Hi All,
I am one of three ODOT employees who was elected by voting members of CAPE contributers to the CAPE Committtee. The other two are Kermit Meling in District 1 and David Roadman in District 4. We have been elected to serve a two-year term that ends on Oct 31, 2009. The CAPE Committee held their first meeting on Nov 3, 2007. For members who may not be aware, CAPE stands for Citizen Action for Political Education. This is the political arm of the our union. If you elected to be a 2 cent contributor, you are a member of CAPE. This contribution adds up to $50 per year and is a tax deduction you are allowed to take. If you are a 4 cent contributor and file jointly, you can take up to $100 per year tax deduction.
To become a member of CAPE and put in your 2 (or more) cents worth, please contact a Union Organizer in your area, a steward, any 730 Board member or Kermit, David or myself and we will be happy to send you a form to complete and return.
Every employees has 75 cents of your dues money paid to CAPE each month, unless you have diverted these funds into the SEIU scholastoc fund. I can hear some of you now. "I already give my money to the union and they use it to support candidates and measures I don't agree with." I won't lie to you. That is a possibility. However, if you do not share your thoughts about candidates with CAPE members, how are we to represent your views? One of the reasons I ran for this position, is so my views as an independent would be heard. If you are an independent or a republican and believe the only people SEIU supports is democrats, than I have some news for you. While many times, the CAPE Committee does support democrats, they have also supported republicans. CAPE does not look at party affiliation when determining who they will recommend to the Board of Directors to endorse. We look at voting history, answers to questionnaires and interviews to determine who is best to support, if anyone, in any particular race. In the last election, we withheld endorsements from candidates we had supported previously because they didn't vote as they told us they would on important issues. As a result, those candidates either lost or won by slimmer margins. Many know our support goes a long way with Oregon workers, not just state workers.
Anyway, we elected the District Chairs on Nov 3rd and officers for the Statewide Board. All officers and elected CAPE leaders were sworn into at that time. Each district will be holding meetings/interviews for candidates that are running in their areas and seeking SEIU endorsement. The CAPE page on SEIU has not yet been updated with the current members. Hopefully that will be happening soon. I will keep you posted and hope you will check it out.
Recently, SEIU Oregon (Locals 503 & 49) decided to endorse John Edwards for the primaries. SEIU International has decided not to endorse any candidate for the primaries and have left it up to each state to decide. As of Oct 30th, 11 states have decided to support Edwards in the primaries, including New Hamshire and Iowa.
With several key races going on within Oregon, I need your input on who you think we should endorse for the state offices. Several key state representatives have supported Oregon workers and voted for worker issues. Many of these representatives, along with two senators, have been approved to receive endorsements from the CAPE Committee without having to go through the interview process. If the Board of Directors approve these recommendations, CAPE will be sending funds to their campaigns. Each OregonRepresentative will receive $250 and each Senator will receive $500.
Well that is all for now. Please leave you comments as I will be checking frequently for your input.
Thanks, Mike
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3 comments:
"If you are an independent or a republican and believe the only people SEIU supports is democrats, than I have some news for you. While many times, the CAPE Committee does support democrats, they have also supported republicans." If so, please name them. What Republicans have you supported that currently serve in the Oregon Legislature? I'll reserve judgment until you prove your point.
I appreciate your skepitism. On Nov 4rd,wWe voted to recommend endorsing Sen. David Nelson, Senate District 29, without having to go thru an interview process or complete a questionaire. In addition, Bob Jenson, House District 58, won't have to complete a questionaire, but will have to go through an interview process. These are just two Republicans that have the current CAPE Committee's nod. All other incumbants or candidates, regardless of party affiliation, who are interested in SEIU endorsements will have to complete a questionaire and interview process. Please give me names of candidates you feel have the workers interest foremost in mind and I will check into them. If they are incumbants in the state legislature, I will let you know what their voting records were on Worker Issues.
Thanks, Mike
I too am a member of the CAPE Statewide Board. I want to change the way CAPE operates. I want to strengthen our home district lobbying capabilities. What this means is we can put together efforts whereby our members at the Capital can be in touch with our members in every one of the 90 legislative districts, and when something is going on in the Capital we don't like, we can send folks in the districts door-to-door lobbying their neighbors about it. One strategy is to have folks carrying cell phones, and after we tell our neighbor what's going on, and they agree it's not what they want (which could mean something they do want is going down) they take our cell phone and call their Representative or Senator about it - the number is already programmed into the phone.
I doubt it takes much imagination to see how much more effective this will be than just legging it through the halls of the Capital.
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