Oregon Politics News

August 5, 2009 - 05:11 pm
NEWS FEED: Jack Bog's Blog

Breakthrough for Burnside Bridgehead

Finally, some actual construction action at the long vacant Burnside Bridgehead site on the east side of Portland's Burnside Bridge. We're getting very close to the groundbreaking, folks. Excitement is building. It's going to be grand -- a brand new... wait for it...

... fence!

They're going to hire local artists "to reflect and highlight the creativity and industry of the Central Eastside Urban Renewal Area by making this a dynamic corner." Literally covering up the fact that the city can't even give away this lot. It's all part of the "couplet" madness that will have a condo bunker standing in the middle of the intersection of Burnside and Sandy. It's nice that we have this kind of money lying around.

August 5, 2009 - 04:39 pm
NEWS FEED: OregonLive.com

From Walker to Edwards, a shift in the Senate

As many insiders expected, Rep. Chris Edwards was appointed Wednesday to fill the state Senate vacated by Vicki Walker after she was named to head Oregon's parole board. While both are Eugene Democrats, Edwards will represent a big shift from...

August 5, 2009 - 03:00 pm
NEWS FEED: Jack Bog's Blog

Strike 2

Little Lord Paulson's Beaverton stadium dreams seem considerably less feasible today in light of this story.

August 5, 2009 - 02:27 pm
NEWS FEED: BlueOregon

Minimum Tax Math: Corporations to pay no more than $1.50 while households on average pay $57.00 per $1000 in revenue

Led by fear mongering lobbyists Mark Nelson, Pat McCormick and Jon Chandler, some businesses in Oregon are bellyaching about the new corporate minimum tax. They want to go back to the $10 a year corporate minimum tax that two-thirds of Oregon corporations have been paying. It’s time to put the new corporate minimum tax in perspective. According to the Oregon Department of Revenue’s most recent report on the personal income tax, the state’s overall effective tax rate is 5.7 percent as of tax year 2007. That’s a measure of how much individuals actually pay if you take all personal income...

August 5, 2009 - 02:19 pm
NEWS FEED: Jack Bog's Blog

Always wear protection

Here's one of those e-mail messages that everyone gets eventually. We're usually on the tail end of the circulation. But in case you haven't seen it yet, it's a 73-year-old veteran at an event at which prominent Democrats are speaking. (Depending on where you work, the photo may not be safe.)

August 5, 2009 - 01:59 pm
NEWS FEED: BlueOregon

SD-7: Chris Edwards unanimous pick for State Senate

The Lane County Commission announced today that they've appointed Rep. Chris Edwards to the State Senate - in a unanimous decision. He replaces Vicki Walker, who was appointed by the Governor to lead the state parole commission. In the House, Edwards currently represents HD-14, which includes parts of west Eugene and Santa Clara, Junction City, Cheshire and Alvadore. The Senate district includes the parts of Eugene represented by Rep. Nancy Nathanson in HD-13. The Senate seat will be up in the November 2010 election. In 2006, it featured one of the most hotly-contested Senate races in Oregon between Senator Walker...

August 5, 2009 - 01:53 pm
NEWS FEED: BlueOregon

Senator Jeff Merkley Introduces the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)

Back in the primaries for the US Senate race, I was an early supporter of Steve Novick, but after Jeff Merkley won the primary, I swallowed my pride, wrote the check, and trundled down to the Merkley office to volunteer as much as I could. Today, Jeff Merkley more than earned the support that I gave him. He was one of four Senators, including Susan Collins, Olympia Snow and Ted Kennedy, who introduced the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) into the United States Senate. He is continuing his commitment to workplace protections, as he pushed successfully for a state version of...

August 5, 2009 - 12:23 pm
NEWS FEED: OregonGuy

We Are The Mob You Were Looking For

By all means, call.

I called. Asking for "mo' mob". What I got was an auto-answer that asked me to press "1". Then I was re-directed to the DNC.

Bad move.

I want my party to be stand-up. I was pretty disappointed to find that the RNC was auto-forwarding calls in response to the above ad to the DNC. If the DNC wants to jam up phone lines for the RNC, okay. That's what stand-up guys do. They listen. They take their hits. They move on.

I called the RNC on their "other" phone line and explained that as a Republican, I was not happy with their decision to forward the calls.

August 5, 2009 - 11:02 am
NEWS FEED: OregonLive.com

Bloomberg leads mayors - absent Adams - on guns

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg - who also happens to be No. 17 on Forbes' list of the richest people in the world - has knitted together 450 other mayors into a lobbying force on gun issues that is posing...

August 5, 2009 - 09:42 am
NEWS FEED: NW Republican

Ouch

Now this could leave a mark.

I'm sure I'll get reported to the government for posting this.