INDIVISIBLE North Coast Oregon: February 2021

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

2-22-21 Newsletter

WE MUST BUILD THE PROGRESSIVE BENCH

For decades, Republicans and other conservatives have been elected to local office around the country, often because they ran unopposed. We can't let that happen in Clatsop County! People with different ideas about who tax dollars and other resources are for will be more than happy to run unopposed.

Our communities need progressives on school boards and other special districts throughout Clatsop County. Practice democracy with your values and wisdom. If not you, do you know someone who you'd want serving in office?

Here's the official list of positions on the ballot.

Candidates can file for office through March 18 for the May 18 election.
Check out the Clatsop County Elections website for more information.

CAMPAIGN SCHOOLS

• You're invited to attend The Clatsop Campaign School. It aims to train progressive candidates on how to run for office, as well as training campaign managers and treasurers (we need these too!) It starts soon, so contact clatsopcampaignschool@gmail.com for details.

• You can also encourage others to run for office. Learn how from experts at this candidate recruitment and persuasion workshop, tonight at 6 pm. Here's the link to sign up.

• More info about running for office is at Run For Something.

Will you be one of the pro-democracy candidates our communities need?
If you don't run, who will?

TAKE CARE, GET CARE

With the pandemic, we're all thinking about health care, vaccinations, and health insurance. INCO activist and leader Ricky Bennett challenges us to imagine a country where, "thanks to the patriotism of your fellow Americans, you'll never go bankrupt for seeking medical care." Read his letter to the editor in Tuesday's Daily Astorian here.

CAHOOTS IN CLATSOP COUNTY

Thanks to INCO activists Kerry Grasee and Marty Letourneau for their exciting presentations about CAHOOTS at the South County and North County Community Group meetings this month. They're in touch with county commissioners to see if Clatsop County can implement a more empathic, helpful, and cost-effective way to engage with people in crisis who don't need police intervention. CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) has been a community initiative in Eugene since 1989.

Marty's letter in the Astorian explains the benefits of this approach. Please urge the Clatsop County Commissioners to approve a feasibility study for a CAHOOTS-type program here. Contact them at commissioners@co.clatsop.or.us

SUPPORT U.S. VOTING AND ELECTION REFORM

Join with Indivisibles around the county and urge your Members of Congress to support H.R. 1, the "For the People Act." INCO has signed on to the COIN letter endorsing H.R. 1. Here's why we support this bill:

It establishes nationwide automatic voter registration, state-level redistricting commissions, and voting by mail. It would fend off efforts such as voter-ID and anti-ballot-harvesting laws as well as GOP efforts to suppress voting and enact gerrymandered Congressional districts. In essence, the For the People Act would nationalize many of the reforms that states experimented with during the pandemic.

Watch this video about H.R. 1's importance. Follow more national issues and legislation at www.indivisible.org

"The Senate (impeachment) trial also gave powerful proof of just how undemocratic the Senate has become. Voting rights journalist Ari Berman noted that the “57 senators who voted to convict Trump represent 76.7 MILLION more Americans than 43 senators who voted to acquit.”"
-- Heather Cox Richardson, 2-15-21.

State Senator Betsy Johnson and State Representative Suzanne Weber

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD IN SALEM

It has never been easier to participate in the Oregon State legislative process. You can do so from the comfort of your living room using the interactive website OLIS (Oregon Legislative Information System).
• Do you want to sign up for your state representative’s newsletter?
• Are you interested in looking at proposed bills on forestry, childcare, election reform?
• Do you want to submit a comment on a bill?
• How about watching your senator as she participates in her committee meetings?

Start here: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/

HAPPENINGS

VIRTUAL
Tuesday, March 9 - INCO South County Community Group Zoom meeting, 6:30 pm - 8 pm. Please RSVP to Kathleenannmacdonald@yahoo.com thru Monday, February 8 for your Zoom link.

Saturday, March 20 - INCO North County Community Group Zoom meeting, 11 a.m - noon. Contact incoregon@gmail.com to get the Zoom link.

EVERY FRIDAY: The INCO Write to Voters group invites you to a Zoom open house for informal chat and writing to voters in special elections and for ballot issues every Friday from 3-4 pm. Pets and children welcome. Contact incoregon@gmail.com to get the Zoom invitation from Bebe.

INSIGHTS

“No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices.”
― Edward R. Murrow

Comments, news, and photos to INCO at incoregon@gmail.com.
Resources and other information at www.incoregon.org and www.indivisible.org.
Encourage others to sign up for the INCO newsletter at our website or here.
INCO Weekly Newsletter February 22, 2021

Monday, February 8, 2021

2-8-21 Newsletter

RUN FOR SOMETHING
If you don't run, who will?

Voters will fill positions on school boards, the county-wide Port of Astoria, and other special districts throughout Clatsop County on May 18. See how government works at the local level. Practice democracy with your values and wisdom. If not you, do you know someone who you'd want serving in office? Here's the official list of positions on the ballot.

Candidates can file for office through March 18. Check out the Clatsop County Elections website for more information.

Will you be one of the pro-democracy candidates our communities need?

NEWSLETTER BREAK

The INCO newsletter will be back in a few weeks. It's getting a technology cleansing and tune-up. In the meantime, stay safe and stay engaged.

When you contact your Members of Congress, please thank them and their staff members for their service. Many of them are still dealing with the after-effects of the attempted coup, including threats to their safety and lives. Contact info is here.

INCO encourages you to read Indivisible's new guide, Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Fixing Our Democracy. It was prepared for this moment of tremendous peril and possibility. Indivisible wrote this guide specifically for the year-long window of opportunity created by the Democratic trifecta.

THE ATTEMPTED COUP

Former President Donald Trump's second impeachment trial begins tomorrow, Tuesday, February 9, concerning the January 6 insurrection at the United States Capitol, which left five people dead. Live coverage will be on YouTube, PBS, and other cable and streaming services.

All 100 senators have to sit at their desks and listen to hours of graphic testimony from House Democrats, who will manage the trial. Because Congressional Republicans are still in thrall to Trump and right-wing extremists, his acquittal is expected. The House impeached Trump on January 13, one week after the attempted coup.

• if you have information about people at the attempted coup on January 6, please call the
FBI Tip Line at 800-225-5324.

INCO's first rally, on President's Day, February 20, 2017, at 8th and Commercial in Astoria.

HAPPENINGS

VIRTUAL
Tuesday, February 9 - INCO South County Community Group Zoom meeting, 6:30 pm - 8 pm. Please RSVP to Kathleenannmacdonald@yahoo.com thru Monday, February 8 for your Zoom link.

Saturday, February 20 - INCO North County Community Group Zoom meeting, 11 a.m - noon. Contact incoregon@gmail.com to get the Zoom link.

EVERY FRIDAY: The INCO Write to Voters group invites you to a Zoom open house for informal chat and writing to voters in special elections and for ballot issues every Friday from 3-4 pm. Pets and children welcome. Contact incoregon@gmail.com to get the Zoom invitation from Bebe.

INSIGHTS

"... the rule of law is not just some lawyers’ turn of phrase. It is the very foundation of our democracy. The essence of the rule of law is that like cases are treated alike. That there not be one rule for Democrats, and another for Republicans, one rule for friends, another for foes, one rule for the powerful, another for the powerless.”
- - Merrick Garland, 1-7-21, nominated by President Biden to be Attorney General

Monday, February 1, 2021

2-1-21 Newsletter

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, INCO

It's been four years since activists from around our region launched INCO at the First United Methodist Church in Astoria on February 1, 2017. We're delighted that people respect INCO as a valuable action-oriented, pro-democracy grassroots force that opposes authoritarianism, bigotry, and corruption. With your help, INCO will continue to stand up for free speech, an independent press, fair elections, equal justice, and the rule of law.

WHO WILL BE IN CHARGE?

Who will develop policy and budgets for school boards, the county-wide Port of Astoria, and other special districts throughout Clatsop County? Who will decide the best way to spend your tax dollars?

The answers? The people we elect on May 18. The first day to file is February 6; last day is March 18. INCO asked the county elections department to post on its website the list of positions on the May 18 ballot. In the meantime, INCO has a list we can send you. Contact incoregon@gmail.com.

Will you be one of the pro-democracy candidates we need?

ONLINE UPDATE

What is Senator Merkley's phone number? How many words in a Letter to the Editor? What's the Indivisible Guide? Check out INCO's updated website for answers, plus more resources, contact info, and details about INCO. Thanks to Bebe, Deb, and Laurie for improving the site.

INCO AND COIN TACKLE BIG ISSUES

INCO partners with with other Oregon Indivisibles to strengthen our impact on key issues. Sign up for a team set up by COIN (Consolidated Oregon Indivisible Network). We'd love to have at least 1-2 INCO members on each of the six teams. Share the coastal perspective with your team, and keep INCO informed about the issues and ideas your team works on.

The COIN teams are:

Recruiting/Supporting Candidates Team
Rural/Urban Divide Team
State Legislative Team
Federal Team
Anti-Racist Education and Action Team
Social Media Team

Here's the Form to Sign up for COIN's Statewide Teams - the form describes each team.

THE MEDIA BIAS CHART

Here's one way to assess your new sources, including individual articles, episodes, and shows of news sources. Ad Fontes Media now has nearly 300 news sources fully rated. Check out the interactive chart and learn more here.

THE ATTEMPTED COUP

• The Oregon Republican Party passed a resolution labeling the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol a “‘false flag’ operation,’” claiming that it was people pretending to be Trump supporters who attempted the coup, threatened to kill government officials, and injured and killed law enforcement officers. The resolution said the the Capitol attack might have been “designed to discredit President Trump, his supporters and all conservative Republicans.”

OPB reports that after the resolution was released, "Republicans in the Oregon House on Wednesday took the extraordinary step of distancing themselves from their state party...." Clatsop County's State Representative Suzanne Weber issued a statement agreeing with the GOP House caucus.

• if you have information about people at the attempted coup on January 6, please call the
FBI Tip Line at 800-225-5324.

HAPPENINGS

INSIGHTS
"People wonder where the heroes have gone. Where there is no conscience,
there are no heroes.”
— Hank Aaron, “When Baseball Mattered,” New York Times, 1997