimble, michael@iamwithmichael.com, iamwithmichael.com
Oregon House Candidates
House District 48
Elizabeth A. Petersen, elizabethpetersenrn@gmail.com
OFF The Bus
These candidates failed the test. They indicated a serious lack of political comprehension necessary for successful public service. Voters should be wary of giving them their support and vote.
Metro Candidates
District 3
Gerritt Rosenthal
District 5
Mary Nolan
District 6
Duncan Hwag
Clackamas County Candidates
Position 1, Chair
Tootie Smith, Craig Roberts, April Lambert
Position 3
Martha Schrader, Amy Nichols, Dana Hindman-Allen
Position 4
Rae Gordon, Mark Shull, Melissa Fireside, Tina Irvine
Multnomah County Candidates
District 1
Meghan Moyer, Kevin Fitts, Vadim Mozyrsky, Margot Wheeler, Chris Henry
District 2
Jessie Burke, Shanon Singleton, Sam Adams, Nicholas Hara, Carlos Jermaine Richard
District 3
Julia Brim-Edwards
District 4
Brian Knotts, Timothy Youker, Vince Jones-Dixon
Washington County Candidates
District 1
Nafisa Fai, Jenny Kamprath
District 3
Jason Snider, Peter Huhtala
Applicants for Matching Funds for Portland Mayor NOT Yet Mayoral Candidates
Mingus Mapps, Durrell Kinsey Bey, Rene Gonzalez, Carmen Rubio, Keith Wilson, Liv Osthus
Applicants for Matching Funds for Portland City Council NOT Yet City Council Candidates
District 1
Candace Avalos, Jamie Dunphy, Timur Ender, Noah Ernst, Joe Furi, Terrence Hayes, David Linn, Steph Routh, Deian Salazar, Thomas Shervey
District 2
James Armstrong, Reuben Berlin, Alan Blake, David Burnell, Marnie Glickman, Mariah Hudson, Debbie Kitchin, Marc Koller, John Middleton, Christopher Olson, Jennifer Park, Tiffani Penson, Elana Pirtle-Guiney, Dan Ryan, Brooklyn Sherman, Laura Streib, Jonathan Tasini, Nat West
District 3
Matthew Anderson, Sandeep Bali, Rex Burkholder, Jesse Cornett, Daniel DeMelo, Chris Flanary, Dan Gilk, Philippe Knab, Tiffany Koyama Lane, Angelita Morillo, Steve Novick, Robin Ye
District 4
Eli Arnold, Olivia Clark, Michael DiNapoli, Mitchell Green, Ben Hufford, Chomba Kaluba, Chad Lykins, Tony Morse, Stan Penkin, Moses Ross, Sarah Silkie, Soren Underdahl, Bob Weinstein, Eric Zimmerman
Oregon House Candidates
House District 7
John Lively, Ryan Rhoads, Cory Burket
House District 8
Doyle E. Canning, Lisa Fragala
House District 12
Charlie Conrad, Darin Harbick
House District 16
Sami Al-Abdrabbuh, Sarah Finger McDonald
House District 21
Kevin Mannix, Virginia Stapleton
House District 22
Tracy M. Cramer, Lesly M. Munoz
House District 31
Darcey Edwards, Aaron L. Hall, Jordan Gutierrez
House District 32
Cyrus B. Javadi, Logan C. Laity, Glenn Gaither
House District 33
Brian Duty, Pete M. Grabiel, Shannon Jones Isadore, Stan Baumhofer, Dick Courter
House District 35
Farrah Chaichi, Casey Zimmerman, Dan Martin
House District 37
Jules Walters, Brian Maguire, Ben Edtl
House District 39
April Dobson, Aimee L. Reiner
House District 40
Annessa Hartman, Sue Leslie, Michael Steven Newgard
House District 44
Travis Nelson, Christine E. Nair
House District 46
Willy Chotzen, Mary Lou Hennrich
House District 48
Hoa H. Nguyen, John Masterman, Andrew Morrison
House District 49
Zach Hudson, Terry A. Tipsord
House District 50
Ricki Ruiz, Paul Drechsler
House District 51
Christine Drazan, James A. Hieb
House District 52
Jeff Helfrich, Nick Walden Poublon
House District 53
Emerson Levy, Keri Lopez
House District 57
Greg Smith, Raymond Akers
House District 59
Vikki Breese-Iverson, Joseph M. Goodwin, Austyn Goody, Brian K. Samp
Dear Reader: Ask yourself, Would you vote for a candidate for public office who did NOT answer YES to all of these questions because they were either Ignorant, ill-informed, disinterested or afraid? Or worse, mistakenly held indefensible political views and values that justified to themselves a No response?
Richard Ellmyer
Portland Voter and Citizen Activist since 1975
Campaign manager and legislative assistant to state senator Bill McCoy 1980-1981.
Campaign manager and senior staff to Multnomah county commissioner Gladys McCoy 1981-1984.
Celebrate North Portland award 2016 for Volunteer Work and Service with Political and Social Issues Impacting North Portland.
Certified Oregon Change Agent by Governor John Kitzhaber 2011.
PSU Senior Adult Learner, Spring 2024 - Planning and Housing Markets, 500 level class
Author of more stories on the politics, players and policies of Public Housing in Oregon over the last twenty-two years than all other journalists and elected officials combined.
Project Champion and Data Wrangler - Metro/Oregon Public Housing Location Maps https://www.goodgrowthnw.org/m...
GIS for Activism conference, May 23, 2022, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon
Richard Ellmyer - How I, A Citizen Activist, Used GIS To Effectively Tell A Necessary Yet Unavailable Truth About Public Housing
30 minute Video https://media.pdx.edu/media/t/...
LET KNOWLEDGE SERVE THE CITY
Patch news.
*
For details and insight into this matter watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl8XU0rSyMs&list=PL36GQAccexbwm-CsNbNY5lmiKUKABR2h9&index=19 .
Also see conversations and analysis by Michael Popok and Ben Meiselas on the MeidasTouch network Legal AF https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL36GQAccexbzeCLQusnecQAquydGw8kBC.
