Oregon -- Jason Williams -- Syria

Jason is the State Director of the Taxpayer Association,
and has been mapping the Oregon mine field of the Kitzhaber scandal and misuse of taxpayer funds.

He'll be providing an update, and how this is likely to define Kitzhaber for the next four years.

Williams just returned from a special two week tour of the Middle East where he was able to visit Turkey, Israel and the Syrian border while international news-making events were happening just blocks away. Commentary on his travel experience, with pictures, is the dessert course for this month's meeting: a chance to learn more about overseas political events that the world has found itself tied to.

The Israelis put up warning signs, and Jason writes Oregon Watchdog:

Same thinking, different battlefield!

Executive Club passes on meeting followup information as a courtesy to our speakers and members. Any member or speaker may submit, by email, a simple NotePad-style text entry (that is, something you could prepare on a 1950 Remington typewriter), with any desired links written like these: "visit MyWebSite (www.MyWebSite.Com)" or "email John Doe (JohnDoe@YahooZZZ.Com)". Submissions must clearly indicate the author and public author contact information (website, phone, or email), and must be received within 24 hours of the meeting to be included in that month's followup. We reserve the right to edit for brevity, or reject, any submission. You may respond to this email to submit any such information.

Cliff Thomason of Grants Pass is chief petitioner for a statewide measure titled the "Lottery Local Control Act".

From the site LotteryLocalControl:
The Oregon Lottery Local Control Act will send 50% of the Oregon Lottery net proceeds back to the counties from which they were generated. Counties can use the revenue to help fund: public education, economic development, providing for public safety, restoring native fish and wildlife, or protecting parks and beaches. Every Oregon county will benefit from more local control.

2016 Oregon Lottery Local Control Act is well underway with statewide signature gathering. Anyone wanting to help gather signatures or donate to the effort, please contact Cliff Thomason by email to clifft9@msn.com or visit LotteryLocalControl.Com.

Oregon Citizens Lobby is looking for patriots to analyze bills according to our five values of fiscal responsibility, local control, free markets, limited government, and personal choice/responsibility. We also need volunteers to staff the war room lobbying politicians, attending hearings, giving public testimony, writing letters to the editor, and on the twitter brigade, tweeting and retweeting. Go to OregonCitizensLobby.org to sign up.

The Multnomah County Republican Party has elected new officers to lead the local party for the next two years. Chair is Eric Fruits Ph.D., Vice Chair is James Buchal, Treasurer is Gregory Tenney and secretary is Roxanne Ross. Party web Multnomahgop.org and phone 503-956-0919

Cascade’s just released report on the Portland Seed Fund shows that the city cannot provide documentation to show any positive return on investment for the millions of taxpayer dollars spent on risky start-up ventures. This isn’t a surprise.

Cascade also just released a new report discussing the benefits of replacing general taxation with user fees for a number of public services including education, transportation and even public safety.

Cascade will soon release a report on Oregon’s Wage Energy Trust, a “public-private” partnership that’s trying to jump start a new, risky industry with taxpayer money.

This coming Tuesday at 9am Cascade’s John Charles, Eric Fruits and others will testify before a meeting of the State Land Board in Salem on privatizing the Elliot State Forest. Executive Club members are welcome to attend and even testify. Details here.

Finally, as Gregg Clapper mentioned at Wednesday’s meeting, he asked Cascade for resources to help convince “young minds” of the benefits of capitalism. Here is our initial list of short online videos, books and articles that you might use with your friends and family during the holiday season. Don’t let them stay ignorant about the beauty and morality of liberty. Educate them!

Socialism vs. Capitalism: Video of Milton Friedman’s famous “Greed” segment on the Phil Donahue show. If you watch only one video on liberty, this should be it.

The Morality of Capitalism: Several short videos and link to the full free online pdf of this short book of essays from Students for Liberty.

Socialism vs. Capitalism: Which is the Moral System: An interesting article

Is Free Enterprise Really Based on Greed?: Short video by Arthur Brookes of AEI.

Top Three Common Myths about Capitalism: Short video from Learn Liberty which has lots of other videos of interest.

Cascade will share more such resources with the Club as time goes on so as to further its mission of promoting individual liberty, personal responsibility and economic opportunity in Oregon. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit think tank, Cascade relies on your generous tax-deductible donations to do our work. Please click here to "Invest in Freedom" before year-end.

For more information, contact Steve Buckstein, founder, Cascade Policy Institute. Email steven@cascadepolicy.org or call (503) 242-0900.

In 1977, the Oregon State Legislature referred to the voters statewide Measure 6 to form the Metropolitan Service District; and

The boundaries established by Representatives Glenn Otto and Mike Ragsdale for that measure were arbitrary and without reason; and

The Oregon State Legislature further identified the boundaries of the “Metropolitan area” as of October 4, 1997; and

Be it known that half of the community of Boring is within these boundaries and half of the community of Boring is outside these boundaries; and

The community of Boring has identified a desire to be completely outside of these boundaries.

The people of Boring have been circulation a petition for withdrawal from Metro and a House Bill is being prepared for the 2015 Legislative Session to change the boundaries of Metro to exclude Boring.

Please consider testifying in support of this withdrawal at:

January 8, 2015 - Clackamas County Commissioners Business Meeting @ 10 am

January 8, 2015 - Metro Councul Business Meeting @ 2 pm

The petition will be presented to both bodies at that time.

As the House Bill is given a number and a committee assignment, we will need people to email committee members urging them to pass the bill to the floor for a vote.

Anyone wishing to help the people of Boring, please email Steve Bates to get on the Boring vs Metro email list for updates and Talking Points.

Contact Steve by email to Sbates53@aol.com or at his office phone 503-663-6271

Thank you all for your support!

The Portland Friends of the NRA cordially invites you to attend our Annual FNRA Banquet

Saturday – April 18, 2015 – 4:00 pm

Double Tree by Hilton - Portland
1000 NE Multnomah, Portland, OR 97232
Live & Silent Auctions – Special Drawings – Door Prizes – Great Food & Friends
Limited Edition Firearms – Custom Knives – NRA Commissioned Art
Special Ladies Merchandise – Amazing Hunting Trips
Plus many other items created especially for this Friends of the NRA event!!!

You'll find the ticket order form here.

Briefly, I'm an observer at the recount for Measure 92, for which I, like many people, had voted NO.

However, my current outrage is that observers for any vote recount are supposed to sit at the recount tables, and they used to. However, for this recount we have our chairs behind a red tape that is at least 4 feet away from the each of the recount tables.

What's more we often can't see the Precinct number that is being recounted. Nor do the recount workers, share the any of the results.

So how are we expected to monitor the process??

I'll be taking the issue to the Washington County Commissioners, and will also share my frustration with Lars.

Contact Ruth by email if you would like to help.