Kroger: Why it matters that we all volunteer
T.A. Barnhart
I have, over the years, deflected numerous requests to volunteer for political campaigns. I don't like approaching strangers, especially when it's possible they might respond negatively to me. I hate being hung-up on; I hate doors being closed firmly, a face scowling and muttering at me.
As a volunteer wrangler, I have been the recipient of even more deflections. Excuses for not volunteering are legion, and I'm sure many of them come from the same place as mine: Few people have the natural temperament for the basic work of politics: phone-banking and canvassing. We all know that no campaign can win without the volunteers, but when we're asked, too often the fear overrides what we know is the right thing.
I have found that canvassing for the Bus Project to be the antidote I need for my fears. Bus trips are so much fun, and the importance of each trip's work is made so clear, that going up to the doors — and it's always that first door that is toughest — becomes easier each time. And as I call potential volunteers every Tuesday from the Bus office, I try to communicate both how much fun Bus trips are and how important they are.
John Kroger owes his victory in the AG primary to the thousand grassroots volunteers who saw in him a source of new energy and ideas in that office. Not surprisingly, Kroger is able to communicate just why it matters so much that we elect progressives like Nick Kahl, Greg Matthews, Suzanne Van Orman, Brent Barton and so many others around the state — and why it is so important each person who cares about a better Oregon be personally involved (and bring a friend). As the Attorney General-elect, Kroger has ambitious plans for dealing with consumer protection, drugs, civil rights rights, scams against the poor and elderly, environmental crime and so much. But for every plan he has, he requires a Legislature to pass the necessary laws and funding.
There's no way we're going to achieve any of this stuff unless we have a better Legislature. That's the simple reality. ... [Grassroots politics] really works. One-on-one contact today between you and a voter is 20 times more effective than their seeing an ad on TV."
If we want to support this aggressive, progressive agenda, we have to do more than hope it happens. We have to become the front-line activists who win these elections.
Later, before the canvassers hit the streets, Kroger introduces his former student with ringing praise:
There is no one running for office in Oregon with whom I am more confident he's never gonna lose his focus, he's never gonna forget where he came from, he's never gonna forget why he ran. He's got more integrity than almost anyone I've ever met who decided to go into public life. He's doing it for all the right reason.."
And I apologize to Greg Matthews, who I think is an outstanding candidate and for whom I walked last time the Bus went to East County. John had good words for you, too (come to think of it, most of John's words are very good) but the battery in the camera went south.
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Sep 11, '08
I thought the Bus Project was for young, naive people. I guess it's also for old, naive people.
10:05 a.m.
Sep 11, '08
your problem, But, is that you are trying to think. clearly that is an activity beyond your abilities.
10:07 a.m.
Sep 11, '08
Actually, its for hopeful and productive people.
Sep 11, '08
Nothing against Kroger, but frankly he owes his victory to the fact that the unions were out to punish Macpherson for standing up to them over PERS, and Kroger was simply the beneficiary of their vindictiveness.
I agree with unions probably 98% of the time, but this was a sad instance in which they took out someone who stood up for the right thing, keeping PERS from gutting the state, and now we've lost a valuable, honorable public servant.
Sep 11, '08
I hope the Bus goes out for Michelle Eberle at some point. We need to keep playing offense...
1:38 p.m.
Sep 11, '08
v, the more i hear Kroger speak, the more i am not only impressed by the man but the more i know voters made the right decision. don't forget: it was MacPherson what decided he needed to go ugly-negative on Kroger, and that probably cost him a lot of votes. Mac may well be a good guy and have been a terrific legislator, but he lost this election to the better candidate.
Sep 11, '08
Sorry I don't buy it. Macpherson lost the primary to SEIU. They would have pumped money into any Democratic challenger with a pulse. We all know it. Negative campaign or not, the deck was going to be stacked against him no matter what. Bottom line, SEIU bought the AG race and changed the face of electoral politics in Oregon.
That being said, I don't doubt Kroger will do a good job as AG. But, I just have one question? He still hasn't explained how he plans to pay for this shiny new drug treatment program?
Sep 11, '08
I'm afraid that I have to disagree with you Ben. McPherson was the lesser candidate. Not only is Kroger the better lawyer with better experience and better objectives for what he wants to do in the position. But MacPherson is also a complete jack-ass that did not deserve to win because of the campaign tactics that he used.
I, my wife, and all of our friends voted for Kroger because we saw their interviews and could see which man would do a better job, Macpherson's crappy ads only reinforced my impression that I had made the correct chooice.
Sep 11, '08
Faolan,
Everyone has a right to their opinion. But, when it walks, talks, and looks like a duck...I call it a duck. SEIU was prepared to oust Macpherson even if his ads were lily white and showed him saving clubbed seals.
Furthermore, your quickness to call Greg Macpherson a "jackass", I feel is a bit out of line. I am sure there are people, that even voted against him, that will tell you that he was and is a great servant to this state and a man with genuine intentions. Just weeks after defeat he was out helping Dem House candidates get elected. (Which no one has cared to mention on this website. I think this is very noble and unselfish of him.)
However, Kroger's legacy remains to be seen. I think he is a very well intentioned man, but he has some lofty goals that I fear he may not be able to accomplish. Only time will tell.
12:16 a.m.
Sep 12, '08
ben, i'll end where John began: to accomplish his "lofty goals" we need a better legislature. we need Nick Kahl & Greg Matthews, we need Brent Barton & Judy Steigler, we need Suzanne Van Orman, Chuck Reilly, and all the rest. Kroger made it crystal-clear in the first vid: without the right Legislature, we will not make the advances Oregon so desperately need.
and without citizens volunteering to do the work of bringing the message to other citizens, we won't get that Legislature.
volunteer. call the Bus. call the candidates.
volunteer.
Sep 12, '08
Kroger won on the criminal justice issue. Like Clatsop County DA Josh Marquis, Kroger is a law and order Democrat, who favors (like a substantial segment of Oregon voters) Measure 11. Kroger is one of the D's that can attract Republicans and independents because he is a centrist who understands that there needs to be both a carrot (drug treatment) and a stick (prison) when dealing with offenders. The union $ certainly helped get the message out, but old school liberal Democrats are going to lose on the law and order issue every time.
Sep 12, '08
Kroger is one of the D's that can attract Republicans and independents
Explain how this helped him in a closed Democratic primary?
Sep 12, '08
Kroger is one of the D's that can attract Republicans and independents
From Ben Rivers: Explain how this helped him in a closed Democratic primary?
My Answer: Because Democrats want a candidate who will win in the general election. Not just this race (since Rs did not run one), but in the elections to come thereafter. I think Oregon Ds are good long term planners.
Sep 12, '08
Because Democrats want a candidate who will win in the general election
Well Lawn-n-Order D,
If you have been paying attention, Kroger is the Republican candidate as well. Republican voters have little choice but to vote for him or not vote at all. I predict a rather large Republican under vote when it comes to this office.
Also, incumbency rates for AGs are pretty good. I think Kroger will hold this position until he gives it up. He certainly won't get voted out.