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Posts published in “Day: October 12, 2013”

Transition: excerpt 3

October 12, 2013
transition

This is an excerpt from the Ridenbaugh Press book Transition, by W. Scott Jorgensen. More will be appearing over the weeks to come. The book is available now from Ridenbaugh Press.

April 2011

One day, I drove to the local branch of the employment department. Parking spots were rare, and the lot was completely packed. One eventually became available as someone else left.

The national unemployment rate was 9 percent that month. Oregon was at 9.6 percent and Portland was at 9.3 percent.
I entered my resume into the department’s computer system. After browsing the various job listings for a while, I decided to head home for lunch.

As I left, “Lost Cause” started playing on my iPod yet again.

Why did this keep happening?

I had plans one afternoon to jam with Justin, as he had just bought a bass guitar and amp cabinet. Since I didn’t have a job or any prospects, it was the least I could do to get out of the house.

Justin and I were going to be joined by another old friend, Jon. He and I had reconnected via Facebook, and it turned out he lived a few blocks from Justin.

The last time I saw Jon, I had just started working at the radio station and gotten married. We played a round of disc golf one day, but had since fallen out of touch.

Oddly enough, he and Justin had run into each other while recycling at a neighborhood store in Portland. They had lost each other’s contact information, so this would be a reunion of sorts for them as well.

Back when Justin and I were both in a band called Drunken Public, we were somewhat of a songwriting team. He would come up with decent riffs, but would be unable to remember them. I would then take those riffs and use them as the basis for songs.

Justin hadn’t played a whole lot since then. This was actually the first time he had owned a bass since pawning his equipment in early 2002. I was curious to see if Justin could recall any of our old material, so I started playing a few of those songs.

One of them, “A Woman in Washington,” had been among my favorites. It was written as a response to Congressman Gary Condit’s 2001 sex scandal involving his missing intern Chandra Levy. The song took potshots at him, Bill Clinton and Ted Kennedy.

Condit’s story had dominated the news in those seemingly innocent days before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Almost approximately 24 hours before the attacks, Condit’s political career was being discussed on a Fox News program, as they were debating whether or not he should resign. Meanwhile, on the other end of the country, I, Justin and some of our other friends were having a late night in my Talent residence. We had made it a point to try to finish a box of Franzia wine that another friend had left in my fridge at a previous party. (more…)

Among the accumulants

October 12, 2013
oregon
RANDY STAPILUS / Oregon

Not long ago the talk here was that hardly any names had surfaced – other than the incumbent's – for the 2014 U.S. Senate contest in Oregon. That incumbent, Democrat Jeff Merkley, is widely assumed to be planning a re-election campaign, though he hasn't formally announced.

Considering that Senate seat was held before Merkley's election in 2008 by Republicans (actually, two Republicans) going back to 1966, you might think on the surface that plenty of prominent names would rise up to run. Hasn't been the case.

There were no such contenders at all on the Republican side until mid-august, when Albany financial planner (and a former Republican chair in Linn county) Jo Rae Perkins said on Facebook that she plannned to run. Maybe that was a signal that experience getting elected to, well, anything, wasn't needed to run for the U.S. Senate. A neurosurgeon from Portland, Monica Wehby, sais she would enter too, last week. On October 7 a businessman from Bend named Sam Carpenter said he too may run.

There is, among the various prospects, one with actual elective experience who appears likely to announce soon, he being Republican state Representative Jason Conger of Bend. He is planning a series of announcements on October 15, at Bend and Oregon City, the sort of setup that usually indicates an actual announcement for major office. (It did for Merkley six years ago.)

Conger, who actually is an experienced candidate and has done such things as raise money, would seem to be the likely frontrunner among the Republicans at this point. His history doesn't suggest any special obstacles (or unusual advantages either) for the race. As he is no doubt aware, of course, he's running in an uphill situation, in a state which has been moving in a gentle but clear pattern favoring blue rather than red candidates.

But he may want to take care. If the gaggle of Republican candidates stays in, and some others of them get more attention – maybe not the helpful kind – than Conger gets, his nomination may not be assured. And if that attention is really not good, it could do his nomination some damage even assuming he gets it.