Here’s another missive from Jed Jorgensen, our intrepid toiler in the political field:

Recently Onward Oregon posted my essay on why I returned to politics this election. I hope I can encourage you to join me in donating your time and money to the strong candidates in close races during these last few important weeks. (See Onward Oregon’s Election 2006 page.)

We have a huge opportunity right now: We’re within striking distance of putting Democrats in control of the Oregon House. For the first time since 1994, leaders who share our values could be setting the agenda for our state.

They’re ready for the job too. Check out the Oregon House Democrats’ Roadmap for Oregon (their vision for our state). The amazing thing is that the ideas they propose are totally mainstream, and totally common sense.

I say amazing because what these ideas really illustrate to me is just how far down the wrong path the Republican leadership has taken us for the past 12 years. Rather than providing strong schools for our children, job number one for the House Republicans has been to do the bidding of the corporate special interests that fund their campaigns.

We have got to do better than this.

The bar, however, needs to be raised for far more than just good public policy. In their quest to remain in power, the House Republicans have demonstrated that they are willing to spend and say just about anything to get re-elected.

Karen Minnis, the Speaker of the House, is the most egregious example. Her two campaign committees have raised more than $1 million for this election, the vast majority coming from the same special interests she has served so well over the years.

Not only does this vast amount of money smash all previous records for fund-raising in an Oregon State House race, it is more than four times greater than other competitive house races in the state.

With all that money, the Speaker’s consultants chose to wallow deep into the mud of dirty campaigning. The mail pieces they sent condemned Rob Brading (Minnis’ opponent) for his volunteer service on the Multnomah County Library Board. The attacks were so baseless as to warrant a lawsuit for going against campaign finance laws, and so insulting to the intelligence and decency of the people of the district that even The Oregonian asked Minnis to stop.

We have got to raise the bar. It’s time to kick Karen Minnis and the special interests out of the legislature and to elect leaders who will be working for us for a change!

The path we must walk is clear. We all need to make sacrifices over the next few weeks, and the reward for our state is potentially huge. I’m asking you to give up a few hours one night each week, and a few dollars per day to help these campaigns.

Together we can make real change happen here in Oregon. I hope to see you out there with me. Visit the Oregon House candidates section of Onward Oregon’s Election 2006 page for links to follow to get involved.

Jed Jorgensen is the former Political Director for the Oregon League of Conservation Voters. He is currently on leave from Illahee, and working as the Canvass Director for FuturePAC, the campaign arm of the Oregon House Democratic Caucus.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 18th, 2006 at 11:06 pm and is filed under Elections, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.