Joel Byron Barker’s Voter Guide for the Oregon 2018 Midterm Elections (Portland Centric)

Man, I love voting. I get a rush from the experience and I feel so grateful that my government asks me how to govern us. Its magical.

Not Everyone Loves Voting

It is a chore, and it can be a bit of a blow to your ego.

Here is an important issue and I don’t understand it.

I feel you. In that spirit, below are all my voting decisions for this moment. Some are not with full certainty, some are emphatic. That’s voting!

For a perspective on voting if you feel uninformed, check out When am I informed enough to vote? It’ll help you read this and your voter’s guide with more agency. [Too long, didn’t read:] Check the voter’s pamphlet and the communities that you belong to and vote with them. It enables power after the election, which is when things get done.

My voters guide is…

• Subjective, personal, and advisory. I am a member of lots of groups. This does not perfectly reflect them all, but I am still a proud participant with them. These are my judgements. I am doing my best. You do the same!
• Not perfectly informed. If you know something I don’t, comment or reply to this article! I want to learn.

Joel’s picks

Governor: Emphatically Kate Brown

You can read my short post on my enthusiasm for Kate. Short story: Knute is a misleading millionaire who won’t release his taxes and is supported by many many many millions of out-of-state money.

Kate is a dedicated public servant who shows results by including everyone in the conversation and building accord. The choice is so easy.

County Auditor: Scott Learn

This is one of those votes that are hard to make a call on. I know that City Auditor is a great role to make change. I read the voters’ pamphlet and chose Learn over McGuirk. They both seemed capable to drive change, but I chose Learn for a couple reasons:

• Barbara Roberts is a hero of mine and she endorsed Learn.
• While I am emphatically progressive myself, I value different voices. I think Learn is an auditor that will be more challenging.

All that said, McGuirk is intriguing. She has an eye to assigning value to people. That is a powerful concept. I will feel good if she wins as well.

Multnomah County Judge Position 30: Bob Callahan

Another confusing one. It seems that Callahan is running not just to be judge but to point out that the common practice is for someone to be appointed and then run unopposed. It circumvents our Oregon Constitutional requirement that judges be Democratically elected. That always seemed wacky to me anyway, but it is true that the practice means that judges are appointed for who knows what reason and then uninformed voters just blandly fill in the unopposed circles.

So, in the interest of pointing out a flaw in the system, I voted for Callahan.

City Council: Jo Ann Hardesty

A real tough decision, honestly. One that I held off on until the last minute. Both are strong candidates and both are flawed candidates. However, they are not to me the simplified characters that they appear. While Jo Ann is an activist and a fire and brimstone speaker, she is actually deeply connected and really understands what she is yelling about.

Loretta Smith seems more clean cut and establishment, she is a fighter with a really strong will.

I chose Hardesty. She is audacious but informed. Also, we need good orators, and she is one hell of a speaker. Also also, I really like the idea of city council meetings around the city in the evenings.

Ballot Measures

One thing you should understand about ballot measures in Oregon is that for 15 years or so a bunch of conservative ass-wipes have discovered that they can force their political opponents to spend a bunch of money defeating measures that are relatively easy to get on the ballot. So, even talking about these is giving into the Republican establishment’s plans to stifle the voice of unions, conservation groups, and progressive advocates. Screw you, you bunch of Jack Daw haters. Play Democracy, not cynical ass-hat fart ball.

State Measure 102: YES!

We need to innovate housing. We see the symptoms in homelessness and the cost of living wage homes, but there are issues deep in our system. By giving more flexibility to public organizations, we can come up with new ways to create better housing options.

State Measure 103: NO!

Firstly, this is a bill that is deliberately confusing created by large grocery chains. It is NOT about protecting the cost of groceries. Regardless, I firmly believe that measures like this remove the ability of our electeds to do the best job they can. (See below: PDX 26–201) This measure takes control from us to decide how to tax and govern.

State Measure 104: NO!

This once again assumes that we collectively as citizens can balance a budget, that we must keep the legislature from doing it. Making all sorts of revenue alterations require 3/5th of both houses will create budget crisis after budget crisis. Just like Measure 5, the effects will jack up Oregon for years to come and only the wonks like me will know why. Ten years from now you will lose the service that you love and you won’t know that it is because you thought that “those jokers in Salem” shouldn’t be able to raise revenue. When a biennial budget goes awry, they need tools at hand.

So don’t be an ignorant simpleton, vote no on 104.

State Measure 105: NO!

Forcing the law enforcement people we pay for to do the bidding of the federal government. I can think of a lot of ways that will go wrong.

Also, when actual public safety issues arise, illegal aliens who are afraid of deportation will not come forward. That is a bad situation.

I do believe it is time for progressives to come forward with a compelling policy around immigration so we are not just saying no all the time.

State Measure 106: OH HELL NO

I am only just about as old as Roe v Wade. I do worry that younger people are not being educated to the implications. In particular, things that deprive poor people from having access to family planning will hurt so so many people. OH HELL NO.

Portland 26–200: Yes (but no exclamation point)

Another toughie. Limiting campaign contributions for city-wide races seems like a great idea, but I want to be assured it is being done well. I think this is a reasonable measure to at least keep someone from outright buying a city council seat. Its good to get this in place before the stakes increase around here.

Portland 26–201: Yes (grudging, because I am an idealist)

1% gross receipts tax on very large national companies that have stores here. Money goes to green jobs and renewable energy initiatives.

As mentioned above, I don’t like the electorate specifying spending or taxation in advance. I am not a supporter of the Portland arts tax, for instance. Broadly and simplistically, I think that money should go through the general fund and that we elect people then hold them accountable for how they spend it.

However

a) Global warming is a thing and let’s effing do everything we effing can to show that we can effing turn our economy around before it is too effing late.

b) I believe that we can build new jobs and industries around these necessary markets. Let’s get ahead and build that new economy right here.

That said, if the State of Oregon creates a similar fund, I will file to rescind this measure because I just think it is a dumb way to run a government budget.

Last One! Metro 26–199: YES!

As above for Measure 102, let’s create more housing now. I like bonds as a mechanism to fund it because it is a shorter term process with market oversight.

Clearly, this is a socialist redistribution of wealth (joke). Our owned homes are heavily subsidized by mortgage interest tax deductions. Complaining about building homes for others to pay to live in is pretty ignorant. Get your head out of your ass and pay up.