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IPO May Endorse Candidate for Secretary of State in Primary

The Independent Party does not yet have a candidate for Secretary of State of Oregon. We have until August 26, 2008, to nominate a candidate.

The IPO Caucus has decided to conduct a process to endorse a candidate in the primary contest for Secretary of State. This office is central to the key platform items of the Independent Party, including campaign finance reform, voting integrity, and protecting the initiative and referendum processes.

Independent Party now Oregon's 3rd largest Party


According to the Secretary of State, there are 17,229 registered Independents as of April 24th, making the Independent Party the 3rd largest political party (and largest "minor party") in Oregon. The growth of the party, which is less than eighteen months old, is unprecedented for an Oregon-based minor political party. The registration history of Oregon's largest minor parties is shown by the chart.

Independent Party Endorses Vicki Walker in Secretary of State Race

Rick Metsger comes in second

The Independent Party of Oregon, the state's third largest political party, has endorsed State Senator Vicki Walker in the Democratic Primary race for Secretary of State.

The endorsement was based on their records and the May 3 debate among the 3 Democratic candidates, hosted by the Democracy Action Group of the First Unitarian Church and the Alliance for Democracy, where the candidates answered detailed questions posed by Oregon activists very involved in election issues.

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SOS CANDIDATES HAVE DETAILED, SPIRITED DEBATE

The three candidates for the Democratic nomination for Secretary of State had a very detailed and spirited debate at the First Unitarian Church on May 3. Video of the debate is available at the Oregon Voter Rights Coalition. That coalition has now endorsed Vicki Walker. At the debate (an in prior debates) she forcefully took positions that are consistent with the principles of the IPO, including the absolute need for limits on political campaign contributions in Oregon races (which currently have none).

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Oregonian: Frohnmayer adds new dimension to U.S. Senate candidate forum


Frohnmayer adds new dimension to U.S. Senate candidate forum

Posted by Harry Esteve
April 30, 2008

It wasn't much of a crowd at today's U.S. Senate candidate forum, but those who attended got a glimpse of the future of the race -- the third-party bid by John Frohnmayer.

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Important Secretary of State Candidate Debate on May 3

The Portland chapter of the Alliance for Democracy and the Democracy Action Group of Portland’s First Unitarian Church will host a Forum on Election Integrity from 10 am – 12 noon on May 3rd at the First Unitarian Church in downtown Portland, featuring those candidates for Secretary of State whose names will appear on Oregon's May 20th primary ballot.

Leading Democratic Candidate for U.S. Senate says He Would Vote for Frohnmayer

Steve Novick is the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Oregon who has so far won every poll over his opponents in the Democratic primary. In the most recent poll, SurveyUSA found Novick beating the candidate funded by the national Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Jeff Merkley, by 23 to 11 percent, with 12 percent captured by previously-unknown peace activist Candy Neville and 40 percent undecided.

Novick is apparently not very impressed by his Democratic colleagues. The Oregonian article below does not really capture the content of Novick's comments. Here is a verbatim transcript of the Willamette Week joint interview of the 4 candidates for the Democratic nomination:


WW:Steve, who would you vote for [if you could not vote for yourself]?
Novick:I would vote for John Frohnmayer.
WW:He is not in this room.
Novick:(12 second pause) I have a very hard time answering that.
WW:You are going to have to make a hell of a lot harder decisions when you are on the floor of the Senate.
Novick:(31 second pause) I'd wait several weeks because I'd want to see whether Speaker Merkley continues to run the kind of campaign he has run against me ... [subsequent details omitted]
WW:OK, given what you know now.
Novick:Given what I know now, I would vote for Candy Neville.
WW:You like Frohnmayer [inaudible].
Novick:I think John Frohnmayer, with all due respect, has presented a thorough discussion of the major issues facing the country, and his positions are extremely progressive.

Register-Guard Reports on U.S. Senate Candidate Debate

Trio of Senate candidates find lots to agree on

By Bob Albrecht
April 3, 2008

The tone was mostly cordial Wednesday night when three candidates for the U.S. Senate debated before about 100 students at the University of Oregon School of Law.

"Minor Parties to Play Larger Role in Future Elections," says Eugene Register-Guard

Minor parties, nonaffiliated voters to play larger role in future elections

nonaffiliated and minor party voters may determine who wins in Oregon


By Mark Brown
March 28, 2008

Although Oregon’s political leanings haven’t made a major shift in the past four years, a small gust of party-affiliation change has blown across the state.

A decline in the overall percentage of voters registered as Republicans in the state over a four-year span has been nearly equaled by an increase in the percentage of Oregonians registered as nonaffiliated and minor party voters.

Willamette Week Notes Union Endorsement of Frohnmayer

Willamette Week writes on March 27, 2008:

But Independent candidate John Frohnmayer has the support of Funk Shui—and all the other 675 members of the American Federation of Musicians, Local 99 (a union that includes Storm Large.)

Bruce Fife, the local's president, says the decision to endorse Frohnmayer reflects musicians' distaste for typical party politics. "They're mad at the Democrats," Fife says. (Meanwhile, they didn't have an official chance to be mad at the Republicans, or, more specifically, one money-bags Republican; U.S. Senate Gordon Smith (R-Ore), whose seat is up for grabs, declined an interview with the local.)

John Henry Bourke, a guitarist with Funk Shui, said Frohnmayer's experience with the National Endowment for the Arts during the first Bush administration swayed him. "He has such a specific orientation to the arts," Bourke says. "He seemed most in tune with helping artists and musicians."