Disclaimer: I work with Michael.

That said, I find him to be one of the most sincere, honest, and respectable people I know. I don't live in his district, so I'm not getting the fliers, and won't be able to cast a vote for him. Perhaps that is three too many fliers, but let's put the issue in perspective: how much fuel is burned flying our three front-runner presidential hopefuls to their stops multiple times per day?

All very interesting, but my task is to decide whether to vote for him or for Boston. I was leaning for him and against her based in part on the volume and content of her mailers. Today that pendulum swung back to neutral, and is now heading in Boston's direction. What a turn-off.

Translation: let's change the issue.

We're very disappointed, and considering withdrawing our endorsement.

It's your right.

Typical Enviro-Greenie hypocrite. Save the trees, reduce carbon footprint, don't fly or drive.... unless I need to do this for whatever MY important needs are (in this case, getting elected). Then it is okay to kill trees for my agenda.

And the first commenter who compares this race to the Presidential race, and says it pales in comparison. Well, maybe individual to individual, but not if you compare all the quack Dembrow wannabee City councilors, State Reps, State Senators across the thousands of City and State races across the USA, and it really does kill many trees.

Not Enviro friendly...

"...if you compare all the quack Dembrow wannabee City councilors, State Reps, State Senators across the thousands of City and State races across the USA, and it really does kill many trees."
=======

I just did the math:
State Reps races across fifty states, with 60 Reps per state (some have 90), and if each has a contested Primary race with two candidates, we are talking 12,000 Dembrows total. Add State Senators and we have an additional 6,000 Dembrows. How many City Councilor Dembrows across the 10,000 cities in America??? Each with 5-7 City Councilor positions????

Tens of THOUSANDS, maybe HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of Dembrows, all sending Environ-Greenie glossy junk-mail-porn, raping the forests of Old Growth spotted owl habitat. Boggles the mind when you stop to think about it.

I couldn't vote for him after seeing his first mail piece - it said something about how politicians make promises on which they cannot deliver, then went on to advocate for a number of things (higher ed for all, health care for all) that, while I'd love to see, I highly doubt can be delivered.

The hijacking of ecology to sell everyhting has gotten appalling.

As soon as they announce they are a 'greenie' I pretty much vote for the other fellow. I figure most of us love and want to protect our enviroment so in my mind, those who need to preach it will be too far over-the-top; and we have too many of them already (IMHO). Course another problem arises for me when all candidates running for that office try to out-green each other. Still looking for that 'none of above' box.

"I couldn't vote for him after seeing his first mail piece - it said something about how politicians make promises on which they cannot deliver, then went on to advocate for a number of things (higher ed for all, health care for all) that, while I'd love to see, I highly doubt can be delivered."

That's exactly what I was thinking when I saw his first mail piece. I live down here in West Linn and I'm getting election stuff from Portland (addressed to 'resident', not forwarded from my old Portland address).

I also agree with you native portlander.

I almost forgot to mention the thing that worries me the most about this guy: I've never seen him smile.

"how much fuel is burned flying our three front-runner presidential hopefuls to their stops multiple times per day?"

One more NO vote, justifying bad behavior with worse behavior.

Besides this guy looks like no fun whatsoever. DOens't he realize what politics is about:
In this country, first you get the money, then you get the power.
Then you get the power and then you get the women.

I, like Alan, know Michael Dembrow to be a sincere, honest, hard-working, and effective advocate.
For example, I have worked with Dembrow advocating for the rights of community college faculty, especially contingent (part-time) faculty. If it were not for Dembrow, Portland Community College's contingent faculty would not have the opportunity to have health insurance. PCC is one of a very few colleges in Oregon that has that opportunity for it's contingent faculty.
To focus on one small "negative" issue to attack Dembrow to the exclusion of all others is a tactic worthy of Karl Rove and his NeoCon friends. I thought more of this blogger ... before today.
To close, responder "STeve" is parroting "old style politics", the kind we want to get rid of in Salem and DC. I suppose that if we had publicly owned elections, Dembrow wouldn't have to resort to the least expensive way to get his message out ... door-to-door mailers and grassroots volunteerism. It takes guts to put yourself "out there" against established politicians with moneyed help. I would have thought readers of this blog would respect that. I suppose I was wrong.

Dembrow and Regan Gray, who is running in House District 42, each paid about $40k to The Compass Media Group, Inc., a Chicago strategic communications firm. Voters in both districts have received extended "polling" calls that were not really "polling" but testing messages about their opponents. Probably not a coincidence.

What's disturbing about the volume of campaign mail is that some of these firms pass themselves off as "campaign consultants", and then advise the candidates to send many, many mailings, which of course they buy from the same consultants. In some cases I got several in one day for the same candidate. They went directly to recycling. Of course it's especially irritating if I contributed to that candidate, seeing money go to stuff that has very little persuasive effect, if any.

I know Dembrow as well, and I voted for Boston. Whatever.

The green-bashing here seems sort of silly. But it is hard not to be irritated by the stream of Dembrow mailers that keep showing up, and which I put directly into the recycling bin, along with all the other campaign mailers.

It would appear that Dembrow has a lot of money to burn, relatively speaking: he has sent out easily twice as many mailings as Boston and probably 3-4 times as many as the other candidate, Coney. As Dembrow has the backing of various labor unions, that probably accounts for his war chest.

I suppose that Dembrow is just going for name recognition by bombardment. But it's a fine line as to whether he winds up just pissing off a lot of people who then react the way that Mr. Bogdanski has. I suppose he'll find out next Tuesday.

he has sent out easily twice as many mailings as Boston

Not to our house. It's a 4-4 tie.

Barry Edwards: Do you think Dembrow (and many other candidates) "gets his message out" with a few catch-all words on a mailer? What can we learn about the candidate with this kind of campaigning? It isn't effective, and my two a day mailers go into the waste.

It takes guts to put yourself "out there" against established politicians with moneyed help.

Yes, it does, but I'm not sure how that observation applies to this race, since Mr. Dembrow has a significant fundraising edge as of today. Oh, and make that $50k to The Compass Media Group, Inc. of Chicago.

What is a "door-to-door mailer," and how is it the "least expensive" way to get one's message out, that he has to "resort to" due to poverty? Mailings are very expensive, especially the kind being used in District 45.

I don't live in HD 45; I just don't like silly arguments.

I dropped my ballot off at election central the day after I got it in the mail.

The deluge of campaign mail has now trickled down to almost nothing.

Just one more reason to vote early, vote often!

It seems, to me at least, that I have received a Dembrow mailer a few times a week for a couple months.

That, to me at least, is enough to vote for the other candidate in the race.

Boston baby, at least she came past my pad and left me a hand written note!

"if we had publicly owned elections, Dembrow wouldn't have to resort to the least expensive way to get his message out"

Hate to say this, but VoE people here are the worst polluters with mailers.

I haven't noticed any VoE candidate spending any more time with voters than the non-VoE candidates.

I wouldn't be smiling is I was demonstrating something that small, either.

Boy! I guess I got told!
I clearly don't belong reading this blog. It's obviously too critical for me. Not that anyone would want to focus on anything like "the issues", you know, things like education, the economy, and health care. Clearly all that is to be done here is to complain about mailers without offering solutions.
I will erase my bookmark and RSS link, then leave you to rant to each other. That, and I will recommend to all I know not to bother viewing this blog.
One last parting shot ... have you even looked up the word "collegial"?

Clearly all that is to be done here is to complain about mailers without offering solutions.

If you're going to tout yourself as an environmentalist, you have to act like one. While you have your dictionary out, look up "hypocrisy."

Is "parroting" considered a compliment in collegial internet usage?

True that it takes courage to put yourself "out there", although less so when you are backed by a wad of union (or any other special interest) cash.

It takes even more courage to face your named and anonymous (sometimes venomous) accusers yourself, rather than having all of those "I also know (work with)" friends and co-workers who come to your defense.

Be brave, M. Dembrow, and show yourself in these comments. Most will respect you even more for having the guts to face the crowd of anti-poli-porn. A wee bit of self deprecating humor would also go along way to removing that scowling image you like to portray in you photo images.

You know how sometimes you look at someone and get an immediate impression?

Looking at his photos, I get an instant, strong sense that Mr. Dembrow would be someone that believes himself smart enough to KNOW what you should think, and is a-hole enough to tell you. Repeatedly.

Fair? Of course not. And probably not accurate - but that's just the vibe I get from his photos. Might help if he ever smiled, eh?

Barry,

Don't go away all Pottered up.

Save the trees, yes!

Advocate for a per person cap on the price of any government backed mortgage bought by "private" Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ("government-sponsored enterprises" (GSEs)) of triple the national median private sector wage.

Let that be an environmental/biological -- human and non-human -- litmus test.

Who really needs more economic stimulus, like Viagra or whatever, that does more harm than good just to boost the single economic statistic that seems to matter today, consumer confidence . . . and spending/consumption like there is no tomorrow?

When looking up a link for "steady state economics" I ran across this. (Think of the Status Quo as the perpetuation of recklessness as you read the piece. Removing the stimulus is a different question than pondering whether there never had been such stimulus to begin with.)

Both Boston and Denbrow, via BO, offer their advance state of the state type speech that hits on all the pop-progressive issues but it is Boston's argument that seems to offer more originality. Boston's obligatory reference to "diversity" appears far more subdued than does the strident Denbrow call for more distortion of the state tax authority to meet the demands of the current crop of Vassals.

(This very blog post, and the comments, helped me decide between the two.)

As usual, all you "green-aware" folks get it wrong. If you like trees and want more of them, USE A LOT OF PAPER!

Most paper is made from trees planted and grown specifically for that purpose. Using less paper means fewer trees.

I hereby absolve you of your liberal/greenie guilt.

If it were not for Dembrow, Portland Community College's contingent faculty would not have the opportunity to have health insurance. PCC is one of a very few colleges in Oregon that has that opportunity for it's contingent faculty.

I believe this is correct. (I've chatted with some PCC faculty about this.) Dembrow has advocated very effectively as faculty-union president.

Looking at his photos, I get an instant, strong sense that Mr. Dembrow would be someone that believes himself smart enough to KNOW what you should think

Sadly, I've concluded from actual contact with Dembrow that this is correct, and it's a key reason I did not vote for him.

He'll do a good job if you elect him. And he'll miss no opportunity to remind you.

I clearly don't belong reading this blog. It's obviously too critical for me. Not that anyone would want to focus on anything like "the issues", you know, things like education, the economy, and health care. Clearly all that is to be done here is to complain about mailers without offering solutions. I will erase my bookmark and RSS link, then leave you to rant to each other. That, and I will recommend to all I know not to bother viewing this blog. One last parting shot ... have you even looked up the word "collegial"?

Yes. Have you ever looked up the word "flounce"?

From the Encyclopedia Dramatica:

"A flounce post is when one must proclaim that they are leaving a community forever. These attention whores are nearly as amusing as those who use "deleting your LiveJournal" for attention. Rather than quietly leaving an LJ community, they feel they must leave a long ass, boring, nonsensical post explaining why they are so much more highly evolved than anyone else in the community. Names may be named, events may be recalled, but they are, at essence, a nice, delicious whine."

"Dembrow has advocated very effectively as faculty-union president..."

Wonderful, another union shill "representing" Oregon -- that's all we need.

I guess Dembrow supporters don't realize higher faculty salaries and bennies are borne by increased tuition costs and higher taxes.

However, I'm sure that factoid won't keep them from touting more classist rhetoric.

It is wrong to state that these clowns will stop sending their spam if you vote early: I voted the day after receiving the ballot (for Boston), and still receive Dembrow spam (five mailings thus far).

Loads from Middaugh too.

Looks like he should have spent a few more dollars and had them Photoshop a smile.

OLCV endorsed Dembrow.

The important thing here is context. In a dozen mail pieces, someone uses as much paper as one half of one section of a newspaper.

Do you all read newspapers or get magazines? Do you use disposable coffee cups? Do you get any mail at all that you could get electronically?

Or are you throwing stones from a glass house?

Pile all the campaign mailers you get against one J. Crew catalog (or set of auto-advertisements you receive each week).

And then forgive people for taking the time to try to educate voters. If most voters were like you all and took the time to read the pieces, instead of 5 seconds of impression, the candidates would stop sending so many. As it is, lots of mailers = more likely to get elected. And even the lots of mailers aren't much, in context.

Little late with the comment, I guess. But that particular hand signal is offensive in a lot of cultures. I think it's a riot! So insensitive...

Of COURSE I'm not being serious!

Way too many fliers, Mr. Dembrow. So many in fact, I checked to see how much all that cost. $140,000! $140 freaking thousand for a little ole house seat! Your closest opponent spent half as much. Sam Adams spent not quite twice as much for the whole city. At $140,000 for 5,269 votes, that runs to $26 a vote. That's half a month's worth of bus rides for me. I would've rather had the money than the fliers.

It's the day after the election. I was actually looking to see if Michael Dembrow won or not. I am not in his district but would have gladly voted for him. I am a former student. He is a compassionate, respectful human being who rides (his bike) versus drives as much as he can.
As a person who has chosen not to drive--I have respect for him. He also eats less meat--something which helps reduce our global footprint. As far as his politics--He practices what he asserts he believes! He's the first person running for any office that I would have felt happy to vote for!
I hope he WON!!!!