26-48: Three-year income tax for schools, human services, public safety
My vote: Yes, yes!
This is a temporary income tax increase of 1.25%. Even though some of us may feel that any additional tax is a burden, we, the citizens of Multnomah County, truly will suffer if this does not pass.
Beyond the unfortunate immediate local consequences of this measure not passing (cuts in school positions and services, e.g. foreign language teachers), there are larger consequences. Oregon state senator Kate Brown said on 4/22/03 that if this measure does not pass, here in the county that had the most Yes votes for Measure 28 (which went down in defeat last January), it will send a signal to the more conservative elements of the Oregon State Legislature that the vast majority of Oregonians prefer to solve our current budget problems through yet more cuts, rather than by searching for alternative sources of revenue. Given the cuts that have already been made (medication for the extremely and/or mentally ill, released prisoners, etc.), shrinking the pie even further is not a good idea.
(Do note that even though this bill originated within a movement to help out the Portland Public Schools (PPS) specifically, the money raised by the tax will be distributed proportionately among all the school districts in Multnomah County, not just PPS.)
I ended up voting for [I do not remember her name right now, but I wrote it down somewhere]. I did not have time for the research I wanted to do, but she did get a good write-up in the Willamette Week.
The Portland School Board has seven positions, known as Directors; of those, four of the members have chosen not to continue, and thus their seats are open. We now have a chance to elect a new majority to the school board, so this could be very powerful. Everyone within the PPSD gets to vote for all the open positions.
Director, Zone #1
I voted for Douglas Morgan. It came down to a toss-up between him and Terry Olson, so I went with Morgan more or less at random. [ELECTION RESULT: Douglas Morgan won]
I wish to point out specifically that I did not vote for Mr. Morgan because he was endorsed by the Oregonian. For example, the Oregonian endorsed Mr. Wynde for Zone #2 (see below), but I did not vote for Mr. Wynde even so. My reasoning concerning the Oregonian? Not only are their editorial political positions erratic and all over the map, but those positions have several times been supported by inconsistent logic, usually leading me to react with "If you really believe in Idea X like you say you do (or said you did last month), why didn't you support Candidate Y over Candidate Z?" or something along similar lines.
The other people who ran for this seat were Robert Black, Jim Davis, Jim Hanna, John Liljegren, Eamon Molloy and Ron Stull. Hanna, Liljegren and Stull oppose Measure 26-48 (see above); this was not a point in their favor.
Director, Zone #2
I voted for Martin Gonzalez. It came down to a toss-up between him and David Wynde, so I went with Gonzalez since he [had the endorsement of the Greens?].
The other people who ran for this seat were Rion Lyle, Louie Sloan, John Sweeney and Doug Winn. Sweeney opposes Measure 26-48; this was not a point in his favor.
Director, Zone #3
I voted for Bobbie Regan (who was one of the co-founders of HOPE --- this was a pretty powerful argument in her favor).
The other people who ran for this seat were John Ball, James Laidler, John Lekas, Sam Oakland and James West. Lekas and Oakland oppose Measure 26-48; this was not a point in their favor.
Director, Zone #7
I voted for Dilafruz Williams.
The other people who ran for this seat were Richard Garrett, Jon Jacob (who is a member of the Pacific Green party) and Richard Nichols. Nichols opposes Measure 26-48; this was not a point in his favor.
I did not vote for Richard Garrett specifically because, although he was my third grade teacher and I know he's intelligent and cares about kids, based on his more recent political work I am afraid he'll be too divisive and not enough of a team player to work well as a member of the School Board.
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To the Front Room of my Demesne
(Last updated 10/23/02003)