By Jason Atkinson, on Tue Mar 13, 2012 at 3:30 PM ET Our own contributing RP, Jason Atkinson, has decided to take a sabbatical from politics, announcing they he would not run for a second term. Here’s the story from The Oregonian:
Steve Duin: Jason Atkinson’s choice not to run again means Oregon Legislature suffers an untimely loss
Published: Saturday, March 10, 2012, 10:00 AM
Why is Jason Atkinson involved in Oregon politics?For years now, the Central Point Republican has been close to the Ramirez family, the patriarch of which slipped across the border with Mexico in the ’70s, gained amnesty during the Reagan administration and raised eight children in Medford.
After Cesar Ramirez, the youngest of those children, graduated fromSouthern Oregon University in June, he told Atkinson he planned to take two years off to raise money for law school.
No way, Atkinson said: You can’t afford to take a break; we need to find you a scholarship. Three weeks ago, he invited Ramirez to the Capitol, showed him around Willamette University’s College of Law, then introduced him to a fellow Willamette Law grad, Paul De Muniz, chief justice of the Oregon Supreme Court.
Mightily impressed, De Muniz handed Ramirez his business card and said, “Let me know when you apply.”
When Ramirez later asked his tour guide how he could ever thank him, Atkinson said, “Show the chief justice’s card to your father. He’s going to have a proud smile on his face, holding that card. Memorize that look. And work as hard as you can getting through law school, remembering that look.”
Why is Atkinson exiting Oregon politics?
“We don’t do that in Oregon politics anymore,” he said. “In Oregon politics, that kid would be considered a Hispanic kid who is a drain on the system. That’s the pettiness of politics right now. It’s completely devoid of humanity.”
When Atkinson announced last week that he would not seek re-election in November, the state Senate lost one of its more thoughtful, balanced and idealistic personalities.”Twenty years ago, he would have been considered an idiosyncratic conservative,” said Jack Roberts, the former labor commissioner. “In a healthy party, that kind of conservatism, which carries some independence of thought, would be valued. Now, it doesn’t seem to be.”
Money is a significant factor in Atkinson’s sabbatical. He needs a better-paying job. “I’ll come back,” he notes, “when I can afford to come back.”
But Atkinson is increasingly unnerved, he said, by the anger in the public arena and the colleagues who pander to it.
When Atkinson decried the January 2011 shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., arguing that we must abandon “the idea that I am right and you are evil,” he received so many threats that a sheriff’s deputy spent several weeks parked outside his Jackson County home.
When he finished speaking last week at a woman’s retirement party in his district, Atkinson said he was “attacked by three angry people. One guy comes up to me and says, ‘Why are you taking my freedom?’ The other two guys are angry that I’m too fish friendly.
“I’m thinking, ‘Hey, if you’re gonna beat me up, beat me up on Monday, will ya?’ It’s getting angrier and it’s getting more petty. I’ve lost my taste for the pettiness of politics.”
Atkinson — who reached the Legislature in 1999 — is the rare political figure who celebrates the Tea Party and a 100-percent rating with the Oregon League of Conservation Voters.
Huge chunks of his library are devoted to Theodore Roosevelt and fly-fishing. He knows the best book on C.E.S. Wood and regularly exchanged letters with the late Mark Hatfield on Herbert Hoover, the only U.S. president to live in Oregon.
Five generations of Atkinson’s family have waded the Klamath River. And every Wednesday during legislative sessions at the Capitol he leads a college seminar on politics and history for Senate floor staff and interns.
That weekly gathering, the Floyd McMullen Fire Brigade, is named after the 23-year-old firefighter — and Willamette Law student — who died when the Capitol went down in flames in 1935.
The decision to put that career on pause has been draining, Atkinson admits. But he needs some financial security, more time with his 9-year-old son, Perry — who was born three months premature and has already survived a romp with thyroid cancer — and a reason to believe there’s still nobility in public service.
Until the riptide turns, the last is a daunting proposition. Should he need a little extra encouragement, Atkinson could do far worse than to check in with a freshly energized Southern Oregon grad who is still working his way toward law school.
“Mr. Atkinson always told me to follow my dreams,” Cesar Ramirez said, “and if challenges come, to not be afraid to face them.”
By RP Staff, on Tue Mar 13, 2012 at 2:00 PM ET  Over the weekend, the RP appeared on “Life Happens” Radio in Upstate New York to discuss No Labels and the Wednesday Senate hearing on “No Budget, No Pay.”
Click here to listen to the informative broadcast.
By Jonathan Miller, on Tue Mar 13, 2012 at 12:03 PM ET In my latest column for The Huffington Post, “The Media’s Double Standard for Israel,” I argue that the American media too often places disproportionate attention on the flaws of radical Israeli extremists, failing to report them in the context of Israel’s broad and loving embrace of progressive values.
Click here to read “The Media’s Double Standard for Israel.”
Whether or not you agree with me, I’d love to hear your point of view. And I’m excited to report that — thanks to the trailblazing technology of a Lexington-based startup, Punndit.com — today, I will be engaging in an interactive video debate with the RP Nation.
That means you! Please watch my video below, and underneath the video are instructions on how you can use the camera on your computer to record your 30 second take on the issue. And I will respond in kind.
Sound fun? Or at least worth trying? Watch below and join in!
Now it’s your turn:
- When you are ready to begin your recording, click on the “Rec” button at the far left of the red line under the video. (The red line is called the “PunnBar”)
- If this is your first time at Punndit, you will be prompted to sign in through Facebook or Twitter.
- The Record button will change to a “Stop” button after recording begins. Clicking on Stop will end the recording and begin playback of the recording for you to review.
- To submit your video then click the “Post and Save” button that will appear.
- Your punns (videos) are limited to 30 seconds, so there’s a countdown recording clock that will show you how long your recording is running.
- You can type in a title for your video response that will show in the PunnBar just below your thumbnail picture.
- Be sure to share your video response with your friends through the social networking buttons available after your recording is finished.
Confused?
Click here for a full set of instructions.
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Mar 13, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET  Deep morning thought. Don’t get jiggy. Just yet.
One of my theories about life is that one day, unannounced, we stop living forward and start living backward.
We stop accumulating new experiences….stop living sequentially.
On that day we begin to become nostalgic. We look backward and start to painstakingly yet lovingly make sense of our lives and our world.
We have a new job…a new mission. It is the day we stop thinking of stealing second base because we are assigned to be the new third base coach.
The daily currency of life isn’t new adventures anymore–but piecing together in a sensible way old adventures –which we play with like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle—until the life we lived starts to make sense.
And that is a good thing.
But the day we become nostalgic, is the first day of our death, which may take decades to complete, but have moved into a state of decay. That’s why, on this day, today, I urge you to join me and commit to yourself and your family to stay the heck away from jigsaw puzzles.
By Jonathan Miller, on Tue Mar 13, 2012 at 11:00 AM ET Responding to an article written about No Labels in the prestigious online magazine, Democracy: A Journal of Ideas — “The Myth of the Middle” — The RP sent in a Letter to the Editor that clarifies some of the common misperceptions about the grassroots movement.
Here’s an excerpt:
In his provocative harangue against what he terms the “fantasy” of third-party independent movements [“The Myth of the Middle,” Issue #23], Mark Schmitt critiques our political system as having “too many veto points and too much entrenched power… It’s a system that can be reformed in ways large and small, but a third party or independent candidacy, absent other reforms, won’t do a thing to the system.”
Hear, hear! As Schmitt suggests, to address the polarization and hyper-partisanship that has driven public confidence in our institutions to historic lows, we don’t necessarily need a new partisan force from the center…or from the left or right, for that matter. What’s required is a broad-based effort to fix the two-party system from within. And what’s even more critical is the development of a national grassroots movement to advocate for those reforms.
Fortunately, in this winter of our political discontent, an organization that poses such a solution has emerged: No Labels. Full disclosure: In my first act as a recovering politician—I’m the former state treasurer of Kentucky—I helped co-found No Labels. Unfortunately, No Labels’ purpose, direction, and agenda are still misunderstood by some—including wise, well-meaning, and well-connected intellectuals such as Schmitt. Contrary to Schmitt’s claim, No Labels is hardly a creature of Georgetown salons and K Street lobbyists. Our 300,000 members come from all walks of life, reside in every congressional district, and represent the broad generational, ethnic, gender, ideological, religious, and racial diversity that gives our country its strength.
Click here for the full Letter to the Editor.
By Kristen Hamilton, RP Staff, on Tue Mar 13, 2012 at 10:00 AM ET
Diet Coke sizzles as Jean Paul Gaultier becomes the brand’s new creative director. [Racked]
Your all-access review to Paris Fashion Week: [Racked]
Kate Middleton + Pumps + Available in U.S. = Mayhem. [SheFinds]
Ponytails are IN! Check out these fun, creative ways to spice up your hair! [Fashionista]
By Krystal Ball, on Tue Mar 13, 2012 at 8:30 AM ET  Mitt Romney has both a southern problem and a southern opportunity.
Mitt enjoys “sport.” He’s not an ardent NASCAR fan but he does have friends who are team owners.
He’s “always been a rodent and rabbit hunter. Small varmints, if you will.”
If this sounds like a guy poised to win over the hearts and minds of southern conservatives, then your only experience south of the Mason-Dixon likely involved a trip to visit relatives in Boca Raton.
Alabama and Mississippi are coming up on the primary calendar, and they are likely to prove quite challenging for Romney, who has yet to prove that he can win anywhere in the South.
 With heartland states on the calendar as well, the March lineup is a tough one for former Governor Romney. This challenge is also an opportunity, though.
It gives Romney a chance to prove once and for all that he can win over demographic groups that he’s fallen flat with thus far.
As a daughter of the South who was born and raised in King George, Va., I can tell you that Mitt Romney’s southern problem is severe but surmountable. There is no question that, to the extent the South shares a cultural, religious, and personality aesthetic, Mitt Romney is the antithesis of this aesthetic.
Read the rest of…
Krystal Ball: Romney’s Southern Problem and Opportunity
By Jonathan Miller, on Mon Mar 12, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET
Stacey Underhill shot the breathtaking picture above of an 80-year-old West Liberty, Kentucky resident helping with the cleanup from last week’s devastating tornado storm. (h/t Claire Novak)
While the world’s attention span is short, the need is still great.
If you are looking to help out with the cleanup and recovery efforts, with your hands or your wallets, please do one of the following:
■ Text Redcross to 90999 to make a $10 donation.
■ Go to Redcross.org and give to the Disaster Relief Fund.
■ Mail a check to the Red Cross, 1450 Newtown Pike, Lexington, Ky. 40511, with Kentucky Cares in the memo line.
By Jeff Smith, on Mon Mar 12, 2012 at 1:30 PM ET Best piece of the cycle by Nate Silver (@fivethirtyeight) on destiny of geography- recalls V.O. Key’s ’49 “friends+neighbors” theory:
In G.O.P. Nomination Race, Geography Has Been Destiny
By NATE SILVER
Rick Santorum’s victory in the Kansas caucuses on Saturday wasn’t much of a surprise, but his margin was toward the high end of expectations as he took 51 percent of the vote to Mitt Romney’s 21 percent. It was the largest margin of defeat for Mr. Romney in caucus or primary to date, although he lost the “beauty contest” primary in neighboring Missouri by almost as large a margin.
Mr. Santorum’s success in Kansas was also geographically sweeping. He took all four Congressional districts and all but one small county. Under Kansas’ delegate allocation rules, he should receive about 33 delegates to Mr. Romney’s 7 once the results are verified.
By Jonathan Miller, on Mon Mar 12, 2012 at 12:30 PM ET
Yesterday, we made an historic announcement.
 As oft discussed on these pages, on Wednesday, March 14, “No Budget, No Pay” legislation — sponsored by Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) and Cong. Jim Cooper (D-TN) — receives its first hearing by the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, chaired by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT). The landmark bill, sponsored by No Labels, would deny Congressmen pay if they fail to pass a budget and spending bills on time. (Read all about it here, and Click here for more information on how you can get involved.)
Then, the very next day, Thursday, March 15, March Madness erupts — the first full round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament begins play across the country.
To celebrate the convergence of these two monumental events, we at The Recovering Politician and No Labels are sponsoring our first NCAA basketball March Madness bracket challenge.
 No Bracket? No Pay! We are calling it…wait for it… “No Bracket, No Pay“. The RP Nation and No Labels activists across the country are invited to submit a completed NCAA bracket — for free — and the winning brackets (and perhaps some losers as well) will receive BIG CASH PRIZES.
(OK, full disclosure: The “BIG CASH PRIZES” don’t actually involve “cash.” But we will come up with some fun stuff to give away.)
Entering the tournament is simple and easy. Just click here and follow the directions. And you don’t need to be a roundball expert to play — in most office pools, it’s the clueless hoops-a-phobe that usually wins.
The deadline for entry is 12pm EDT on Thursday, March 15, 2012.
And remember, you can’t win if you don’t play — No Bracket, No Pay.
Click here to join the fun today (or at least before Thursday at Noon EDT.)
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