Saturday June 7th was our first political parade. We had a lot of fun, met a lot of people and got sore from running back and forth across the street and trying to catch up with the float. Luckily I was in fairly good shape since I have knocked on almost 2000 doors which, as you might imagine, requires some walking.

As we handed out literature about our campaign I was struck by hearing several times from those few who declined to accept our material…”wrong party”.

So, were those individuals saying they are from the “wrong” party or I am from the “wrong” party? What constitutes a “wrong “party? Aren’t we all Oregonians? Are there “wrong” Oregonians?

As I knock on our neighbors doors and talk about how we can make things better in our communities I also hand out a piece of literature that talks about our campaign. As I am telling about the fact that I am a commercial fisherman who has had enough and am going to go take care of our business myself, I watch as some scan one side then the other of the literature, then back and finally say, “what party?”.

There is a reason I did not put a party affiliation on any of my literature. There is a reason why I don’t introduce myself as a member of a party. It is simply this: I am fed up with partisan politics. We have serious problems and they require our best efforts so I want people to give themselves a chance to hear what I have to say before they pigeon hole me. I vow to continue to try to avoid those catch phrases and buzzwords that we tend to stereotype one another by so that we can think beyond the wedge issues and get down to the important business of “We The People”.