steve novick

A freshman senator is expected to defer to his seniors, make no waves, and rise to address the chamber only on such controversial topics as the virtues of motherhood and the flag. But not Oregon's Jeff Merkley, who came across as a bit of a Milquetoast during his campaigns but has become one of the Senate's firebrands on the subject of health care reform. Merkley's determined stand in support of a public option for health insurance has earned him praise even from former opponents such as "torridjoe" o  

A prominent Democrat said Wednesday he's eager to take on corporations and other critics who are seeking to force a statewide vote on the 2009 Legislature's tax increases for high-income earners and businesses netting more than $250,000. "Sadly, some big-business organizations are opposing these measures," Steve Novick of Portland said at a Marion County DemoForum. "They have been running around saying the world is going to end if these corporate taxes are adopted. I submit that none of the tax changes

Sadly, some big-business organizations are opposing these measures   -Steve Novick

 

Political activist Steve Novick will talk about support for the 2009 Legislature's tax measures, which are the target of a repeal effort. Novick will speak at noon Wednesday at the next Marion County DemoForum at Kwan's Cuisine, 835 Commercial St. SE, Salem. The cost is $11 per person, including buffet, tea and tip.  

The three-year-old group, a cross between Yale's fabled Skull and Bones secret society and the Elks, has 42 members. All of them are men and most are Democrats. It is the brainchild of Jim Zehren, a partner at the city's largest law firm, Stoel Rives.  

This morning, KATU and Survey USA released a poll on the Oregon Governor's race . Polling and data of this nature aren't generally a part of my wheelhouse, so I'll leave it to bigger brains than mine to do an in-depth assessment of the numbers. Also, the poll glaringly leaves out Brian Clem and Steve Novick, although I really don't know how much the numbers move with those two in the mix.  

Will John Kitzhaber run for Governor? And, what of Bill Bradbury, Brian Clem, Steve Novick and others? OPB had a story yesterday.

[Kizhaber] hasn't run any major organizations.   -Bob Tiernan

 

Back in the primaries for the US Senate race, I was an early supporter of Steve Novick, but after Jeff Merkley won the primary, I swallowed my pride, wrote the check, and trundled down to the Merkley office to volunteer as much as I could. Today, Jeff Merkley more than earned the support that I gave him. He was one of four Senators, including Susan Collins, Olympia Snow and Ted Kennedy, who introduced the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) into the United States Senate.  

A month later, and we've got a month of fundraising performance from the state candidates - and the Q2 fundraising numbers from those with federal campaign committees. There's still a long way to go before the field finishes shaking out. But the shaking-out seems to have at least begun.  

In Mid-July I peddled the first ever Emerge Oregon event in Southern Oregon inviting Democratic women to learn how to strengthen the fabric of our communities and what it takes to be part of a solution. Our committee lead by Lynn Howe, who recently ran for State Representative and board member of Emerge Oregon put together an all day workshop for women who are potential campaign workers, issue leaders, advocates and future candidates for Southern Oregon. Well throw away your stereotypes of Southern Oreg  

Earlier this week, WW published a story about the selection process for two open federal judgeships in Oregon. The selection committee, which was appointed by U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, chose five straight white males as finalists for the highly coveted $174,000-a-year positions. Wyden chief of staff Josh Kardon, who oversaw the process for Oregon's senior senator, took strong exception to the criticism from some lawyers in the piece asking why there were no women or minorities among the fiv