As one of my supporters I wanted you be the first to know that Governor Howard Dean will be headlining two fundraising events in support of my campaign on February 10.  Mark your calendars!

I cannot tell you what an honor and a privilege it is to have the support of the former head of the Democratic Party, Governor of Vermont and Presidential Candidate.

Howard Dean once famously said during his 2004 Presidential run “I am Howard Dean, and I'm here to represent the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party”.  He said that at a time when Republicans were running rampant in D.C. and he gave voice to Progressive Democrats the country over.  

His message was simple: we should longer be afraid to stand up and be proud of being a Democrat, because we are actually right on the issues. He took that message to the DNC where he pioneered a 50 state strategy that was largely credited with recapturing Congress in 2006.

In the wake of the debacle in Massachusetts, it's more important than ever that Democrats at all levels remind voters of what Democrats stand for and embrace it rather than running from it.

I am that Democrat. I will never shy away from advocating for progressive, innovative ideas and have done so in this campaign already.

Here in Oregon we have shown the nation that it is possible to move
progressive ideas forward with the passages of Measures 66 and 67 last week. I am proud to say I walked, called and fundraised for those measuresright along side thousands of others.

In their wake, now is not the time for half-measures and post-partisan vagaries.  We need leadership in the Governor’s office...

Click here for fundraiser details and to RSVP.

Yesterday my grandson was born.  It was truly an amazing and inspiring moment and I happy to report that both the child and my daughter Abby are doing well.

Special moments like these are a time for reflection.

As I drove back to Portland from our home In Bandon I had time to reflect on what the future is going to look like for my grandson.

It is clear to me that we stand at a moment in time where our choices today are going to have profound impacts on our next generation.

In the year 2020 my grandson will be celebrating his 10th birthday. 2020 is a year of special significance in the fight against global climate change. By that time, we will need to have reduced our carbon emissions by as much as 30% in order to preserve and protect our future.

In 2050 my grandson will be 40.  In 2050 we will have crossed a threshold – one not easily reversable – if we persist in emitting carbon at todays levels, scientists have predicted that changes in our climate by that time will effect everything from our water supply to the types of crops we can grow.

We must go far, quickly in the fight against climate change.  We must begin today and that fight starts right here in Oregon.

In Oregon, our government must take bold steps to preserve our environment and protect our future. We're fortunate to have so many talented people here, working every day as activists, and business leaders – who together are improving our economy while making our state a leader in the next generation of American industry – In Oregon, green jobs are not a cliché – they're a reality.

When you're electing your governor this year, remember, that I will fight to protect our environment.   I oppose LNG because I don’t think  it makes any sense commit ourselves to 30  more years of fossil fuels.  I will work to reduce our states dependence on coal. I will fund our educational institutions so they have the resources they require to prepare this generation with the skills they need to work in our new economy. I will help our businesses create jobs and build-upon our sustainable industries.  I will work to make Oregon the Sutainable Industry Capitol of the World.

I will do whatever it takes to make sure that my Grandson grows up to an Oregon that's prepared for the future.

Thank you for your support - together, we will engage and energize Oregon.

Sincerely,

Bill Bradbury 

Internship Opportunity

January-March, 2010

Finance & Field Intern

About Bill Bradbury

Bill Bradbury grew up in Chicago, and moved to Bandon, Oregon in 1971.  In Bandon, he owned and operated a small business before beginning his career in government.  He served in the Oregon legislature for 14 years representing portions of Oregon’s south coast as a State Representative and as a State Senator.  He also held the positions of Senate Majority Leader and Senate President. Along with the Governor and Treasurer, he sat on the State Land Board, and he was appointed by Governor Kulongoski to chair the Oregon Sustainability Board. Bradbury currently is a member of Oregon’s Global Warming Advisory Commission, a group tasked with making recommendations to the legislature and educating Oregonians on how Oregon will meet its greenhouse gas reduction goals and tackle the adaptation challenges created by the impacts of climate change. Bill was one of the first 50 participants in Vice President Al Gore’s The Climate Project training sessions and has given over 250 “Climate Change in Oregon” presentations since September 2006.  Bradbury is now taking his leadership to the Oregon Governor’s race and campaigning for a sustainable Oregon future that provides long-term jobs, stable funding for education, and protects Oregon’s environment.

Internship Description

This position requires an extremely well organized individual who is committed to working hard for the campaign.  You will learn skills related to fundraising, fielding organization, event planning, community outreach, and communications.  Our fast-paced, high-accountability environment requires that you be detail oriented, a motivated self-starter, highly organized, enjoy working with others, and ready to take responsibility for delivering consistently high-quality work.  We will guide you in learning skills and developing capabilities related to campaign work and help to educate you in Oregon politics.  Excellent written, verbal, and phone communication skills a must. Must be an above-average computer user, proficient in web navigation, internet-based research, and using OfficeSuite.

Responsibilities

Include, but not limited to:

• Research potential fundraising targets, individuals, and organizations
• Assist team with call time, fundraisers, events, and volunteer recruitment
• Invite supporters to various campaign functions
• Nurture relationships with community partnerships, outreach networks, & donors
• Support Campaign Manager with policy research, promotions, and odd jobs
• Event support related to planning, outreach, solicit donations, staging, etc.
• Stay informed regarding media coverage and have general working knowledge of campaign topics
• Opportunity to direct social media and social networking

Qualifications

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal
• “Self-starter” who is confident in making suggestions and taking initiative but also works well in group setting
• Effective communicator with others (staff, neighbors, fundraisers, vendors, general public)
• Professional appearance and a respectful representative of the campaign
• Desire to learn and take initiative
• Must have own computer, cell phone, reliable transportation
• Work primarily out of the campaign office and maintain a regular work schedule
• Must be able to work 2-3 days per week, approx. 15-20 hours per week and commit to a minimum 10 weeks
• Though not required, preference may be given to those who are occasionally able to work nights and weekends if a special event is occurring

How to Apply

If you are interested in this exciting campaign opportunity, please email cover letter and resume to schedule@bradbury2010.com.  For further information about the campaign please visit www.Bradbury2010.com or find Bill Bradbury on Facebook.

The following are the full prepared remarks of Bill Bradbury’s speech before the Eugene City Club on October 30, 2009.

Bradbury Education Policy Speech

Oregon is at a tipping point.

Our public schools are at a tipping point.

Public education in this state is increasingly no longer public and our education system increasingly no longer meets the needs of the 21^st century.

The fate of our public education system and the success of our economy are inextricably linked together.

We cannot grow our economy, help Oregon businesses grow and put people back to work if we do not have a quality and innovative public education system that has an adequate and stable source of funding.

We can no longer ignore the problem and we need to stop making excuses about why we can’t address it.

That is why when I announced my campaign for Governor I made fully funding education a central tenant of my campaign.

That is also why last week I made the commitment to fund K-12 Education at the Quality Education Model Level in my first term as Governor.

And that is why I am here today to lay out for you specifically my plans to do just that.

For too long we have thought about public education in this state in separate silos.  K-12, Community Colleges and Higher Education.  I strongly believe this is an outdated and inefficient approach to educating our children and is a poor use of taxpayer dollars.

These three components of public education are a continuum, not separate entities.

My approach as Governor will be to look at public education as something you engage in from age 3 to entering a career.

And the Quality Education Model agrees with that approach.

Today you will hear me talk a lot about the QEM.  What is it?

In 1999 the Quality Education Commission was created in a bi-partisan manner to create a model of what a successful public school system in Oregon should look like and how much money it would take to get us there.  They have been updating this model every two years since.

It is a blueprint for successful schools and school funding.

K-12 Education

It is impossible to understand the state of school funding in Oregon today without going back to the early 1990’s.

Ballot Measure 5 dramatically altered the landscape of school funding by placing a cap on school property taxes and Measure 50 in 1997 further capped and limited property taxes and their growth.

What this means is that the State General Fund became the primary support for our schools, funding over 2/3 of local district budgets.

In the 1990’s state leaders were able to ride a booming economy that hid the effects of Measure 5 and 50 and then at the beginning of this decade the economy went south, income tax revenue declined and our school funding went with it.

Today our K12 education system shows we have shirked our responsibility as a state to education for that past 16 years.

• We have the second highest class size in the nation.  Only Utah beats us.
• One Third of all high school students in this state drop out and of those who do graduate only  1/3 of them go on to higher education.
• Oregon has the 2nd shortest school year in the nation. It is 12 days short of the national average, and 15 days short of the top 10.
• Nearly 40% all of teachers in Oregon leave before the end of 5 years. [1]

Furthermore, what once was considered standard components of a public education in this state: art, music, sports and dance are now all considered electives. We are creating back-door taxes on parents in the form of “fees” for electives and some people can’t afford it.   So much for free-to-all public education.

That is a key example of what I mean when I say that public education is increasingly no longer public.

For the past decade, we have had a blueprint in the QEM for successful schools and school funding in this state. — We have just ignored the funding blueprint.

In 2000 voters passed a ballot measure that said the Legislature should fully fund K-12 education at the Quality Education Model Level and if they don’t the Legislature should explain why.

They have been explaining why they can’t fully fund education ever since….

Community Colleges

I remember as a Bandon resident in the 1970’s living on the South Coast of Oregon there was an incredible undertaking to expand Community Colleges state-wide.  And that expansion received broad public support.  Even then, local loggers and fisherman in the community recognized that their children were going to need more than a high school diploma to succeed in the future.

As legislators we looked at Community Colleges as really an extension of high school, essentially grades 13 and 14, and as such it should be funded and approached as public education.

Back then going to an Oregon Community College was a very different experience than it is today.  In 1977 tuition and fees averaged $360 per a year.  In 2009 the average is $3,574 a year.   In the past ten years average tuition at a Community College in Oregon has increased 99%.  It is now the 3^rd highest of the 15 Western States.

Public Education is increasingly no longer public.  And the problem continues right up the chain to our Public Higher Education System.

Higher Education

Oregon has a proud tradition of excellence in higher education.

But increasingly attending the University of Oregon or Portland State University or Eastern Oregon University is out of reach for many young Oregonians.

Once again we responded to the challenge of funding K-12 education at the state level by passing the costs of public higher education off to the individual.

In 1989-90 student tuition made up 29% of university system funding, in 2007-08 student tuition covered 55% of university system funding. I believe when the cost of funding a public university system goes beyond 50% contribution from the individual – it doesn’t make it very public anymore.

And it is an issue of priorities.  We choose to spend more on prisons that higher education in Oregon.

Last year we spent more on 12,000 inmates in Oregon Prisons than we did on 80,000 students in our public university system.  [2]

So, what do we do about all of this?

I am sure you didn’t come here today just to hear a litany of our problems with public education.  You want solutions.

I believe Oregonians are hungry and ready for specifics and are ready for leadership willing to tell them what it is going to cost and ask for their support in making that happen.

So let me tell you what I think it will take to fulfill my pledge to fully fund K-12 education at the QEM level in my first term.

We must build back Oregon Education but we must do it in a way that is smart, innovative and pragmatic.  I strongly believe we can meet the QEM in my first term through a combination of :

• Improving instructional performance
• Innovation
• New Funding Sources

Improving instructional performance

There are things we could start doing tomorrow that would provide tangible support to our teachers that would have a positive impact on our children.

Study after study shows that the greatest determinant for student success is the quality of the teacher in the classroom.

Oregon spends over $2 billion a year on teachers and yet we do very little to ensure they’re effective.

Nearly 40% of all teachers leave within their first 5 years.[3]

We need to change that.

Mentoring: The 2007 Legislature funded a $5 Million  pilot teacher mentoring program in which more experienced teachers were asked to mentor younger colleagues and more importantly given the time and funding to do so.   The success of this program has been astounding and for less than $15 million a year we could mentor every new teacher and principal in this state. This is a small investment when you consider it costs local school districts $40 million a year to replace teachers who leave.  [4]

This is just one example of how we can support teachers in being successful teaching our kids.  As Governor, I will ensure that the voices of those working in our schools daily are listened to and the good ideas become good public policy.

Innovation

Today I am calling for the creation of the Oregon Innovation in Education Fund.  Modeled after the Obama Administration’s “Race to the Top” program, this Fund will be a driver of innovation at the local school district level and reward schools and districts that are pushing the boundaries of conventional thought and pushing all stakeholders past their traditional comfort zones be it teachers, parents, administrators or advocates.

Like the President’s program, every district in the state will be encouraged to apply but not all will be given funds.

The Oregon Innovation in Education Fund will reward schools that engage in a collaborative “with you, not against you” approach with stakeholders and those who are not afraid to tackle the tough issues in innovative ways.  No “sacred cow” is too sacred.

I believe Oregonians are ready and willing to support this Oregon Innovation in Education Fund.

To start, I will ask restaurant and tavern owners to reduce their profit on Lottery proceeds from 24% to 16% with the promise that the difference will go directly to the Oregon Innovation in Education Fund.  This would give this fund $56 million dollars to start with.

The Oregon Innovation in Education Fund will be a driver of innovation and creativity and help break the logjam that has stopped us from thinking differently about our schools.  It will elevate education in Oregon.

Funding

FUNDING.  The third rail of Oregon politics.  How many times has a politician stood before you here at the City Club or on your TV and called for fully funding education without giving you specifics?

More than you probably care to remember.

Conventional wisdom says I should be ending my speech right now and avoid the giant elephant in the room.

Well say good bye to conventional wisdom and hello to the elephant.

Efficiencies and innovation can get us part way there and make education better but the truth is they can never make up the $2 billion dollar gap in education funding alone.

As your next Governor I will confront the elephant.

It is clear to me that Oregonians have spoken:

- they are not interested in a sales tax nor are

- they are not interested in significantly increasing their personal property taxes.

And frankly, I agree.

For the past 20 years we have shifted the responsibility for funding services in this state onto you, the individual.  And that is not fair.

Oregon has the second highest average class size in the nation and one of the lowest levels of taxation on business in the country.

It is a fallacy that we have a high corporate tax rate.

As Oregonians we can’t be afraid to talk about funding options that will help us reach our goal of a quality public education system.

So here are some options:

• Tax Subsidies  – Right now nearly 50% of the money the State of Oregon could collect never even makes it into the state coffers through a variety of credits, exemptions, depreciations and breaks.[5].  Those breaks equal over 30 Billion dollars every two years.

I believe it is time we examine what we are doing.

To be clear many of these expenditures are popular and needed but some simply make no sense.

• For example, right now there is a loophole called the Income from Foreign Controlled Corporations tax break that was enacted in 1909.   We should not be rewarding Oregon corporations for storing money overseas.  That’s not fair and if we eliminated just that one antiquated loophole we would generate another $30 million for schools.[6]

It is time to examine these 100 year old loopholes that no longer match the 21^st century economy.  By reducing the overall tax expenditures by just 3% we could generate almost a billion dollars a biennium for schools.

Another Option

• Business Gross Receipts Tax – A business activity gross receipts tax modeled after Washington State at just one tenth of one percent would generate $300 million in new revenue for schools.
• And finally, and this is important to me having been the chief auditor of this state -  We need to ramp up enforcement on tax cheats and start collecting money we are owed.  One tax watchdog group estimates there’s as much as $1 billion A YEAR owed to the state that is not collected. [7] I don’t often look to South Carolina for policy ideas but they created an efficient enforcement and collection system that gave them a 7 to 1 return on their dollar.   We should do the same.

So as you can see these are just a few of the many options that exist that would allow us to fund our schools and still have one of the lowest rates of corporate taxation in the West.

And I want to be clear, I am not wedded to one or all of these options but I laid them out for you today to answer the naysayers who think stable and adequate funding for public education cannot be done.

They are wrong.  It just takes leadership.

I am under no illusion that it will be easy.

As Governor, I will bring together the stakeholders: business leaders, legislators, teachers, parents, retirees and other concerned Oregonians. And hammer out an agreement to finally fully fund education to the Quality Education Model level .

The reality is the agreement will have to go to the voters.

My job as Governor will be to provide the leadership to craft a school reform package made up of: efficiencies, innovations and funding mechanisms that has buy-in from as many stakeholders as possible.  One that has a realistic chance of passing.

And my role as Governor will be to provide the leadership on the campaign trail needed to ensure it’s passage.

We have not seen that from the Governors office in the last 16 years.  You will from me.

Now is not the time for another round of visioning or collecting ideas which wind up being plans placed in a binder to gather dust on a shelf somewhere in some bureaucrats office.

Now is NOT the time to look to the PAST for solutions to our FUTURE.

Daniel Burnham, the famous architect and planner once said

“Make no little plans for they have no magic to stir men’s blood.”

Now is the time for action.  We know what we need to do.  The question is will we do it?

I have faith in you and I have faith in Oregon.  We have confronted great challenges before and we can again.

And as your Governor, with your help, we will make public education in Oregon public once again and a model for the rest of the nation.

Thank You.

---

[1] Stand for Children Publication – Build our Schools Back Better

[2] http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/report_detail.aspx?id=33428

[3] http://www.stand.org/Page.aspx?pid=2057#11

[4] http://www.mentoringeducators.org/mentoring-program.php

[5] state of Oregon 2009–2011 – Tax Expenditure Report

[6] state of Oregon 2009–2011 – Tax Expenditure Report

[7] http://www.taxfairnessoregon.org/news-coverage_files/362ddece1c7b8bc20afa345df1412f74-10.html#unique-entry-id-10