"I hope that she will lead the making of good things in Salem for a change."

Amen. And the exposing of bad.

Vicki has the integrity and guts to do the right thing. Bless her. The local Goldschmidt gang of Demo's who helped financed Torry's campaign should be thrown out of the party. Many of us will remember their actions in the years to come

I don't question Sen. Walker's good intentions or motivations, but I do question her judgment. "Crusading" isn't always a positive characterization. I applaud her willingness to stand up to entrenched interests, but she has a history of picking fights badly. For instance, her attempt to abolish SAIF over its admittedly ill-advised contributions to her political opponents neglected to take into account the fact that SAIF is extremely efficient and effective. Yes, it needed reform, but it didn't need execution. Similarly, some of her social causes smack of puritanism or overreaction, rather than progressiveness. (I'm not talking about Goldschmidt here - kudos to her on that.) I guess what I really want to know is whether she will take the time to consider the matter carefully before harnessing her indisputably effective energy to a cause?

This is very good news. Let's see what she can do in the majority.

we may have a woman in salem

but can we as progressive portlanders really clean up the sleezy strip clubs and adult bookstores?

can we honestly say that we are pro-women?

for under this atmosphere, we also encourage sexual harrasment at workplace and in schools...

and our mothers, wives, daughters and sisters are paying the price...

i sure think we have fooled the whole world for a long time!!

I must not be a good old boy, because I like Vicki. The legislature is a much more interesting place with her there.

I just went in and made a donation on the website. We need more like her.

We need a bunch more like her.

There's nothing good about the good old boys (or girls - think Minnis, Burdick, Brown).

If she would get off her anti-gun tirade I might even like her.

I hope she leads on efforts to investigate all the "conflict of interest" cases that permeates this state. Good luck, Vicky.

I am a great admirer of Vicki and a supporter. She took on the old boys network and was a pariah in Salem until Goldschmidt's pedophilia was outed. She spent a lot of time with me in my office a couple years back discussing business issues and she gave me lots of good advice on my run for city council. I wish she'd been able to put the governor thing together, but Kitzhaber spoiled that for her, deliberately in my view.

Most importantly, she posed for the cover of Brainstorm's golf edition a few months back!

You know mmmarvel, you are never going to find someone with integrity that agrees with everyone on everything.

I wish we could focus on electing people with clear heads, a clear sense of what is ethical or not, and willing to listen to both sides, make decisions based on listening and caring about what is best for the common folks who work hard every day to raise a family, in what seems a more hostile enviornment, and one where everyone is out for themselves and their own self interest.

What I hate are politicians who either follow the part line and cover up for the Foley's and Goldschmits while they do just ugly things, because they value power over thier own integrity. It is so refreshing to see a woman, her daughter, and supportive spouse taking the high road.

"It is so refreshing to see a woman, her daughter, and supportive spouse taking the high road. "

Amen to that, too.
I am hopeful that Walker and others of her ilk can be engaged on issues-like guns, for example. I get aggravated with planks in the "cool Dem" platform, such as "all guns are bad" and "all judges are good(and right all the time)". There was a good article in Atlantic Monthly in the early 1990s on the Second Amendment showing that although the US Supreme Court held that the right to bear arms belongs to states and not individuals, there is strong respectable legal opinion that that it is an individual right.

We are too quick, in these parts, to close down arguments with which, it appears at first blush, we disagree. Conversation can only lead to enlightenment all around, imho. And We can't get too much of that.