Working Families

All registered members of the Working Families Party are invited to participate in our first official Regional Caucuses, to be held in each of Oregon’s five Congressional Districts. Regional Caucuses will elect delegates to our statewide nominations committee. This is an important opportunity to chart the course of the Working Families Party in the first year of fusion voting in Oregon.

Individuals who are interested in learning more about the WFP are welcome to attend, but only registered members may vote for delegates.

Not yet registered? Grab your driver’s license and head to http://oregonwfp.org/register and you’ll be on your way.

You can also RSVP by emailing us at info@oregonwfp.org. And feel free to write to us with any questions.

The Oregon WFP was featured in a story in today’s Oregonian. Have a look, and share the link with your friends.

The aim of the Oregon Working Families Party is to influence state policy by uniting rural and urban voters around kitchen table economic issues that matter to working people. The party . . . promotes itself as “the blue collar, pocketbook issues party,” says Jeff Anderson, a member of the party’s steering committee.

A powerful tool it will use to push its agenda is an electoral strategy called fusion voting, a version of which became legal again in Oregon in 2009. It allows political parties to cross-nominate candidates on the ballot — that is, to give their support to candidates from other parties.

“It allows us to endorse candidates and then hold them accountable,” said Barbara Dudley, party co-chair, “without running our own candidates who could function as spoilers.”

Read more at http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/05/small_party_wants_bigger_say_o.html

Recently, several local organizing efforts of the WFP have gotten underway. Portland held a meeting on March 30th (and has another one coming up June 8th), the Mid-Valley had one on May 9th (and has another one coming up on June 19th), and Eugene/Springfield had one on May 20th. There has been interest from many other parts of the state.

Chapters are a vital part of the WFP. They’re the living presence of the Party in communities around the state, and they play a critical role in deciding what issues the WFP prioritizes and which candidates we nominate.

If you would like to organize a chapter, or connect with an existing one in your area, just email us at info@oregonwfp.org and we’ll give you all the information you need.

Upcoming chapter meeting details:

Portland: Tuesday, June 8th at 6:30 PM
ILWU Local 40
2401 NW 23rd Ave, Portland

Mid-Valley: Saturday, June 19th at 5:30 PM
Porter’s Pub
4820 River Road North, Keizer

Check out today’s excellent article on the Oregon WFP in the NW Labor Press.

The party’s first experience at the ballot box suggests that voters may be receptive to [the WFP's] agenda: J. Ashlee Albies, who ran as a Working Families Party candidate for attorney general in 2008, got over 10 percent of the vote statewide, and over 16 percent in 10 rural Eastern Oregon counties that traditionally vote Republican. And Albies’ campaign consisted of little more than a Voters’ Pamphlet statement and $100 worth of bumper stickers.

“Across the country, Americans are leaving the major parties in droves,” said Teamsters Local 206 President Tom Leedham at a March 30 Oregon Working Families Party meeting in Portland. “This void in leadership can be filled by right-wing crackpots or fake populists, or it can be filled by a political party dedicated to the economic interests of working people. We intend to be that party, not as a spoiler, but as an organization willing to hold politicians accountable. We’re dedicated to supporting candidates, Democrats, Republicans, or independents, who are committed to fighting for affordable health care, decent jobs, and quality education.”

Read more at http://www.nwlaborpress.org/2010/0416/4-16-10WFP.html

Great coverage in the Portland Tribune on our public bank idea today.

Portland State University professor Barbara Dudley has a bolder idea to keep money in the local economy: a state bank modeled after North Dakota’s.

“One of the main reasons why we’re having trouble with jobs is because there’s no credit out there,” says Dudley, who teaches public administration and sociology and is co-chairwoman of the Oregon Working Families Party.

A state bank could partner with Oregon-based community banks to generate more loans to homegrown employers, she says.

Big national banks are paid to underwrite Oregon bonds and earn a fee every time an unemployment check is disbursed in Oregon, she says, suggesting those and other functions could be handled by a state bank.

Read the full story here: Can we cure what ails us?

Click here for more information on our Oregon State Bank proposal.