4-17-23 Newsletter

 

Hi INCO friends, We appreciate your good wishes for our leadership team. Thanks to Paxlovid, lots of rest, and chicken soup, INCO's two leaders with Covid are starting to feel better, despite ongoing symptoms. Their vaccines, boosters, and masks likely reduced the impact of the virus. Please take care of yourselves! Laurie and the leadership team CHECK OUT THE CANDIDATES  The AAUW Candidates Forum Tuesday, April 18 at 6:30 pm Astoria High School Auditorium Hosted by the American Association of University Women, Astoria branch  Check out the list of candidates here for the May 16 Special Districts election. Candidates in contested races are shown in this report from the Clatsop Democrats. EXTREMISM IN OREGON "Republican leaders are now adopting increasingly autocratic measures, using the police powers of government to impose moralized regulations, turning private citizens into enforcement officers and expelling defiant elected Democrats just as county Republican parties, particularly in western states, are electing militia members, Christian nationalists and QAnon believers to key posts. "Here’s one example. Last November, the Republican Party of Clackamas County in Oregon chose a new vice chairman, Daniel Tooze, a Proud Boy from Oregon City, and Rick Riley, head of the county chapter of Take Back America, which denies the results of the 2020 presidential election, as chairman. Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that in central Oregon’s Deschutes County, the local Republican Party chose Scott Stuart, “a member of the county chapter of People’s Rights, a nationwide network of militia groups and anti-government activists founded by conservative firebrand Ammon Bundy.” -- Thomas Edsall, New York Times, April 12, 2023 "I live in Deschutes County cited above. Scott Stuart’s Confederacy-praising parade performance was condemned by the vast majority of people in our area, which is heavily populated by Democrats and moderates in places like Bend, along with people largely from the rural right wing. The fact that he has become the head of the local Republican Party doesn’t show its strength, but rather that it has metastasized into a fringe, extremist movement about which we must be vigilant." -- J., (no other ID), Readers Comment, New York Times, April 12, 2023 HOW TO BLOCK EXTREMISM IN OREGON •  Check out the candidates in Clatsop County's May 16 election. Read your Voter's Pamphlet, attend the AAUW Candidates Forum on April 17, and check out other sources as you can. •  Get active with COIN as it monitors extremism in Oregon and vets statewide candidates and officials, including Oregon's Members of Congress. •  Support candidates who share your values and political goals by donating or volunteering with their campaigns. SIGN UP FOR THE ROP CAUCUS Oregon's Rural Organizing Project Meets May 20 On Saturday, May 20th, more than 100 small-town and rural leaders, organizers, and activists will join together in Albany at the Rural Caucus & Strategy Session to share strategies, learn from each other, and set ROP’s priorities for the year to come, and we want you to be there! Human dignity groups have many irons in the fire, from electoral strategies to make sure their school boards have good representation, to organizing their community’s public pride celebrations, to confronting and countering white supremacist movement building in their communities, to holding local elected officials accountable, and much more!  Check out more details below and register for the Rural Caucus & Strategy Session by April 22nd for an early bird discount (which also helps us make sure we have plenty of food, chairs, community housing, interpreters, and childcare for everyone to fully participate)! Check out the Frequently Asked Questions page for more details including information about COVID precautions and physical accessibility and email Emma@rop.org if you have any questions! Let’s make a plan! POLITICAL COMPETITION AND CONSEQUENCES "Nationwide, candidates for roughly four of every 10 state legislative seats run unopposed in general elections. "And across the country, one-party control of state legislatures, compounded by hyperpartisan politics, widespread gerrymandering, an urban-rural divide and uncompetitive races, has made the dysfunction in Tennessee more the rule than the exception. "The lack of competition means incumbent lawmakers face few consequences for their conduct. And their legislative actions are driven in large part by the fraction of partisans who determine their fates in primary elections, the only political contests where they face serious opposition." -- Michael Wines, New York Times, April 13, 2023. More from Wines about state legislatureshere.  LEGISLATORS NEED YOUR FEEDBACK Visit COIN's Legislation 2023 web page for updates on bills COIN has endorsed or opposed, or bills we are still watching. Legislators won't know what you want unless you tell them. Please take a moment to comment on at least one of the bills on COIN's Legislation web page. HAPPENINGS Thursday, May 11 - INCO Community Meeting, via Zoom. Social time at 6 pm; meeting is 6:30-7:30 pm. All INCO members are invited to attend. We meet the 2nd Thursday of each month. Link to join Zoom meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87835618044  Meeting ID: 878 3561 8044 One tap mobile +12532050468,,87835618044# US +12532158782,,87835618044# US (Tacoma) INSIGHTS  "Liberalism is trust of the people tempered with prudence. Conservatism is distrust of the people tempered with fear." ~William E. Gladstone, Prime Minister of the UK, died 1898 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. Look for the INCO column in Hipfish Monthly. We're on Facebook, too. INCO Weekly Newsletter      April 17, 2023 Copyright © 2023 INDIVISIBLE North Coast Oregon, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website or signed up at a community group meeting. Indivisible North Coast Oregon (INCO) defends democracy by opposing authoritarianism, bigotry, and corruption. Our mailing address is: 766 Lexington Avenue, Astoria, OR 97103 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list