By Jason Atkinson, on Tue Apr 24, 2012 at 8:30 AM ET Contributing RP Jason Atkinson was recently featured in an article in the Portland Mercury entitled “Bikepartisan Politics.” Enjoy this excerpt:
 HERE ARE FIVE simple reasons why Jason Atkinson is more badass than you liberal dweebs: He’s an Oregon state senator. He’s a Republican. He’s a bike racer. He shaves his legs, which shows a profound sense of masculine confidence. And he once got shot by a gun while repairing a friend’s bike (there was a loaded gun in the saddlebag).
Now he’s (tentatively) back on two wheels after that 2008 accident—but even when he’s been kept off the roads, the Southern Oregon legislator has never quailed from a fight for bike rights statewide.
Senator Atkinson jumped into the absurd 2007 debate over requiring extra brakes on fixed gears and, more recently, tried to boost bike funding from its measly one percent of the state transportation budget.
MERCURY: How does bike advocacy jibe with your Republican ideals?
JASON ATKINSON: I fell in love with bicycles when I was a kid, long before I knew what Republicans or Democrats were. I was lucky in that I had a modest amount of talent in racing bikes, which took me all over the world to race. When I got into politics, I didn’t see bikes as a partisan thing at all. I’ve been very supportive of everything from velodromes for economic development to jumping into the middle of the fixie debate a few years ago. I think people don’t really understand what bicycle culture is.
What do your colleagues get wrong about bike culture?
Well, like, when we got around to doing the fixie bill, no one knew what a fixie was. I don’t think a lot of folks have a full grasp of the health benefits of biking. I’m not going to pick on my fellow politicians on either side of the aisle. If you ride a bike, you get it. If you don’t, you usually don’t.
Click here to read the full article.
By Jason Atkinson, on Fri Apr 20, 2012 at 2:00 PM ET A great article from Oregon Live on contributing RP Jason Atkinson, and his decision to take a hiatus from politics:
Wearing rubber boots and faded jeans, Jason Atkinson shows off a bridge he built based on a Leonardo da Vinci drawing. Then there’s the horse he’s caring for that’s blind in one eye, a chicken he trained to sit and be petted, an extensive collection of racing bicycles and a YouTube video he made about fly-fishing on the Owyhee River.
And that’s just the first 15 minutes. He’s a classic never-sit-still Type A, with a cell phone that rarely quits beeping and a dozen jobs on the to-do list at his farm in the hills of southern Oregon.
For all that, Atkinson is about to “push the pause button,” as he puts it, on perhaps the most defining part of his life. After 14 years in the Oregon Legislature, including a run for governor in 2006, Atkinson is stepping out of politics and into an unpredictable future.
“I wasn’t at peace,” he says about his decision not to run for re-election this year. Under growing financial pressure at home, he also endured attacks from his own caucus for siding with the environmental lobby and became increasingly unhappy with his own party’s gamesmanship. It was time, he says, to take a break and, like thousands of other Oregonians, look for a better-paying job.
Under different circumstances, Atkinson, 42, would be entering the prime of his political career — an experienced, tested campaigner whose increasingly centrist views offer the kind of statewide appeal Republicans need to win. The fact that he’s heading for the exit ramp speaks volumes about not only his experience in Salem but also about the state of the party he says all but ostracized him.
Click here to read the full piece.
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 Jason Atkinson, on Thu Jan 26, 2012 at 12:30 PM ET We at The Recovering Politician are proud to present the latest film feature of the multi-talented Renaissance Man, contributing RP Jason Atkinson.
Without further ado, we present Underwater Love:
Underwater Love from Flying A Films on Vimeo.
By Jason Atkinson, on Tue Jan 17, 2012 at 10:00 AM ET Jason Atkinson’s First Response
[The RP’s Provocation; Jason Atkinson’s Rebuttal #1; The RP’s First Defense]
Alright, pour me a white russian and level with me Dude or your Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or El Duderino for whomever is not into the whole brevity thing.
The issue is should citizens smoke pot? The answer is no. It’s bad for you. So are alcohol, potato chips and too much tv, but what we are talking about is a drug for pain relief. Should pain drugs be made? Yes, and I’m open to the herb being part of that mix if treated like a drug.
The criminal element will not evaporate because it’s legal. Perfectly healthy people will not stop trying to get it because its legal.
 Many states are trying to stop kids from using Meth. One of the main ingredients of Meth is cold medication. Making that medication hard to get, drastically put a dent into meth production, increasing the street cost, and frankly making it too expensive to be a recreational drug. On the west coast, the cartels are now making and transporting Meth ( see my early post). Crime is crime. If it’s legal for the hurting, the healthy will be jones’n for it.
By Jason Atkinson, on Tue Jan 17, 2012 at 9:00 AM ET Jason Atkinson: Rebuttal #1
[Read The RP’s Provocation]
Pot is already legal, or at least hard to enforce beyond medical cardholders, in Oregon. I used to joke in my state camouflaged PVC pipe was sold in local hardware stores. (For those of you who don’t watch “Moonshiners” camo PVC is harder to see from the air.) Sadly though, when the voter’s legalized marijuana has almost become more than jokes.
Massive greenhouses have popped up across the landscape like a teenagers first outbreak of acne. What is not seen everyday is the hundreds of plants being grown with a single marijuana medical card or the thousands of plants being grown illegally by the cartels in the forests.
I understand the arguments from pain-management and from the economics of cutting the profit motive out, however those positions are too narrow for the reality of the modern herb industry:
- Marijuana is a gateway drug. Ask anyone in recovery.
- People on drugs, legal or illegal, should not be driving. From the highway to a forklift: Society pays the price.
- Medical cards are easier to get than fake ids. The ease of getting medical cards is the biggest problem and the hardest to get under control.
- People with grow cards can grow anywhere.
- Mexican drug cartels are using the illegal system to grow and distribute. (Do you think the cartel’s care about your Grandma’s glaucoma? Me neither.)
My local Sherriff does not have jurisdiction, or the manpower to even cruse the legal grow sites, let alone the illegal ones seen from air. Moreover, local law enforcement has no idea when they check on a complaint if they are walking into drug-induced hostility. DEA is trying to crack down, however every instance of a pot bust is with someone who has a card. Citizens call me daily complaining about the rental house in their neighborhood being used as a grow site and distribution.
Every one of these issues we’ve tried to change the law, but to not avail. The pot lobby is strong, well funded, and makes an emotional case for chronic pain. If it were only limited to chronic pain, needing a doctors prescription and manufactured like the drug that it is.
Look man, the Dude Abided- without a card. Lenny Kravitz confessed to Piers Morgan last month he walked around in “wall of fuzz” before he took action to get off the stuff. True the cat is out of the bag. Governments on the left coast need to step in.
However, I am hard pressed to call it a moral choice when the societal consequences are so overwhelming. This debate is akin to state’s getting into, then addicted to gambling. When morality comes crashing in that gambling hurts the poor, government’s answer is “gambling addiction help awareness TV commercials” paid for by lottery revenues.
By RP Staff, on Wed Jan 11, 2012 at 8:30 AM ET  Contributing RP Jason Atkinson was featured this week in a television piece commemorating the one-year anniversary of the Tucson tragedy that left six people dead and critically injured Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. Giffors, who has miraculously recovered, was a fellow classmate of Jason’s (and The RP – pictured behind Giffords) in the inaugural class of the Aspen Institute’s Rodel Fellows program.
From KDRV News Watch 12:
The tragedy in Tuscon that took the lives of six people and injured many more, resonated with Americans across the country.
For one state lawmaker, it was his friend Gabrielle Giffords who fought to stay alive that morning and has been recovering ever since.
State Senator Jason Atkinson studied along side Giffords for two years. The two developed a friendship which broke through their political barriers.
Sunday he looked back on that morning and said there are lessons to be learned.
January 8, 2011 Senator Atkinson received a phone call telling him to turn on the television.
“Between watching television and being on the phone with friends we just couldn’t believe what had happened,” said Senator Jason Atkinson.
His colleague and good friend Gabrielle Giffords was shot and many others in the same condition.
“I was worried about Gabby and that terrible injury,” said Atkinson.
Click here for the full story.
By Jason Atkinson, on Mon Jan 9, 2012 at 3:30 PM ET  Jason Atkinson: Rebuttal #7
[John Y.’s Provocation; The RP’s Rebuttal #1; Ron Granieri’s Rebuttal #2; Rod Jetton’s Rebuttal #3; Krystal Ball’s Rebuttal #4; John Y.’s First Defense; Rod Jetton’s Response #1; Jeff Smith’s Rebuttal #5; John Y.’s Second Defense; Ron Granieri’s Response #1; John Y.’s Third Defense; Artur Davis’ Rebuttal #6; Jeff Smith’s Response #1; Rod Jetton’s Response #2]
Some people just deserve good things in life. Ya, we know Mitt’s daddy owns the car dealership and got a Corvette for his 16th birthday, but after all, he looks like the quarterback. He is not like the rest of the kids in shop class, English, debate or pep-band. He is just a little better. He doesn’t have to one-up, he was born up.
In 1920, Warren Harding looked like Presidential timber too and campaigned on the thriller banner of “normalcy.” Some people just “got it go’n on.” Not like the rest of us who have had to pull our selves up the hard way, make hard calls, and pay the personal price for our political decisions. Mitt has always had someone else pay, or someone else’s money to pay. Mitt Harding has the look and was smart enough to choose the right parents. People want to have their picture taken with him, but don’t really want to talk to him, akin to taking picture at a car show.
So back to Harding: He looked like President, so let’s run him for President. The key to that borrowed historical back room quote is “who” is part of “let’s?” History showed us who with Teapot Dome.
Read the rest of…
The RPs Debate Presidential Leadership: Jason Atkinson Rebuts
By RP Staff, on Tue Jan 3, 2012 at 5:00 PM ET After two years of campaign, hundreds of pundit prognostications, and thousands of cable news sound bites, at long last, what you’ve been waiting for…
Our fearless contributors — Contributing RPs, Friends of RP and RP Staff — offer their predictions for tonight’s Iowa caucuses.
And you can too — please give us your predictions in the Comments section below.
Without further ado…(Click on their name to find out their background)…
The RP: Paul 30%; Romney 25%; Santorum 21%; Gingrich 7%; Perry 6%; Bachmann 4%, Huntsman 1%. I don’t think Rick “Man On Dog” Santorum’s organization is strong enough to take advantage of his surge. I also think Paul’s support is underestimated in the polls because his grassroots support is so fervant, and the tin foil hat crowd among his followers are fearful of pollsters. Remember Pat Robertson?
Michael Steele: Click here for his exclusive-to-The-RP report from Iowa.
Jeff Smith: Santorum 27; Romney 23; Paul 23; Perry 11; Gingrich 9; Bachmann 6. I think some Bachmann/Gingrich/Perry folks walk in to their caucus, see how outnumbered they are by Sant-mentum, and get on the bandwagon.
Jason Grill: Romney, Paul, and Santorum will finish first, second, and third. The order though is more “up in the air” than George Clooney was in his recent Oscar nominated movie. Organization and friends twisting other friends arms at the caucuses will decide the order of the top three. If Romney finishes third that WILL be news and change the race somewhat moving forward. He will be seen as an even weaker front runner if this happens. Also, it will be interesting to see where Perry and Gingrich finish tonight. Keep a lookout for their percentages at the end of the night. A fourth place finish for Perry over Gingrich will signal a potential showdown with Romney in South Carolina. Lastly, I am anxious to see how Huntsman finishes in next week’s New Hampshire primary after skipping Iowa.
Mark Nickolas: Paul (25%); Romney (23%); Santorum (22%); Gingrich (11%); Perry (10%); Bachmann (6%). Iowa requires a level of commitment from supporters unlike anywhere else. Those with the best state organization and strongest levels of commitment do especially well (Paul and Paul). Also, since Independents and Dems can participate if they want to cross over — as Indies did for Obama in ’08 — that’s likely to help Paul the most. Nefarious (aka loyal) Dems are going to support anyone but Romney to ensure a protracted GOP race, with Paul and Santorum benefitting most.
Rod Jetton: I think Ron Paul will just nip Romney and Rick Santorum will get third. Newt probably finishes in 4th. The Ron Paul forces are dedicated and with his numbers going up they and their friends have started believing he can win. They will turn out and surprise all the experts.
Greg Harris: Santorum – 26%; Romney – 25%; Paul – 21%; Gingrich – 12%; Bachman – 8%; Perry – 7%; Huntsman – 1%. Santorum’s diligent grassroots work throughout the State this past year will pay off, resulting in more ardent caucus warriors advocating his case, and moving some on-the-fence Bachman and Perry supporters. Ron Paul’s fanatical base will still assure him over an over 20% showing. The minority moderate voters will hold their noses and back Romney.
Read the rest of…
Our Contributors Predict the Iowa Caucuses…
By Jonathan Miller, on Sun Jan 1, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET Happy New Year!
I hope 2012 brings you joy, laughter, love, happiness, and many pints of tasty hummus. Here at The Recovering Politician, we plan some exciting new features that we will share with you in the weeks ahead.
For now, as you rest and recover from your New Year’s Eve celebration — and recharge your batteries for a busy January — I wanted to share with you some good reading material.
The first nine months at The Recovering Politician have seen more than 1200 posts from over three dozen contributors. I share my favorites below; please let me know what I missed in the comments section:
 We’ll start with Me because, well…uh…I paid for that microphone. I started the site by explaining Why March Madness Matters and ended the year arguing that Adam Sandler Saved the Jews. In between, I made The Liberal Case for Israel, I outlined Debt Ceilings and Credit Downgrade for Dummies, and shared my Top Five lists for about everything. (My favorite – Jew-ish Gentiles in Pop Culture). All and all, I can’t thank you enough for indulging my part-time, unpaid writing career.
 Our most popular writer, hands down, has been contributing RP and former Missouri State Senator Jeff Smith. Jeff’s first piece — the story of his rise into national celebrity, his dramatic fall that resulted in a prison term, and his hopes for redemption — put the RP on the national map, earning recognition from New York magazine’s “Approval Matrix.” Jeff’s followup — about love and sex behind bars — drew in nearly 100,000 readers, literally crashing the Web site. Jeff’s become a national sensation — expect much more from him in 2012.
 Contributing RP Michael Steele was already a national sensation before he joined the site — you know him as the former Lt. Governor of Maryland, as well as the Chairman of the Republican National Committee. Now a regular contributor to MSNBC, Michael shared with RP readers his vision of the new American Dream, and assessed both President Barack Obama and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Over the next few days, Michael will report from the Iowa caucuses; and in the year ahead, he will share his lively take on politics — and other subjects as well.
 Another familiar face at the site in 2011 was another former Lt. Governor of Maryland, contributing RP Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Kathleen elucidated her well-versed take on faith and politics, while slamming a then-ascendant Rick Perry for misusing faith, defended Sarah Palin(!), and shared her unique perspective as a member of the nation’s most iconic political family. Her most popular piece was on, of all things, home births. Expect the same kind of wide variety from Kathleen at The RP in the coming months.
 One of the RP’s most prolific contributing RPs was former Alabama Congressman Artur Davis. Artur wrote a fascinating, insightful piece about political authenticity, plunged into the centuries-old debate on race and politics, and explored the Democratic Party’s faith gap. Some of his most popular pieces were book reviews, taking on new works about Harry Truman and Bobby Kennedy. Artur’s not been shy about controversy, angering conservatives by attacking his home state’s “ugly” immigration law, and riling liberals by supporting its new Voter ID law. Don’t expect Artur to pull any punches in 2012.
 Contributing RP and former Missouri state House Speaker Rod Jetton is also one who is not a stranger to controversy. At the peak of his power, Rod was charged with ethics and criminal violations, and while he was cleared of everything, he stepped down to begin his second act. Rod’s 3-part series about his “Success, Scandal and Change” was one of the site’s most widely read, and he concluded the year with a touching 4-part series on his best friend, a fallen Marine. In the middle, he showed off a wry sense of humor in a video interview with his unlikely pal, contributing RP Jeff Smith (you have to see Rod’s imitation of Jeff).
Jason Atkinson, an Oregon State Senator and contributing RP, underwent a different kind of political recovery — he had to withdraw from a promising gubernatorial campaign after he accidentally shot himself while hunting. He writes about the experience — with graphic charts — in “A Real Political Recovery,” but also created an Internet sensation with short films he directed on more successful outdoor adventures fishing for trout in “Big Mo” and “Half Pounder.” He also showed off his own wicked sense of humor, imitating Abe Lincoln and citing the wisdom of Homer…Simpson that is.
 Our newest contributing RP, former Virginia Congressional Democratic nominee Krystal Ball, has already generated considerable reader interest with her first piece about Why We Need More Women in Politics. Krystal should know; her first campaign for office was interrupted by a ridiculous media inquiry into pictures taken of her in college; PG-13 pictures that caused a mini-national-sensation only because of Krystal’s gender. As a regular contributor to MSNBC and here at The RP, Krystal will help us view politics in a much different way.
 Finally, I feel very fortunate — and so is the RP Nation — to have convinced my good friend, contributing RP, and former Kentucky Secretary of State, John Y. Brown, III to share his incisive social and political commentary, along with his uproarious sense of humor, at The RP. John Y. helped set the theme and tone of the site with his early piece, “What Do We Do Now?,” in which he offered a 20-question quiz to help readers determine if they were in need of political recovery. More recently, we’ve launched a regular feature, John Y.’s Musings from the Middle, in which he shares his wit and wisdom on topics varying from fruitcake to the death penalty to Lindsay Lohan. We guarantee a lot of laughs, as well as thoughtful advice, in the year ahead.
Thanks for joining us in 2011. Stay tuned for a wild and wonderful 2012.
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