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Thursday, February 19, 2009

Politics Jefferson Smith: Budget Cuts Will Lead to Lessons from Viet Cong Camps & "Blood on the Floor"

Posted by Sarah Mirk on Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 4:48 PM

The charismatic East Portland State Legislator Jefferson Smith showed up at the City Council's special session on the East Portland Action Plan last night fresh from the budgetary butcher shop in Salem. He spoke in favor of the action plan — which council unanimously adopted — saying he believes its strategies "will lower the level of poverty and lower the level of homelessness in East Portland." I caught him on the way out to ask what it's looking like this week in Salem, where politicians are scrambling to try and cover Oregon's up to $1 billion budget hole.

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Jefferson Smith uses his best pointing fingers

Smith immediately launched into an oration on highly-decorated badass Admiral James Bond Stockdale, an American who was held in a Vietnamese prison camp for seven years. What Stockdale did to survive Viet Cong prison camp, says Smith, is what Oregon needs to do to survive the budget crisis.


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"Stockdale came to a realization of what it took to get out of a prison camp alive. The first people who didn't make it were people who said, 'We'll be out by Christmas.' And they didn't get out by Christmas and they lost hope and they didn't make it. The other people who didn't make it were those people who didn't make it were people who said, 'We'll never get out.' And they never had hope and they didn't make it. The people who made it out were those people who could be both brutally honest about the facts facing their situation and still have hope... I think the state needs to do two different things psychologically. One is get past that sense of denial. Simultaneously, we need to boost our sense of hope and confidence that over time we'll be successful."

The fights in Salem over which chunks of the budget to slice are getting pretty vicious, especially over hot button issues like cutting school days. "It seems like there is the will to get a full school year and that may not seem like a big deal, but it is," said Smith. "And there is going to be blood on the ground because of it."

"uh..." I asked nervously, "Whose blood?"
"I mean political blood," continued Smith, saying that he's upset with the way the debate has developed to be basically a polarizing binary: chop vs. tax.

"The Oregonian had a headline 'BEER TAX!'" said Smith. "It should have read, "HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET OUT OF THIS?!"

 

Comments (5) RSS

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1
This guy is righteous! How have I not heard of him?

I'm seeing new State slogan here:

"You think bamboo under the fingernails is bad? Visit Oregon."

"Oregon: You won't be out by Christmas."

"Oregon: Live like the disoriented old guy who ran for VP with Ross Perot"
Posted by Blabby on February 19, 2009 at 5:07 PM · Report
2
Sweet photoshop work. Blood, eh?








I DRINK YOUR STATE BUDGET DEFECIT! I DRINK IT UP! SHGHGSHSH. Sorry.
Posted by Will Radik on February 20, 2009 at 5:19 AM · Report
3
That is some no bullshit talk right there!!!!
aaaaaaaaaaand
NO MOAR CATS!!!!
Posted by Abusive on February 20, 2009 at 9:21 AM · Report
4
I was at this city council meeting and Jefferson Smith was awesome and hilarious in his testimomy. I went into the meeting thinking what a bummer it was that east portland lost Jeff Merkley who was such a great advocate. I left realizing how lucky east portland to have jefferson smith as their advocate.
I grew up here and think this city should be most concerned with this area, we can't call ourselves a strong city while ignoring the poorest among us.
Posted by Mike on February 20, 2009 at 6:47 PM · Report
5
It is going to be hard, but we will get out of this.
Posted by Jason S. on February 20, 2009 at 7:23 PM · Report

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