YES Campaign Update 11/6/09
The YES Campaign for Tax Fairness is rolling along well. Ninety-three organizations have already endorsed YES on 66 and 67. This includes public and private sector labor; advocates for children, seniors, women, and people with disabilities; environmental organizations; small businesses; health care advocates; and social justice organizations among others. The latest to endorse is the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, which coordinates the lobbying efforts of 40 environmental organizations.
The campaign is working hard to help these groups get the word out to their membership about the need to vote YES in January.
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Ballots go out nine weeks from today. Thanks for everyone’s time and effort moving the YES pledge. Members and organizers have collected an amount equal to more than 5% of our membership. Volunteer recruitment phone banks start shortly and we start phoning voters December 1. We got letters out to those who pitched in on phone banks, lobby days, and other political activity giving them the heads up about the need for help on this campaign.
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What will they be saying in 2029? This election will have a profound effect on the direction of our state. YES in January will have the immediate impact of protecting services for vulnerable Oregonians reeling from the global economic crisis. YES will also bolster elected officials who had the courage to fight for quality public services and for tax fairness. It will be extremely difficult to preserve and expand services in the future if YES does not prevail. 19 years ago, voters enacted Measure 5 – the cap on growth in property taxes. Nineteen years later, Oregonians have seen students suffer as schools have had to become reliant on state funding to keep their doors open. In turn, human services and higher education have been denied to Oregonians because of the funding squeeze. I am pretty confident that nineteen years from now, we will look back on this election as a similar turning point. Measures 66 and 67 are also starting to gain attention on the national level.
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Today’s announcement that the national unemployment rate has increased to 10.2% is a tragic reminder that a lot of our members and our neighbors are hurting. YES on Measure 66 provides a tax break for 270,000 unemployed Oregonians. Opponents of the measures are actively fighting to take that away. $10/year in income taxes for profitable corporations must seem preferable to a lifeline to those who have lost their jobs. Greed knows know bounds.