Seven Things It's Not To Late For

Oregon's Treasurer Casts Doubt On I-5 Bridge Tolling Plan!!

Here’s the thing: the majority of bridge commuters live in Washington. So the state of Oregon would need to work out an agreement with its cross-river neighbor to collect tolls from Washington drivers. Talks are under way between the states but no deal has been reached yet. Wheeler says without such a deal, he’s not sure whether toll money would be enough to pay the debt on building the bridge. Lawmakers in Olympia are wary of turning over control of tolling to Oregon. But Washington lawmakers have not approved any funding from their state to help build the bridge.
www.opb.org/news/article/npr-oregons-treasurer-cas...-plan

Critical CRC hearing scheduled for Tuesday 01-14-14!!

A critical hearing about the Columbia River Crossing will be held at the State Capitol on Tuesday. Although the hearing itself will not make or break the controversial project, it will greatly influence what the 2014 Oregon Legislature does about it. The 35-day session is scheduled to begin on Feb. 3. The current version of the project is estimated at around $2.8 billion. The Federal Transit Administration has already approved $250 million for a new light rail line between Portland and Vancouver as part of the project. Oregon would need to be able to impose and collect tolls to finance state-issued bonds, and Congress would need to approve federal highway funds for it to be completed. Only invited witnesses will be allowed to testify at Tuesday's hearing.
portlandtribune.com/pt/9-news/207226-64214-critica...esday

Legislator proposes shutting down Cover Oregon!!

Rep. Dennis Richardson of Central Point said he'll propose that Oregon hand over its exchange to the federal government, which runs the operation for 36 other states, but acknowledged that he's unlikely to get far in the Democratic Legislature. The exchange, known as Cover Oregon, has struggled with technical glitches, and its online enrollment system still hasn't launched. Hundreds of workers have manually processed more than 50,000 applications, but the state has little to show for the tens of millions of dollars spent on technology.
www.statesmanjournal.com/viewart/20140110/UPDATE/1...egon-

Metro hires attorney to intervene in convention center hotel court battle!!

Metro has hired an attorney to intervene on its behalf in the court battle over a proposed subsidy for a convention center hotel. The regional government has led the effort to build a $198 million Hyatt Regency hotel in an effort to lure more conventions to its convention center. The hotel would be privately built and owned, but with the help of $60 million in revenue bonds paid off with a tax on hotel rooms and $18 million in direct subsidies. Opponents of the project — primarily competing hoteliers — have sought to refer the use of hotel taxes to voters. Their effort was blocked by the Multnomah County Elections Division, which said opponents didn’t have legal standing to petition, and the opponents sued to reverse that decision.
www.oregonlive.com/front-porch/index.ssf/2014/01/m...river

Building New I-5 Bridge would increase Traffic on I-205 by 40,000 Cars Daily!!

Building the $2.8 billion Columbia River Crossing would dramatically shift metro-area traffic patterns for decades, slashing future traffic on a new Interstate 5 bridge to 1990s-era levels but increasing traffic at the Interstate 205 crossing by more than 40,000 trips each day. Those outcomes can be found from a close read of an investment-grade traffic and revenue analysis released by the Oregon Department of Transportation this week. CRC project officials confirmed The Oregonian’s findings on Friday.
www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/01/colu...river

State to pay contractor $228,000 to investigate Cover Oregon website!!

Oregon will pay a private contractor $228,000 to figure out what went wrong with the launch of the state’s health care exchange website. First Data plans to spend six weeks investigating why Cover Oregon’s website failed to launch Oct. 1 and how culpable Oracle, the state’s IT contractor, was in botching the rollout. Cover Oregon launched Oct. 1 without a fully functioning website, so Oregonians seeking health insurance had to file 19-page applications and the agency had to hire or reassign 400 people to process paper applications.
www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20140110/UPDATE/1...eck=1

Father sentenced to 6 months in jail for paying too much child support!!

A father will spend half of 2014 behind bars for doing too much for his son. After overpaying child support and seeing his son too often - breaking terms that were secretly modified without his knowledge - a judge sentenced him to a lengthy jail sentence. Hall is correct. Such heavy-handed actions on the part of the court serve no one. Not only is the child going to be deprived of his father for the next 6 months, but taxpayers will have to pay the father's incarceration, and will potentially be forced to subsidize the mother's living expenses in lieu of the child support payments. www.sott.net/article/271748-Father-sentenced-to-6-...pport

Tim McMenamin For State Representative HD 41 Sellwood, Moreland, Milwaukie, Oak Grove, Errol Heights.

Oregonians share a common desire to enjoy the natural beauty and abundant resources with which we are blessed and to participate in a growing economy marked by innovation and stability. As the father of three beautiful children, I am especially focused on leaving a better Oregon for future generations. As your State Representative, I will work to promote job growth and long-term economic stability. Regulations should guide, not restrict, and tax policy should encourage, not discourage, entrepreneurial risk-taking and small business creation.

Let Kitz know how you really feel. Like or Share!

#‎No4thTerm‬ #‎orcot‬ #‎orpol‬ #‎multgop #tcot #PDX #Kitzcare #nocrc #‬


https://chumly.com/n/21d4f0a

Tim McMenamin For State Representative HD 41 Sellwood, Moreland, Milwaukie, Oak Grove, Errol Heights

Oregonians share a common desire to enjoy the natural beauty and abundant resources with which we are blessed and to participate in a growing economy marked by innovation and stability. As the father of three beautiful children, I am especially focused on leaving a better Oregon for future generations. As your State Representative, I will work to promote job growth and long-term economic stability. Regulations should guide, not restrict, and tax policy should encourage, not discourage, entrepreneurial risk-taking and small business creation.

Report Shows $52 Million Dollars Wasted on Street Project which Makes Traffic Worse!!

To make matters worse, in September 2013 the entire road was shut down for three weeks and much of the new work torn up so that the light rail tracks could cross at grade just west of the new Willamette River rail bridge. Since accommodating light rail was the primary purpose of raising Moody in the first place, this additional retrofit simply wasted tax dollars and inconvenienced local travelers. Neither the City of Portland nor TriMet has provide a credible public explanation of why this was done.
oregoncatalyst.com/25990-report-shows-52-million-s...alyst)

We have seen that background checks = registration. Registration = confiscation.

"Ballotpedia" notes that one of the main issues in our upcoming session will be more gun control. Specifically, "universal background checks." In Oregon the checks are handled by the State Police who already cannot properly handle the ones they are doing. Now they want to extend these restrictions to guns you give or lend to a family member. We have see that background checks = registration. Registration = confiscation. Period. The Senate has 16 Democrats and 14 Republicans. 15 of those Democrats will vote for any gun control that comes to the floor. That means if they peel off 1 Republican they can pass these bills in the Senate. If you live in district with a Republican Senator, you should ask them if they plan to stand up this session. You can rest assured that Bloomberg is going to be throwing money at SOMEONE.
ballotpedia.org/Oregon_Legislature#Major_issues

FIRST GUN RESTRICTION BILL SCHEDULED!!

The Senate Judiciary Committee will be introducing its first gun control bill on January 17, at 3:30 PM in Hearing Room F at the Capitol. This is the bill we told you was coming banning private transfers and starting the registration process. The draft of the bill is number LC 154 and is not yet available for the public to see. The legislature is not scheduled to start proceedings until February so they are getting out in front in their efforts to attack your rights.
As you know, all gun registration starts with "background checks" and no doubt this bill will extend the failed background checks to virtually all transfers. So if you want to give a gun to your oldest friend or your nephew, you will now need to ask the State Police for "permission."

Whether you support it or not, paid sick leave has arrived!!

The Protected Sick Time law, passed unanimously by Portland City Council is March, requires employers with six or more employees to provide workers with one hour of protected, paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours a year. Any employee, whether full or part time or temporary, who works 240 hours in a year within the city limits should receive the benefit.
www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/2014/01/whether-....html

Department of Human Services caseworker arrested on DUII while responding to incident!!

Your Tax Dollars Hard At Work. Say It's Not So? Hillsboro police say they arrested a state Department of Human Services on-call caseworker on a drunken driving accusation while the woman reportedly was responding to an abuse incident to help Hillsboro officers on New Year’s Eve. Alysse Renee Carlson, 26, of Beaverton, was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence of intoxicants, said Lt. Mike Rouches, a Hillsboro police spokesman. A breath test at the Washington County Jail showed Carlson’s blood-alcohol level was .25 percent, which is more than three times the legal limit, Rouches said.
www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/index.ssf/2014/01/hil...itter

Push for transparency idles Oregon’s public records law still full of exemptions!!

Four years ago, the Attorney General’s right-hand man on all issues dealing with government transparency created a comprehensive list of exemptions to the state’s public records laws. He found more than 400."I think, frankly, the volume … is surprising,” said Michael Kron, who still works at the state’s department of justice. He wanted to eliminate some of the exemptions, cap the amount state agencies could charge for records requests and create deadlines by which public agencies had to respond to records requests. In the end, the bill died in the Legislature.
Transparency advocates said they are watching closely to see if current Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum is inclined to pick up where her predecessor left off. Rosenblum was appointed by Gov. Kitzhaber and then was elected in 2012.
Nearly every legislative session, a new exemption is created. For example, in the 2013 session, lawmakers approved a measure making a bedbug infestation in Hotels private.
www.bendbulletin.com/localstate/1638407-151/push-f...dles#

This School Kicked Out Planned Parenthood, Is it Active in Your Child’s?

Oregon Right to Life's video on a local chapter's efforts to fight Planned Parenthood in our schools has been featured on LifeNews! We are thrilled to be able to reach more with this exciting success story! Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest is more active in our local schools than many of us realize. Bryan Platt of Jackson County Right to Life sheds light on Planned Parenthood’s clandestine tactics and why they were thrown out of the Eagle Point School District. bit.ly/1cliTQs
www.lifenews.com/2013/12/31/this-school-kicked-out...ebook

Signature gathering drive underway for state equal-rights amendment!!

Maybe I've just been out of the loop for 25 years or so but do any women in Oregon feel this is still relevant?
"People are out collecting signatures to get the Oregon & rsquo;s Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) for women on the November 2014 ballot. This could mean a change to the state constitution to include language that specifically protects women." When Blue Oregon is against it....and the quote from the story says: An Oregon Supreme Court ruling already legally protects sex discrimination. That’s why the Oregon American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) isn’t taking a stance on the ERA initiative for now. Executive Director David Fidanque calls the initiative "unnecessary."
www.katu.com/politics/Supporters-of-Oregon-Equal-R....html

Happy and a Blessed New Year To All My Dear Friends, Family, and Neighbors!!

I have by far the BEST friends and family members in the world! So many have reached out and made donations today to our campaign, I am truly blessed. Thank you. God bless you and May You Have A Healthy and Happy New Year in 2014. This is going to be America's comeback! www.mcmenaminfororegon.com