BUSY DAYS AHEAD !

Thursday Evening - 6/11/09 Central Committee and General Membership meeting

Hot topic at this month’s meeting:

Panel discussion on Major League Soccer, AAA baseball and how it all might affect Portland

Join us as panelists on divergent sides of the issue state their positions. Panelists will include Steve Novick (you know Steve!), Lenny Dee (of Onward Oregon), and Judy Walsh (Treasurer and Past President of the Lents Neighborhood Association), as well as other advocates for the Lents Stadium proposal. A question and answer session will follow.

7pm: Hollywood Senior Center, 1820 NE 40th Ave

Come early (6 PM) to socialize before the meeting.

Grand Opening of the New Mult Dems Office!

Stop by between 1 and 4pm on Saturday, 6/13 at our new office in NE Portland: 3127 NE 67th - just one house south from Sandy Blvd. We'll have the grill going (yep, we have space for a grill!) Join us for lively conversation food, and raffle prizes. Some of our Elected friends will be stopping by, including Dist 45 Rep. Michael Dembrow and Sec. of State Kate Brown.

We hope to see you too!

Pride Parade - Sunday 6/14

What is a Portland weekend without a Parade? ...and the most festive, if not the biggest, is the annual LGBT PRIDE parade this Sunday. Again this year, Mult Dems are walking, riding and unicyclying our way along the route along with several of our legislators and democratic officials, including Congressman Earl Blumenauer.

Plan to meet with us around 10am on Sunday June 14 in the North Park blocks. Contact info@multdems.org if you need to know more, and you can call 503-312-1970 (KC) on the day of the parade.


[SURE you can bring your (well socialized and friendly) dog.....]

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Please encourage your Senator to Pass HB2004

Having passed the House floor vote on 6/4, we hope to quickly get a hearing for HB 2004, the income tax refund check-off for contributions for political parties. It's scheduled in the Senate Finance and Revenue Committee: Chair Ginny Burdick (D-18), Sen. Mark Hass (D-14), Sen. Diane Rosenbaum (D-21), Vice Chair Sen. Frank Morse (R-8) and Sen. Chris Telfer (R-27).


We need your help contacting your local Senators and asking them to support HB2004 when it comes to the Senate floor. Asking them to become a sponsor of the bill would be great as well!

This will re-institute the checkoff system on Oregonians' state tax forms and allow the citizens to contribute $3 to their designated state political party. This could provide much needed revenue in these lean times as the law would take effect in time for next year's taxes.

Note: This does not provide public funding; it is a quick and easy way to send a small contribution to the party of your choice by directing part of your refund that way.

http://www.leg.state.or.us/09reg/measures/hb2000.dir/hb2004.intro.html

Attorney General's Civil Rights Division - Oregon won't have it without your voice

The funding allocation for Dept. Of Justice Civil Rights Division is NOT in HB5022, the Attorney General's budget package. Despite this, AG John Kroger remains cautiously optimistic that he can get the funding to restore the Civil Rights Division this session.

The Oregon DOJ Civil Rights Division was dismantled in the 80's and the Bureau of Labor and Industry has taken up much of the slack. BOLI addresses civil rights complaint as they relate to labor, housing and public accommodations. BOLI deals on an administrative level only, and cases which require a courtroom remedy are referred to federal court. BOLI does not have the power to prosecute cases in court.

Kroger observes that while BOLI does a fine job, there are voids that leave citizens with no state agency that can address their civil rights complaints. Notably, BOLI doesn't have the authority to protect statutory and constitutional rights related to hate crimes, vulnerable victims, domestic partnerships and voting rights to name just a few.

Please contact your Oregon Representative and Senator and let them know that you support the re-creation of the Civil Rights Division in the Oregon Department of Justice.

For more info:

http://www.doj.state.or.us/civil_rights.shtml

http://www.leg.state.or.us/09reg/measures/hb2000.dir/hb2004.intro.html


Find your legislators here: http://www.leg.state.or.us/findlegsltr/