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Public Comments - Speeches
Campaign Kickoff Speech
January 26, 2006Thank you for that kind introduction: it means a great deal to me that Governor Roberts and Mayor McArdle are here with me tonight, to share in this moment.
I want to thank Jim Rassmann for making the long trip this evening.
I want to thank the Bus Project – your willingness to make the trip – and help celebrate this kickoff is something I will never forget.
I also want to thank Congresswoman Hooley for making special arrangements to be here tonight.
To Joan, to the team, and to everyone that helped us out: from the decorations to the music to the goodies – and to all of you that came here on a busy Thursday evening – I am grateful for the generosity you have shown me.
This includes my fellow travelers – I want each candidate to know that I respect you: I appreciate you coming here this evening to help make this night a success.
And what a night it is.
For tonight is not so much a celebration of party; as it is a renewal of the spirit – our community spirit.
Assembled together, in this place, at this moment, are Democrats, Republicans, Greens, Libertarians, and citizens who choose no party affiliation.
Good people of conscience, people that recognize citizenship is as much obligation as it is opportunity, people that accept our responsibility as stewards of the past, of the present, and of the future.
Tonight I am asking you to join me in working for the Oregon that could – the Oregon that should be.
Tonight, I am asking you to help me restore the promise of Oregon.
For too long we have tolerated a political climate that favors the status quo for its own sake;
For too long we have allowed the working poor and middle class to carry a growing portion of the burden;
For too long we have confused good theater, with good governance.
It is time for a change.
It is time for this community – our community to recognize that we can do better.
Oregon needs a new generation of leaders – leaders that have been through the fire – leaders that have served inside and outside government – leaders that reflect a breadth of life experience.
Most of you know that I left my position as Mayor of Monmouth to fight the War on Terrorism; like so many others, I went because it was my duty: I served twice in Iraq – not because I favored the war – but because sacrifice is the currency of service.
I was taught that service – service to your community – is a family value.
I remember watching my parents – people who struggled much of their life from paycheck to paycheck – define service through action.
My dad spent a career helping the young to speak, the elderly to hear: he also served twenty-eight years as a volunteer – putting the fires out.
My mom, who started working full-time when she was thirteen, spent the last few years of her life – in between chemotherapy – listening, to ease other people’s pain.
I learned from my uncle and grandfather that a person’s labor is sacred – that honest work is a value that must be appreciated first hand.
When I was eighteen, I asked my city for the opportunity to serve on the council. That opportunity was a gift, and act of trust. I believe it helped shape my views about community, accountability, and responsibility.
After college, I entered the Air Force to do my part – I was taught that young men that aspire to leadership must first learn how to follow; I took pride in keeping my family and friends at home safe, secure.
When I came home, I was asked to consider service on the council again – this time as mayor; it was a special privilege to represent my community in that way, I treasure those memories.
When the Towers fell, I knew I could best serve my community in uniform; and though I am proud of that service, the military chapter of my life is nearing the final paragraph.
Every one of us has a story to tell, a life experience that helps inform our decisions – a perspective that guides our choices.
I believe these past fifteen years have prepared me for the challenges we face: these experiences prepared me for the kind of leadership needed for the rigors of the path ahead.
Leaders understand the importance of developing a shared vision for the future;
Leaders understand the burden of making a difficult decision in situations where lives are at stake;
Leaders understand the challenges of leading a community during a time of trial;
And leaders understand how to manage the complexities of working with people that have little in common – save the mission.
Leadership isn’t just a word – a term to be trotted out every four years to facilitate an election.
Leadership must be proven through action – it is revealed through the commitment of service in good times, and in bad – leadership is earned, it cannot be bought – it cannot be faked – it cannot be given.
We need leaders at the front, leading us – because the Oregon I was raised to believe in, the Oregon we love – is at risk.
Our schools are insufficient for the task at hand – though our teachers do all they can, we have a second tier system of education because we are paying for a second tier system;
Healthcare, the provision of medical care that keeps a workforce healthy – that in turn drives economic progress – is slowly becoming a luxury – a luxury too expensive for the working poor to afford;
Our air, soil, and water are under siege – and our once famed land use planning process is now an open question, because somewhere along the way we forget that we live with our neighbors, not merely nearby;
And sadly, despite the rhetoric – our Oregon is no more secure than before – we have a lessened response capacity;
I am here tonight, asking for your help – asking for your service – because we are at a decision point: our choices have consequence – and those that seek the promise of Oregon, must now stand and defend its future.
For we here assembled – are the “WE” in We the People;
We must establish a government that is moral; a political climate that sustains the values we embrace.
We must guarantee opportunity for all our citizens regardless of circumstance;
We must foster a safe environment for our citizens to grow, to learn, and to prosper;
We must protect the Basic rights of all Oregonians – to think, to act, to live without fear;
And we must preserve the future, even as we work to provide in the present.
This election cycle, this election – we decide whether we are going to realize the Eden of Oregon’s promise, or whether we will accept a second tier alternative.
Our mission is clear: we must transform the political culture of our age – we must work together and fight for the values that matter.
I am not running for the Oregon Legislature because I believe our opponents are evil men and women; they aren’t.
I am running for the Oregon Legislature because it is the center of gravity for the issues I believe I can make the largest impact – where I can best serve my community at this moment.
I am running, because Oregon needs Leadership for a Change.
This campaign is ultimately, a contest for the heart and soul and conscience of our community.
It is about the Oregon our children and our children’s children will inherit.
Tonight, we leave this place united in the belief that whatever the position, the office, the role – we must all play a part in making this Oregon, a better Oregon – our New Oregon.
Together we can make educational security a reality: stable funding and safe school grounds are the first steps to building the most flexible, most educated, most employable workforce in human history.
Together we can honor our veterans: keeping faith with this trust is essential.
Together we can discover the path to a rational plan for healthcare: accessibility, adequacy, and quality are the principles upon which we must build.
Together we can partner with companies that share our values: to build a growing economy – producing living wage jobs for all Oregonians.
Together we can replenish the reservoir of trust: we can bridge the gap between cynicism and progress.
Together we can make the difference.
In his last speech before the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Martin Luther King provided an assessment that is as true today, as it was in 1967.
Dr. King explained that, “Power properly understood is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose. And one of the great problems of history is that the concepts of love and power have usually been contrasted as opposites – polar opposites – so that love is identified with a resignation of power, and power with a denial of love. [He said] We’ve got to get this thing right. What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love. It is precisely this collision of immoral power with powerless morality which constitutes the major crisis of our time.”
My friends, this crisis remains.
We must not allow ourselves or our neighbors to sit idly by while those without love – threaten the Oregon we know possible.
In the end, this race will not be won in the mailbox, it will be won in the trenches – through the grit and determination of people that believe Oregon, our New Oregon, is worth the effort.
I believe in the power of faith, hope, and love.
Faith – in our relationships – in our values – in our community;
Hope – that tomorrow can be better than today;
And love – love strong enough, tough enough – real enough – to make the change we know required for the future our children deserve.
We can win this fight – together – we can write the next chapter of the Oregon Story – together we can restore the promise of Oregon.
Thank you.
