Oregon's Constitution is a pretty solid nut, but it could not have foreseen modern political animals.

Oregon's politicians have been stealing our rights, over and over and over again,
from both sides of the aisle, AND IT'S GOT TO STOP!

You know what an emergency is, right? House on fire! Dam breached! Amber alert!
Requiring State Department of Geology and Mineral Industries to conduct study of
mineral resource potential of eastern and southern Oregon counties! Say what?

Yeah. You read that right. This session, 387 out of 757 non-budget bills passed as emergencies,
(51%) including SB 3089, the aforementioned Oregon south-eastern mineral resource bill.
So many "emergencies" you'd expect I-5/205/84 to be completely plugged with fire trucks.

That Constitutional ability to refer a legislative action to the voters is really powerful,
and those nasty Salemites know it:

Referrals take half the signatures compared to those required for an initiative.

Referrals take on the whole law at once, instead of having to file a separate initiative
petition for every separate issue in a law passed by the legislature.

Referrals prevent the law from ever going into effect if the people reject it,
while filing separate initiatives may take years and several attempts to
unravel the damage the legislature did.

What power-mad legislative process addict would want THAT kind of competition...
from the grumbling, ignorant, knuckle-dragging tar-and-feathers crowd
-- who not so long ago where the supportive, smart voters who elected them --
when "declaring an emergency" makes the law go into effect immediately,
thus preventing a referral vote to overturn the law.

Remember the CRC, that crazy rip-up-and-reroute I-5 boondoggle so MAX can go to Vancouver?
$203 million flushed, with about a half million going right into Patricia McCaig's pocket.
The only "emergency" about that was AFTER they passed it!

How about that new gas tax, insanely calling for "low-carbon" fuel,
but guaranteed to increase pump prices by 25 or 30 cents while trying to
derive chemical energy from something OTHER than carbon?
Yup: "emergency".

The most expensive "emergency": CoverOregon
Perhaps $370 million turned into failure parade confetti.
Oh, yeah, let's not mention that pesky $1.9 BILLION front-loaded budget hole.

But the baddest, nastiest "emergency" bill:
SB941, requiring universal background checks, criminalizing private transfers -- even loans --
of firearms that have been legal and private since before Oregon existed.

Where's the emergency in that, legislators?

Sense a pattern here? Those crazy politicians trust you to vote for them,
then conceal their favorite legislation they know you'll hate behind a
fake, breast-beating-we-gotta-have-it-now! "emergency".

All right, enough is enough. Your Executive Club rides to the rescue,
before Oregon is one big landscape full of flashing lights.

Pretty solid foundation, the Oregon Constitution.

It reserves to us the initiative process to protect us against run-amok legislators,
and allows the emergency declaration so that the REAL emergencies could get handled quickly.
Just one, tiny, incredibly important thing: the legislature gets to declare what an emergency is.

Now, after a president who didn't know what the meaning if "is" is,
we have legislators who've lost control, and don't know what an "emergency" is.

So we're gonna remind 'em, with hundreds of thousands of signatures,
and a vote to protect and strengthen the right of referral to the voters.

Join us Wednesday night,
and stay with us on a journey back to legislative sanity and accountability.

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 update text presentation to be sent to the club mailing list, to give the membership to have more details, or just a recap of your platform presentation. To be considered for publication, please be sure to submit your update within 24 hours of the close of the meeting. Please don't include any pictures in your text, but links to web pages, or links to things stored elsewhere on the web -- .pdf files, Word documents, or even pictures -- are OK now. Formatting and inserted pictures will not be copied, just the text content, so please don't use 4 fonts and 6 colors to convey your thoughts: you will be disappointed. Look at a previous followup email, or the bottom of most of the invitation emails, to see how they are presented. The simpler and cleaner your text, the more likely it will appear exactly the same in the email we send out. Each update must also indicate the author's name and contact information -- either a phone number, email address, or website with contact information. We reserve the right to edit for brevity, or reject, any submission.

Ode to METRO

¹ METRO is the shepherd... I do not want.
² It maketh me to buy up green pastures: It preventeth me from building beside still waters.
³ It sappeth my soul: It leadeth me in the paths of regionalism for Portland's sake.
⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of METRO, It fears no upheaval: for METRO says "I'm with you and my rod and my staff will guide thee."
⁵ METRO preparest a table before me in the presence of mine "stakeholders": It anointest my head with assurances they that are listening.
⁶ Surely pleading and struggling for local vision and control shall follow me... all the days of my life: and I will NOT dwell in the house of METRO forever.

Oregonians for Fair Elections is still collecting signatures for our initial signature submission! If you are having an event that we could attend and gather signatures in the next couple of weeks, please let us know. Also, Please like our Facebook page, Oregonians for Fair Elections. You will find it informative. If you have a story to tell you can post it there. Please share our articles with your sphere of influence. Every like, click and share helps others learn about the issues.

We will be needing signature gathers to circulate petitions. If you would help with a few signatures we would be very appreciative. Another great way to help is to send out the single-signer page to your network. Let me know how you would like to participate. Please send your contact information to me so that when we do get to start circulating in earnest we will be ready. It probably won't be until after the new year. Call Janice at 503-757-0670 with questions.

Thanks so much for all your help. At least 70% of Americans agree with voter ID, in some areas it goes up to 87%. We seldom agree on anything that much!

Continuous use of the words "discussion" and "conversation" do not infer the importance of what METRO is planning for our region. We are merely guinea pigs in an unaffordable failing experiment. Take a few minutes to review these recent letters:

Pamplin Media Group - Bring reality back into growth

MY VIEW: Homeownership not in Metro plan - Portland

Letter: Destroying our neighborhoods isn't progress

The time has come for citizens appear at the 2:00 PM Thursday meetings. METRO's headquarters is on Grand Avenue 2 blocks from the Convention Center. Citizen comments are always early in the agenda. Our first request will be that at least 1 meeting a month be held in the evening. Our liveability is on the line!

Dear Friends & Supporters,

It is with excitement that I am running for Clackamas County Commission Position No. 3 against Commissioner Martha Schrader.

That's the hard part. Yours is the easy part: we are asking for contributions.
Please go to our website at www.electstevebates.com and donate by credit card.

Thanks so much,

Steve

PLEASE DIRECT INQUIRES TO: STEVE BATES @ 503-663-6271

Executive Club passes on meeting lost and found information as a courtesy to our speakers and members. Any member or speaker may submit, by email, a simple description of the item which -- or person who -- has been either lost or found, to be sent to the club mailing list. To be considered for publication, please be sure to submit your description before the trail goes cold. Please include any pictures in your text, as well as links to helpful, identifying web pages. Please: no requests for help in actually LOSING something or someone; please take of such situations yourself. Each L&F description must also indicate the author's name and contact information -- either a phone number, email address, or website with contact information. We reserve the right to edit for brevity, or reject, any submission, and we may just keep stuff we really like.