2020 has been quite a year. The heavy toll of COVID-19 on our communities and the mega fires that choked our air and blocked out the sun have made for a very challenging year for organizing. But through it all, volunteers like you came through.
It was volunteers like you that powered our campaign efforts to help us elect great candidates to local city councils across Marion county. You helped re-elect great representatives to the legislature as well as get our own Deb Patterson elected to SD10. Nationally, your phone banking, text banking and post carding efforts helped to get Joe Biden and Kamala Harris elected.
I am proud of all the hard work we put in and all that we accomplished in this unprecedented year. I am also humbled to have been elected by you to lead our efforts in the next two years as we head into our school board races. As we look forward to a new year, and the inauguration of Joe Biden as President, I know that we still have much to do but I know that Marion County Democrats are up for that challenge.
I hope that this New Year brings you and yours health, joy and peace and I look forward to all that we will continue to accomplish in the coming years.
In Solidarity,
Carina Perez Europa
Chair, Marion County Democrats
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So many ways to get involved in YOUR Marion County Democrats Central Committee!
Please consider joining a Standing Committee. Generally, each committee meets monthly in the evening, via Zoom unless otherwise noted on our calendar.
To join a committee meeting, contact the Chair of the committee for the Zoom link.
Communications: Meets 4th Wednesday, 6:30pm
Programs: Meets 2nd Sunday, 5:00pm
Legislative: Meets 1st and 3rd Tuesdays during Jan, Feb, and March, 6:30pm. Times will adjust after session ends.
Rules: Meets 3rd Mondays, 6:00pm
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Political Tax Credit
This is it!
Ends Midnight, December 31st!
Oregon offers a unique Political Tax Credit to all taxpayers making under $75,000 per individual, or under $150,000 for joint-filing couples.
The credit is simple — qualifying Oregon taxpayers can give up to $50 per year (or $100 for joint-filing couples) to a state political party, and receive the full amount as a credit subtracted from your Oregon state taxes when you file.
It’s like a free $50 donation (or $100 for joint-filing couples), and it’s an important way to keep Oregon’s elections powered by grassroots supporters like you.
You can qualify if:
- You are an Oregon resident
- You will submit an Oregon tax return for 2020
- You will make less than $75,000 in 2020 (or $150,000 for joint-filing couples)
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What's in a Name? Respect.
Hello and Happy New Year from the first person to test our voting rules for nonbinary CD5 delegate candidates! I'm KC Cunningham, I use they/them pronouns, and I'm writing briefly about pronoun politics as we enter 2021.
There are plenty of reasonable questions about pronouns to discuss, both from first-time learners and from followers of the evolving queer lexicon. Trans and nonbinary people often are expected to be educators when we encounter these questions as individuals out in the world, and it gets especially tiring when we're asked to justify our existence. The Marion Democrats can hold these two truths and overcome the apparent tension between them, because we can use our organizational capacity to spread the education work around.
Here’s the easy part: today, the standards in our organization for pronoun disclosure and use are unclear. We can change this in a way that builds trust, that respects the time of trans and nonbinary Democrats, and that doesn't merely throw a rulebook at everyone else. When it comes to the discussions that will support these changes, I am one resource both as a nonbinary person and as Chair of the Rules Committee.
Here’s the important part: as a political party, we have the responsibility to demonstrate our support for the LGBTQ+ community by fighting for and winning meaningful victories. If our organization were unconcerned with job protections for trans and nonbinary workers, housing for queer and trans youth, and safety for Black trans women facing domestic and police violence, then it would be misleading to have polite pronoun standards for our meetings. Happily, the 2020 Democratic Party Platform does express those concerns quite clearly. There's plenty of work to do for our part in meeting the challenges of the Platform, and getting pronouns right is one small aspect of that work.
The point of understanding pronouns is not to check a box and move on. The point is that democracy needs everyone informed and involved, and that more people moving together is more power to win what matters.
See you next year,
KC (they/them)
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Thursday, December 31st: Good bye 2020! We're done with you! And please take 'Rona with you.
2021
Wednesday, January 6th: 6:30pm; Membership Committee Mtg.
Monday, January 11th: Salem City Council Swearing in Ceremony and; Oregon Legislature Swearing in Ceremony
Monday, January 18th: Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Holiday Celebration
Wednesday, January 20th: 8:15am PST; Inauguration of the 46th President of the United States
Thursday, January 21st: Monthly General Membership Meeting; 6:30pm via Zoom. Watch for link to register
Monday, February 15th: Presidents' Day Celebration (Federal Holiday)
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