Measure 30

wes for broadway , 06.01.2004 23:29

Phil Newton is an Oregon State employee who works in Grants Pass for an agency which provides services for our senior and disabled. Phil has seen some rather seemy things, including sometimes a very ugly and inhumane treatment of people. He has told me some stories. They are not pretty.

He speaks from the heart, and mind. His message makes sense. Lets join him. Stop this madness. Vote Yes on Measure 30.

From: "Philip Newton"
Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 19:22:16 -0800
To:
Subject: Measure 30

Dear Friends:

I am a state employee. As such, I have seen the nightmarish effects of the state budget crunch, on real people, up close. I am personally aware of three client suicides. There were many more tragedies than that around the state, including those who died or were forced into nursing homes because they no longer were provided medical care. In one case, a man had a seizure because his $100 anti-seizure medication was cut off. He now lies in a vegetative state in a nursing home, sucking food through his nose at over $8,000.00 per month. Your tax dollars at work.

This madness has got to stop. On February 3, please vote YES on Measure 30.

(Please see my letter to the editor below and send to everyone you can.)

My thanks,

Phil

Dear Editor --

This February 3, we have a choice:

Choice one: Tax gifts to the rich, subsidized SUVs, cheap cigarettes and ten buck corporate taxes. This option would continue to put unearned dollars in the pockets of the fat and sassy while you and I struggle to fund state services out of stagnant wages.

Choice Two: Stop subsidizing Humvees. End the ten dollar corporate tax. Help fund services to seniors and children by restoring fairness to the tax system.

Measure 30 will cost most of us about five bucks a month or less. Lower wage-earners will pay nothing. Passage of Measure 30 funds a basic level of services and, if we don't need it, it goes away. We can do this, and save our state.

Or, we can keep paying for those rich people's Humvees.

Hmmm.

Phil Newton

Murphy

e-mail:: broadwayphil@peoplepc.com

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Analysis of the effects of Measure 30 07.01.2004 - 14:27 Here is another source for learning about Measure 30. The following note comes from an economics professor at Southern Oregon University... "You might also be interested in the Oregon Center for Public Policy's analysis of the effects of Measure 30, which The Oregonian cited in its editorial Monday supporting M 30. The study indicates that failure of M 30 would drain much more economic activity out of the state, and lead to more non-government employment and income losses, than if it succeeds. Check it out at  http://www.ocpp.org/2003/es031221_E.htm ." Economics Professor> Homepage:: http://www.ocpp.org/2003/es031221_E.htm Oregon AFL-CIO weighs in on M30 08.01.2004 - 11:04 From the "Weekly Update: Volume 6, No. 1" Wednesday, January 7, 2004 Measure 30 Matters - If We Want to Stay off the Comic Pages and Get Back on the Business Pages.No one is saying that the sky will fall if voters reject Measure 30, the legislature's budget-balancing revenue package that will be up for a vote later this month. But, as we learned after the failure of Measure 28 one year ago, there can be sharp edges to the pieces that fall when the state has to cut budgets for schools, health care and public safety. Last year, 90 school districts were forced to cut an average of five school days from their schedules. Tens of thousands of poor families lost access to health services from the Oregon Health Plan. State troopers were laid off. Courts closed on Fridays. But, as the anti-government crowd reminds us, the sky never fell. Instead, Oregon was mocked in Doonesbury and pilloried in the national media as the poster child for a failed state. It could happen again, if opponents of Measure 30 succeed in convincing voters that we can live without new revenue and still keep essential services intact. That's the message we're hearing from the opposition. But, when challenged to back up their arguments, their numbers don't add up. Here are the numbers and the real-world impacts of what's at stake in this election. A YES vote on Measure 30 will sustain $781 million in new revenues needed to balance the state's 2003-05 budget, keep our schools and courts open full-time and maintain funding for 85,000 Oregonians in the Oregon Health Plan. It will also keep our economic recovery on track. A NO vote on Measure 30 will repeal these revenue sources, trigger $545 million in budget cuts for schools, health care and public safety and still leave another $236 million to be cut by the governor, who is expected to apply those reductions across the board. Cuts of this magnitude will hurt. They will also set back our economy recovery. States that can't keep their schools open full-time aren't very good at attracting new businesses. Schools Will Lose, Again: The Dept. of Education provided estimates today that show the scheduled cuts approved by the legislature will take a large toll in the remaining 17 months of the biennium: * an average of 19 fewer school days statewide; or, * 3,950 fewer teachers and an average of two more children in every elementary, middle school and high school classroom. "This will be a large step backward for our schools," said Oregon AFL-CIO President Tim Nesbitt. "Common sense tells us that we can't do a better job of educating our children with fewer school days, fewer teachers and larger classes." Plans B and C Rate a D (for Double Counting, Debt and Deferred Costs) Last year, opponents of Measure 28 claimed to have a secret plan to save state services. But the plan stayed secret even after the election, when schools were forced to cut school days and the Oregon Health Plan ended life-saving medications for poor Oregonians. This time around, opponents of Measure 30 have offered a Plan B (drafted by Richard Butrick, president of the Associated Oregon Industries) and a Plan C (drafted by Kevin Mannix, chair of the Oregon Republican Party). Both try to double count savings already achieved by the governor and the legislature (you can only freeze state worker salaries and cut vacant positions once), wave the privatization card (no, an outside audit showed it would cost the state more for transportation to sell its motor pool and lease vehicles instead) and shift more costs to the future (no matter what the effect on the state's credit rating and the size of the bills we'll forward to our children). Yes, we're seeing a modest upturn in the state's economy, so growth will help. But the extra $76 million in the latest revenue forecast falls far short of closing a $781 million budget gap. New Taxes Are Fair, Balanced and Affordable for Working Families Measure 30 raises the revenue we need to maintain services by: * Closing corporate tax loopholes, including a tax break on overseas income; * Raising the corporate minimum tax from $10 to as high as $5,000 for corporations with high levels of sales in Oregon (such as PGE/Enron, which paid only $10 in 2001); * Continuing a ten-cents-a-pack cigarette tax; * Reducing the early payment discount for property taxpayers; * Limiting medical expense deductions for higher-income seniors ($50,000 single and $100,000 joint filers) to the amounts allowed on federal tax returns; and, * Applying graduated surcharges to personal income tax owed in 2003 and 2004, from 0% ($10,000 single and $20,000 joint) to 9% ($120,000 single and $240,000 joint). Measure 30 isn't just a rewrite of last year's Measure 28. It's more fair, since the average household in Oregon will pay only $7 per month in additional taxes for two years. And, it's a lot more balanced, since businesses will pay one third of the new revenue under Measure 30 - a lot more than they would have paid under Measure 28 and approximately what they now pay of Oregon's combined state and local taxes. For more information on how these taxes will affect working families, go to www.ocpp.org. Volunteers Needed Ballots for the special election on Measure 30 will be mailed by Jan. 16 and must be returned by Feb. 3. The Oregon AFL-CIO is opening its phone banks in Portland, beginning Monday, Jan. 12. We'll be calling union members between 5:30 PM and 8:30 PM, Monday--Thursdays, through Election Day. To volunteer, call Steve Lanning at 503-585-6320. To help with the campaign's outreach to non-union voters, go to www.yeson30.com or call Karynn Fish at 503-230-0922. The Yes on 30 campaign is organizing volunteers for voter contact in the Portland metro area, Salem, Eugene, Medford and Bend. union made> Homepage:: http://www.oraflcio.unions-america.com/ Political Incompetance 17.01.2004 - 00:14 Gordon Anderson: You don't represent me. You, who whip the ignorant into a frenzy with your calls for "half the state workers doing twice the work." When you and your pathetic wingnut colleagues are done feathering your nests in Salem, we'll still be here, holding back the chaos. Why don't you talk about our pay freeze? Our layoffs? Our PERS benefits which YOU gutted? Why don't you talk aboput our DEAD CLIENTS, WHOM YOU KILLED? You lie. You are the enemy. Go to hell. Phil Newton State Employee. voter> right wingnut representative gordon anderson 18.01.2004 - 12:31 Phil Newton keeps up the pressure and helps reveal the tactics of this state rep who represents the rich... Gordon Anderson:   The best stand we can take against hunger is a tax system that doesn't soak the poor and the middle class so that companies like Enron and PP & L can pay ten dollars a YEAR in corporate income tax. That is what Measure 30, which you oppose, will do.   Until you show a willingness to support changes in our plantation tax system, your words are false.    But you oppose all change in this murderous tax system.   You are a liar and a hypocrite, whose actions in the Legislature have already crippled and killed Oregonians.   The best stand you could take against hunger would be to stand down.The only thing you are feeding us is a line of the same old bullshit.   Shame on you.   Philip Newton       -----Original Message----- From: Rep Anderson [mailto: Anderson.Rep@state.or.us] Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2004 1:51 PM Subject: REP ANDERSON RELEASES AGENDA FOR YOUTH "STAND AGAINST HUNGER DAY"   GORDON S. ANDERSON REPRESENTATIVE OREGON HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES       HOUSE DISTRICT 3   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  CONTACT:       Rep. Anderson January 16, 2004                                                                                            503-476-3059                                     REP ANDERSON RELEASES AGENDA FOR “STAND AGAINST HUNGER DAY” LOCAL, OUT OF AREA YOUTHS TO PARTICIPATE   Salem, OR – Representative Anderson released the agenda today (attached) for the upcoming “Take a Stand Against Hunger Day”, scheduled for January 23-25, 2004. Representative Anderson spearheaded the event after seeing a report of a similar event in Eastern Oregon last year.   “Government has proven that it doesn’t have all the answers to people’s problems,” said Rep Anderson. “If we are going to find solutions to pressing social problems, we will need a grassroots movement of young people who are both passionate and compassionate. This event will help develop that needed spirit of service in our young people.”   Also co-sponsoring the event are Josephine County Food Share, and the Oregon State Service Corps.   Highlights will include the participants canvassing Grants Pass neighborhoods to raise awareness about hunger issues and give practical, simple, and inexpensive ways to help the hungry in their neighborhoods. In addition, the students will be inviting residents to a Vaudeville-style concert program that evening at the Grants Pass High School Performing Arts Center.   Time has been set aside on Friday afternoon for media interviews with the youths and community leaders involved. Please consult the agenda for times and locations   ### observer>