news, press

Independent Party's endorsed candidate wins city council seat

Jim Nicita, a land-use and environmental attorney, was elected to the City Commission of Oregon City. Nicita was endorsed by the Independent Party of Oregon.

Read about it here: Nicita beats incumbent Mabee in Oregon City

Joel Haugen Drops Republican Nomination for Congress in Favor of IPO Nomination


Oregon Congress Candidate Drops GOP Ballot Label
August 29, 2008
By BRAD CAIN
The Associated Press

SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- Congressional contender Joel Haugen, who angered Republicans by endorsing Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, is withdrawing as a GOP candidate and will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot under the label of the Independent Party.

Haugen won the Republican nomination in the May primary in northwest Oregon's 1st Congressional District.

But since then party members have shunned him because of his support for Obama and his endorsement of Democrat Jeff Merkley in Oregon's U.S. Senate race.

At a news conference Friday, Haugen said it makes sense for him to run as the Independent Party candidate, since that party earlier backed him.

"My message in this is: Let's get away from this partisan silliness and partisan nonsense and make decisions based on what's best for your country and your state," the 58-year-old Scappoose businessman said.

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.

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.

"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.

OPB Covers Independent Party Testimony re Initiative Process

Lawsuit Sparks Petition Signature Reform Bill

Oregon Public Broadcasting
By Chris Lehman
Salem, OR February 8, 2008 8:38 a.m.

Some people are calling for reform after a recent federal lawsuit over the way Oregon verifies signatures on initiative petitions. Salem correspondent Chris Lehman has more.

Opponents of a gay rights bill sued in federal court saying signatures on a petition to overturn the law were improperly rejected.

The judge threw out the suit but said it raised significant questions about Oregon’s citizen initiative process.

Independent Party "Growing at Brisk Pace," says Oregonian

The Oregonian January 22, 2008

Americans may have become increasingly disillusioned with politics, but one new political party in Oregon is growing at a brisk pace.

The Oregon Independent Party reported this week that it now has more than 10,000 registered voters. That's a drop in the bucket compared to the state's 753,212 registered Democrats and 684,285 registered Republicans, but still an impressive accomplishment for an organization that was first certified as a minor political party in January, 2007.

Daily Astorian Welcomes Frohnmayer to Senate Race

Nation crumbles as senators play games

America can’t survive alternate self-destructive cycles of D’s and R’s

Daily Astorian Editorial
Thursday, December 13, 2007

What's wrong with this picture? Across a broad spectrum, America is in crisis. In response, congressional leaders play a game of chicken in order to position themselves for the 2008 election.

When the Senate convened Wednesday, Majority Leader Harry Reid read from a list of some 100 bills that are held up by single Republican holds. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell responded by citing a Gallup Poll which reveals the low esteem of the Democratic-led Congress, because of its meager product.

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