Hello, Oregon Progressive Party members and supporters. Welcome to the latest of our monthly newsletters on what we are up to and other items of interest to the Oregon Progressive community.
Progressive Party War and Peace Report

Cold War with Russia turns hot.

Russia has invaded Ukraine. Bombs are falling; people are dying while thousands of others are becoming refugees. Economic sanctions have started hurting the Russian people. And in Russia a strong anti-war movement is in full force with 10s of thousands of protesters having been arrested. Threats of nuclear usage have been made.

Join the Oregon Progressive Party for a Peace Rally.

Veterans For Peace, Chapter 72, calls members and allies to speak up for peace:
Sunday, March 6, noon at Pioneer Courthouse Square (SW Broadway and Yamhill)

No War in Ukraine/Negotiations Now
Action is part of International Day of Action for Peace

Oregon Progressive Party will be there. Join us. Look for our banner. And we will have posters as at the top of this notice to pass out. Use them at the rally; then take them home for display or put them in your car window.

We will also be collecting signatures on the two Lift Every Voice Oregon initiatives to end gun violence in Oregon. See article below on these and then sign them at the rally.
Be a Oregon Progressive Party candidate - any level of government
If you are progressive and have thought of running for office (local, state or national level), the OR Progressive Party wants you on our team, either as a endorsed or a nominated candidate.

We need progressive people on the ballot at all levels of government. On a city council/county commission or a water district boards, state representative or senator or running for a statewide office. You could run for US Representative or Senator. You decide and then talk with us.

Learn what is required and what the benefits are for you here.
Peoples' Action to Enact
Campaign Finance Limits
update
The Senate Rules Committee in the Oregon Legislature held a committee hearing on January 13, 2022. OR Progressive Party legal counsel, Dan Meek, provided testimony outlining the various initiative petitions which have been filed with the Secretary of State. The main actions to date have been that the OR Progressive Party has with our allies at OR Honest Election filed three strong and effective proposed ballot initiatives (IP 43, 43 and 44). That filing was followed by the filing of three additional initiatives by labor unions. We do not support those additional initiatives. Why we don't is explained in Dan Meek's testimony. The Oregon Legislature will take no action on campaign finance reform during the current session.

Included in his testimony is a OR Honest Election flyer on
why We Need Campaign Finance Reform in Oregon.

If your organization wants to endorse, that can be done at the above link,
as can individual endorsements

Sign up to help get this on Nov 2022 ballot.

Oregon voters clearly want effective limits on political campaign contributions and spending in Oregon elections.

WE WILL NEED YOUR HELP getting this on the Nov 2022 ballot. Sign up here to help the OR Progressive Party help with the campaign gathering signatures when the time comes.

Heard suggestions that these initiative petitions are dead?

The media has responded to action by the OR Secretary of State (SOS) declaring that our initiatives do not meet requirements regarding the inclusion of the full text of OR law which would be affected in the initiatives themselves. The media responses have suggested that we cannot move forward and will not appear on the Nov 2022 ballot.

That is not the case!

Honest Elections (HE) moved ahead and got the Attorney General to issue ballot titles for each in spite of the SOS decision, so that once the challenge process is complete, HE can start collecting signatures.

Additionally, HE has filed Writs of Mandamus (WofD) with the OR Supreme Court. The WofD requests that the OR Supreme Court move our challenge of the SOS claims from the Circuit Court directly to the Supreme Court, which will cut considerable time from the process.
HE expects that the Supreme Court will grant the WofD and address whether the SOS acted unlawfully.

Assuming that all goes HE's way, we expect to start collecting the 112,000 valid Oregon voter signatures by mid-April and have a ballot measure on the Nov 2022 ballot.
Sign initiative Petitions by
Printing and mailing them yourself

Several initiative petition campaigns now allow individual supporters to sign their initiative petitions by printing them from their websites, signing them and then mailing them in. No reason to wait to find a signature gatherer at some event or on the street. You can do it yourself.

Three initiative petition campaigns which OR Progressive Party supports for the Nov 2022 ballot are among this group.

  • Lift Every Voice Oregon has two petitions to end gun violence. Gun violence is ever increasing. The last OR legislature was encouraged by citizens to enact new laws aimed at decreasing gun violence. But as is so often the case, they failed to act. So, the Lift Every Voice Oregon coalition formed to do the legislature's job - enact laws to protect the people of Oregon by writing two initiatives to end gun violence. IP 17, titled Reduction of Gun Violence Act aims to stop the proliferation of assault weapons, and IP 18, the Reduction of Harm from Weapons Act, aims to create safer gun owners and less lethal ammunition.

  • Oregon Peoples' Rebate has one petition which will increase the Corporate Activities Tax on corporate revenue starting at over $25 million on sales in Oregon and redistribute the resulting increased revenue to each resident of Oregon equally, resulting in a rebate of about $750 per individual Oregon resident annually. That is money which would leave the state, going into the pockets of some of the largest corporations in the nation. It would not affect mom and pop Oregon businesses.


General instructions on signing these sheets:
  • Print the sheets on standard white office paper (20 pound paper)
  • Provide the signature and other information in either black or blue ink. Never sign with a pencil.
  • Sign each sheet with your signature twice - once as the voter and once as the circulator. Include your printed name and address on each sheet.
  • Do not write in the space labeled "Sheet Number".
  • Mail the sheet to the address provided on each sheet. The IP6 sheet has a different mail to address than the IP 17 and 18 sheets.
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Connect with the OPP

OPP has a monthly public party meeting on the fourth Monday each month at 7 PM. Currently we are meeting via Zoom; we might be moving to in-person again soon in Portland, but we will continue to have the Zoom option. To receive notification of future meetings, please join our Google Group. To receive occasional emails about important issues (one or two per month), join our Email List.

Visit our website at www.progparty.org, We are on Facebook here.

Check out our Renewed OPP Website

Check out the OR Progressive Party website. It has a new look. While mostly the same information is there, it is all reformatted so it looks like it belongs in this century. And that also means that if you check it on your cell phone or other web devise, it is usable. Check it out at www.progparty.org.

As an Oregon registered voter, you can give a tax refundable donation of up to $50 once a year and then deduct it off your Oregon income taxes. There is no reason to wait to the end of the year. Do it now.