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Friends and Neighbors,
I have exciting news to report: this morning, the Multnomah County Commissioners selected me to fill the vacancy created earlier this month by the resignation of our State Senator Jackie Dingfelder!
The commissioners were choosing among three nominees that had been forwarded to them by the SD23 Democratic PCPs (Precinct Committee People) after a nominating convention 10 days ago. I have to say that my two fellow nominees, C.M. Hall from HD 46 and Enrique Arias from HD 45, are both very impressive and committed activists, and they handled themselves extremely well both in the nominating convention and the meeting with the Commission. It has been a pleasure getting to know them, and I look forward to working with them more in the future.
I'm deeply honored by the support of the PCPs and the commissioners, as well as many friends and colleagues like Alissa Keny-Guyer, as I move to this new position.
This next couple of weeks will be a period of transition for me, as I quickly get settled into the Senate. I'll be sworn in by Governor Kitzhaber this Wednesday at 10:30am, and I'll be chairing my first Senate committee later that afternoon, taking over Jackie's gavel in the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee.
It will be a period of transition for the district as well. After my resignation and swearing-in, the County Commission will have thirty days to select my replacement as HD45 Rep. So, sometime between now and then, the Democratic Party will set up another nominating convention, this time just for HD45 PCPs, who will come up with a slate of 3-5 nominees. Not surprisingly, there has been a lot of interest in this seat—I’ve heard from more than 10 individuals who intend to seek the appointment, including a number of very capable and experienced people. I can tell you that the PCPs and commissioners have their work cut out for them!
It's been a real pleasure serving as your representative for the past five years, and I look forward to serving you as senator. My contact information will be changing (more on that below), but rest assured that I am committed to maintaining the same level of availability and communication. I'll still be holding my monthly constituent coffees on the first Saturday of each month (and will probably be adding additional coffees as well). I still hope to hold regular joint town halls with Representative Alissa Keny-Guyer and whoever is appointed to the HD45 seat. And I’ll still be sending my regular email updates, starting with my next one that will recap this week’s committee hearings.
And, on that note:
Legislative Committees Meet This Week
This Wednesday through Friday are our regularly scheduled “legislative days,” where interim committees meet to discuss ongoing issues and potential legislation for the upcoming session. As always, you can watch live video of committee meetings online.
This Thursday morning we'll have the release of the quarterly revenue forecast. This presentation from the state economist will give us a sense of how the recovery is progressing, and whether we're on track to meet the revenue estimates on which our state budget is built. The forecast will be presented to the House and Senate Revenue Committees Thursday at 8:00am. If you want to watch the presentation live, you can go to the website and click on the video feed for Hearing Room A. The meeting will also feature a discussion on implementation of the revenue package we passed in the recent special session. You can view the agenda here. I'll have a full debrief for you in the next newsletter.
Contact Information Changing
After Wednesday, you can reach me through my new Capitol phone number – (503) 986-1723 – and my new state email address – sen.michaeldembrow@state.or.us. I'm hoping to keep my current district line, and I'll update you on that when I know more. I will also be keeping the same district office in the Hollywood neighborhood.
If you want to continue receiving my email updates, you need not do anything.
I'll be sending a more thorough update out later in the week, but I wanted to make sure you were among the first to hear of my appointment to the Senate.
I'll see you around the district!
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