The intersection again.
People who come to a meet-and-greet event I am hosting this afternoon for Tobias Read will see signs on all four corners.
Harris. Harris. Harris. Trump.
Last Thursday I described the intersection that faces my home. I said I had put up this sign:
The next day the neighbor across the street put up this one:
The day after that a neighbor at the third corner put up this:
The three signs were up for two days but on Saturday the Trump-liar-felon sign disappeared. I learned it was stolen. It was replaced by these:
And now the fourth corner has a sign:
When I ran for Jackson County commissioner 44 years ago, this upscale neighborhood was overwhelmingly Republican. Most prosperous people voted Republican and working people, across town, voted Democratic. (I lived across town.) Things have changed. This precinct is now purple, voting Republican 53-45. College-educated people, those "suburban voters" we read about, now include a lot of Democrats.
It is a good neighborhood for holding political events for either political party. There is plenty of parking along the neighborhood streets. I am holding a meet-and-greet event this afternoon for Tobias Read. He is the incumbent state treasurer, the office responsible for overseeing the state's money, including the $120 billion-plus pension fund. Read is a Democrat who has received a lot of bipartisan support
Read is now running for the office of Oregon's secretary of state. That office oversees elections. I am doubly motivated to support Read's campaign because his opponent, State Senator Dennis Linthicum, is a 2020-election denier. Linthicum actively supported Trump's effort to overthrow the 2020 election, joining lawsuits and speaking out claiming the election was stolen from Trump. He is still doing so. I heard him speak at a Trump rally this summer headlined by "the pillow guy," Mike Lindell, a nationally-known election denier.
Here is the invitation the Read campaign sent out. It was mailed to a wide net of people and sent out by email to an even wider net. Local readers interested in meeting Tobias Read are welcome to stop by this afternoon at 5 p.m. Say hello. Eat some food. Drink some wine. Hear what Tobias Read has to say.
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Elections are one of the pillars of our democracy. The Secretary of State is Oregon’s chief election officer, responsible for overseeing and administering state elections.
ReplyDeleteIn 2020, Republicans didn’t like the election results so they tried to overturn it, first through the courts and then through fake elector schemes and violence. They failed, so now they’re trying to take over the election process. I can’t imagine anything more destructive to our democracy than putting one of those lying, election denying bastards in charge of elections.
I’m unable to attend the meet and greet but will certainly be contributing to Read’s campaign.
Like Mike, I'm unable to attend, but assuredly will continue contributing to the Tobias Read Campaign. Linthicum has been a festering boil on the Body Politic since he first appeared on the scene several years ago.
ReplyDeleteTobias Read is a good guy, and I supported him when he ran for State Treasurer. He lived down the street from me when I lived in Beaverton. I didn't look to see if he was Republican or Democratic. Instead, I looked at his skillset and what he had planned to do for Oregon. I also knew his challenger on the Republican side.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to being responsible for state elections, the SoS is also responsible for auditing state government operations. And yes, past SoS and their department have made mistakes. See recent problems with issuing drivers licenses to illegal aliens and inadvertently registering them to vote.
Several years ago when Motor Voter were implemented, I had the opportunity to discuss this directly with then SoS Jeanne Atkins (March 2015 to January 201). We had a cordial exchange, and she told me the steps taken to assure that only US citizens would be registered and added to the voter rolls. Additionally, copies of documents would be retained as there was pressure at that time to start issuing REALID compliant licenses. It took several years for REALID to become a reality. It was explained that Oregon would not implement REALID drivers licenses or state ID as the federal mandate did not fund this for the states.
In recent years, Oregon did eventually offer REALID compliant drivers licenses and state IDs, but only at an additional cost to the requestor.
Many states have no problem issuing REALID compliant licenses and state IDs without a premium cost. A few states still require an additional fee.
Here in Florida, there was no additional cost, and ours are good for 6 years. Mine is good for 8 years due to a "safe driver" benefit. In addition, the license or ID is provided in minutes at the DMV office.
Finally, another responsibility of the SoS is auditing state agencies. I'm sure Oregon taxpayers would like to know why it costs more per resident to run state and public operations than many other states. Are taxpayers getting their money's worth?
Add up state taxes from income and property, and received federal funds, and divide by the number of residents. When I checked a few years ago, the median was about $6,000 per resident. Oregon was at $9,600 per resident. Sure, there's no sales tax, but that cost per resident to run the state seemed pretty high to me.
See for yourself:
https://ballotpedia.org/Total_state_government_expenditures
Perhaps it's a good thing that taxpayers have a "Kicker" to make sure that Oregon doesn't spend too much to run the state.