INDIVISIBLE North Coast Oregon: March 2021

Monday, March 29, 2021

3-29-21 Newsletter

"... it is the only story historians will note from this era: Did Americans defend their democracy or did they fall to oligarchy?"
-- Heather Cox Richardson, Letter from An American, March 25, 2021

SUPPRESS GEORGIA

Join millions of other Americans in telling major corporations that they should not remain silent in the face of efforts by Georgia Republicans to roll back the gains of the last fifty years. For example, If you subscribe to Amazon, CW, Disney+, or Netflix, which are are currently filming in Georgia, consider ways of expressing your displeasure over their support of voter-suppression rules signed into law by the Georgia GOP. Tell your friends how they can identify which shows are being produced in Georgia so they can post and share that information on social media. The link is here: Now Filming In Georgia.

Robert Hubbell's March 28 newsletter details how Georgia's new anti-democratic laws will drastically suppress voting. It's not on the web, so if you'd like a copy, please contact incoregon@gmail.com.

WHY INDIVISIBLE ACTIVISM MATTERS

• Check out reporting about guns in America, in the NY Times. Image from 'A Late Show.'

• "In total, The Daily Beast identified five companies that appear to have gone back on their suspension of donations to GOP election objectors: AT&T, Cigna Health, Ford Motors, Pfizer, and Wells Fargo." -- The Daily Beast, March 26, 2021

• "In at least 8 states, Republicans are trying to gain control over elections, taking power from nonpartisan election boards, secretaries of state, and governors." -- Heather Cox Richardson, Letter from An American, March 24, 2021

• The GOP continues to spread "political disinformation" - what the rest of us call lies - that's affecting state elections. Read more in the New Yorker, "The Power of Political Disinformation."

SUPPORT OUR SUBS

"Being a substitute teacher is a hard enough job without the insult of losing PERS and access to healthcare." - - Mary Beth

That's why INCO leadership endorsed Oregon's HB3130. In 2019, substitute teacher contracting and scheduling was outsourced to a private company. This resulted in substitute teachers losing what few benefits they had as they were no longer a part of PERS. They stopped accruing retirement and lost access to the healthcare system for public employees. HB3130 would restore substitute teachers' benefits and would be retroactive to 2019. Details of the bill can be found here.

Please urge State Representative Suzanne Weber at Rep.SuzanneWeber@oregonlegislature.gov, to support this bill.

LOOKING AHEAD

"If Lauren Boebert can be elected to Congress, so can you. It is time for Democrats to flood the system with good candidates who will give voters a choice."
-- Robert Hubbell, Today's Edition Newsletter, March 24, 2021

Read here about Boebert's embrace of QAnon, her arrest record, and campaign lies and spending.

INCO ONLINE

• Check out articles and opinions on the revitalized Facebook page for Indivisible North Coast Oregon, with news from other Oregon Indivisible groups, too.

• Enjoy these recent INCO columns in Hipfish Monthly, the alternative community and culture newspaper. Our column features issues and ideas written by INCO members and other activists. Hard copies available throughout the area. Online, check out March Hipfish, February Hipfish, January Hipfish. Scroll down to page 6.

4 YEARS!

Astoria Indivisibles shared ideas and ideals as they developed goals for their Community Group at Street 14 Coffee House, on March 30, 2017.

HAPPENINGS

VIRTUAL
Tuesday, April 13 - INCO South County Community Group Zoom meeting, 6:30 pm - 8 pm. Please RSVP to Kathleenannmacdonald@yahoo.com thru Monday, April 12 for your Zoom link.

Saturday, April 17 - 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

"It's not enough to be compassionate. You must act.”
- - His Holiness, Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama, 1992

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 March 29, 2021

Monday, March 22, 2021

3-22-21 Newsletter

STOP HATE, VIOLENCE, IGNORANCE

Local high school students inspired INCO's Rally For Our Lives in downtown Astoria on March 24, 2018. About 400 people braved icy rain to stand up for safe communities and smart gun laws.

Today INCO grieves with the country over the lives lost to hate and gun violence around the country, particularly last week in Atlanta. We are outraged that Americans inflict bigotry and violence on our Asian and Pacific Islander neighbors and their descendants, who include American citizens, visitors, and immigrants.

We demand that Congress enact common sense gun laws to keep everyone safe.
Northwestern University has resources here for fighting xenophobia and anti-Asian racism.

THANK YOU, HIPFISH

Hipfish Monthly, the valuable alternative community and culture newspaper, publishes a monthly column featuring issues and ideas written by INCO members and other activists. Thank you, Dinah Urell, Hipfish's dynamic owner and editor, for your continuing support of INCO and political conversations. Pick up your free issue at various stores and galleries around the lower Columbia Pacifici region.

WHAT IS A QUORUM?

Senate Joint Resolution 4 (SJR 4) would amend the Oregon Constitution to require a simple majority for a quorum in the legislature. Currently, the Oregon Constitution requires 2/3 of legislators to be present in order for the legislature to vote on bills. Both parties have misused this requirement to stage walkouts that have denied votes on critical legislation.

Please call or write State Senator Betsy Johnson and let her know you want her to support SJR 4: Sen.BetsyJohnson@oregonlegislature.gov or https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/johnson

Here's the latest update about legislation COIN members endorse and oppose. Teams of Oregon Indivisibles are vetting these bills and then presenting them to the various groups, like INCO, for a decision. INCO's leadership team reviews the recommendations before we take a position on them. If there's a bill or issue you'd like COIN to check out, please contact incoregon@gmail.com, and we'll let the teams know.

WHY INDIVISIBLE ACTIVISM MATTERS

Read more about the Republican war on voting in this New Yorker article.

HAPPENINGS

INSIGHTS

"Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could
only do a little.”
- - Edmund Burke

Monday, March 15, 2021

3-15-21 Newsletter

FILE TO RUN BY MARCH 18

Clatsop County needs you and other pro-democracy people filling the dozens of positions in Clatsop County that voters will elect on May 18. Our school boards and other special districts need leaders who believe in accountable, responsive, and transparent governance. Encourage others to run who you'd want serving in office.

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

Check out the Clatsop County Elections website for more information.

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?

Help ensure that our legislative and Congressional districts are reasonable and fair.
The next hearing for Clatsop residents (District 1) is Saturday, March 20.

STOP THE WALKOUTS

Please support Senate Joint Resolution 4 (SJR 4), which would amend the Oregon Constitution to require a simple majority for a quorum in the legislature. Currently, the Oregon Constitution requires 2/3 of legislators to be present in order for the legislature to vote on bills. Oregon is one of only 5 states to require more than a simple majority for a quorum. Both parties have misused this requirement to stage walkouts that have denied votes on critical legislation.

Most recently, the GOP has staged walkouts to deny the legislature the 2/3 majority needed to conduct business 5 times in 2019 and 2020. The walkouts in 2019 and 2020 meant hundreds of bills denied, including funding for disaster relief, forest restoration, mental health and substance abuse treatment in rural areas, and more.

The recent use of the walkout 5 times is more than the walkout has been used in the previous 162 years since Oregon gained statehood and thus, we believe, represents an abuse of the quorum requirement that was not intended by the framers of our state Constitution. The walkouts are inherently undemocratic and compromise the legislature’s ability to carry out the will of the voters.

The good news is that we can correct this abuse by passing SJR 4 to begin the process of amending the Oregon Constitution to require only a simply majority for a quorum in the legislature. A public hearing is scheduled on SJR 4 before the Senate Rules Committee on Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 1 p.m.

Also, please call or write State Senator Betsy Johnson and let her know you want her to support SJR 4: Sen.BetsyJohnson@oregonlegislature.gov or https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/johnson

TAKE ACTION ON CLIMATE
Write Senator Betsy Johnson

Congress is working on bipartisan bill to address the climate crisis, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (EIDCA). SJM 5 is a resolution in the Oregon Senate that urges Congress to make the EIDCA a reality. This resolution was written by Senator Michael Dembrow at the behest of our former Representative, Tiffiny Mitchell.

Here are key points about the EIDCA and SJM 5:

• The EIDCA will put a fee on carbon pollution at its source (the coal mine, oil well, natural gas well, and fuels imported across the US border) and then take that money to give back to American households in monthly dividend checks.

• This policy is revenue neutral. The fees collected on carbon emissions will be allocated to all Americans to spend any way they choose. The government will not keep any of the fees collected.

• This is a market-based solution that doesn't grow the government or increase regulations.

• SJM 5 has bipartisan support in the Oregon Legislasture.

Now is the time to write Senator Johnson and tell her to vote YES on SJM 5. Sen.BetsyJohnson@oregonlegislature.gov or https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/johnson

You can learn about EIDCA at the Citizens' Climate Lobby. Questions? Contact Eric Halperin ehod1@yahoo.com

LEGISLATION WATCH

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE TEN BILLS THAT COIN MEMBERS RESEARCHED AND NOW SUPPORT.
COIN includes more than 40 Indivisible groups with thousands of members across Oregon.
Please contact State Representative Suzanne Weber in support of HBs at Rep.SuzanneWeber@oregonlegislature.gov
and State Senator Betsy Johnson in support of the SBs at Sen.BetsyJohnson@oregonlegislature.gov

WHY INDIVISIBLE ACTIVISM MATTERS

HAPPENINGS

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

Tuesday, April 13 - INCO South County Community Group Zoom meeting, 6:30 pm - 8 pm. Please RSVP to Kathleenannmacdonald@yahoo.com thru Monday, April 12 for your 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

“But although the cliche says that power always corrupts, what is seldom said ... is that power always reveals."
--Robert A. Caro, historian