13-18 An Unforced Error Opens Oregon to Change | Shemia Fagan Scandal
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Show 13-18 Summary: The Shemia Fagan scandal broke this week and could have some far-reaching impacts — even the effort to get school choice in Oregon. Remember, the secretary of state oversees elections. And that means ballot initiatives like school choice. We ask Donna Kreitzberg about school choice’s ground game, some of the obstacles they have to overcome, and some of the reaction they’re already getting from signature gatherers out in the field. And, perhaps the biggest challenge ahead: countering the misinformation the other side has already been and will be putting out there in the months ahead. And then, a big political scandal rocked Oregon this week. Secretary of State Shemia Fagan was forced to resign. But is there more to Shemia Fagan scandal than what we’ve seen in the mainstream media?
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Original Air Dates: May 6th & 7th, 2023 | Guests: Donna Kreitzberg & Marc Thielman
This Week – Shemia Fagan Scandal
For those who knew Shemia Fagan, the scandal that rocked Oregon politics this past week is probably no surprise.
In case you missed it, Secretary of State Shemia Fagan got caught in a highly inappropriate side hustle. She was accused of taking $10,000 per month from a company her office is supposed to be overseeing. And she even did an audit of them. She did recuse herself from the audit. Except she lied about when she recused herself, not doing so until after the audit was completed. Oh, and did we mention she was also getting $30,000 per contract she secured for them?
That’s quite a bit of money for someone only making $77,000 per year. More than her entire salary. What could possibly be wrong with that? Well, pretty much everything from an ethics standpoint. You don’t take money from a company you’re supposed to be overseeing. Because that looks like a bribe. And you should not lie about your interactions with them. Because for someone who has (had) her law license, she definitely should have known better.
And isn’t that weird too. She suddenly re-applied for her law license back in February, a month before news of this broke into the public. Did she know the proverbial writing was on the wall then? Again, she should have known better—and, one assumes, did know—the moment she took the money.
Democrats and their Long Knives
A one-time rising star in the democrat party, democrats suddenly turned on Fagan. After initially denying any wrongdoing, democrats pushed Fagan to resign. Which she reluctantly did, Because even on the way out the door she still didn’t see anything wrong with what she did.
What was going on? And is there more to this story? And what now? As Secretary of State, Fagan had her fingers in a lot of pots. Including the Tim Sippel case, whom Washington County had sued to block the release of a voter database. Fagan swooped in out of the blue to join the lawsuit to block the release. Because nothing screams open, honest, and trustworthy like blocking the public from seeing what’s inside a public database. No. Nothing to see there. Peasants.
We talk with Marc Thielman, the former superintendent for the Alsea School District and candidate for Oregon governor, about the Shemia Fagan scandal. Was Governor Kotek using the scandal to eliminate a political rival? Don’t forget, the news about the Shemia Fagan scandal just happened to break in the Willamette Week. A paper Oregon’s attorney general’s husband just happens to own.
Gee. Weird coincidences.
We also talk with Marc about the school choice ballot initiatives, of which he is the chief petitioner.
Get involved! Head to EducationFreedomforOregon.com to download petition signature sheets and help them with a donation. Real school choice will bring desperately needed generational change to Oregon by breaking state-sponsored indoctrination in Oregon’s education system.
School Choice: Boots on the Ground
Before we talk with Marc, we talk with Donna Kreitzberg, who is spearheading the effort to get real school choice on the November 2024 ballot.
To get school choice in Oregon, it will be an uphill battle. Not least of which will be the financial hurdles. They will need at least $15 million to combat the misinformation, lies, and distortions the education lobby will put out there to desperately keep the status quo. Meaning they don’t want parents to decide where to send their children. Why is that, exactly? Shouldn’t everyone want parents to make the best choices for their children? Including the best education that best suites their children’s needs?
Donna talks to us about the operational and practical side of the fight. Like, what are her signature gatherers hearing from people about school choice? Yes, this will be a battle. Like, at a recent presentation in Portland, some liberal moms were initially opposed to the effort. But after the meeting, they came up and asked Donna how they could help. Tune in to find out what brought them around.
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Research, Links Mentioned & Additional Info
- Head to EducationFreedomforOregon.com to download petition signature sheets and help them with a donation. And why not volunteer?
- Education Freedom Report Card: Oregon (The Heritage Foundation, 2023)
- Heritage Foundation’s education scorecard ranks Oregon #40 overall. But wait there’s more. Take a look.
- Parental Rights Bills Sweeping the United States (The Epoch Times, Apr 22, 2023)
- Charter schools are now the last best hope to save US public education – (NY Post, Nov, 21, 2022)
The Shemia Fagan Scandal
- Shemia Fagan Resignation: What happens next? (OregonLive, May 2, 2023)
- Republican Leader Calls for Kotek & Fagan to Return Contributions (Willamette Week, Mar 31 2023)
- Republican Leaders Demand Kotek Include La Mota (Willamette Week, Apr 17, 2023)
- Kotek demands ethics investigation (KLCC, Apr 28, 2023)
- Everything We’ve Learned About Shemia Fagan’s Moonlighting (WWeek, Apr 28, 2023)
- Fagan took on the work even as her auditors were examining OLCC (WWeek, Apr 27, 2023)
- Cannabis Audit Was Substantially Finished (WWeek, Apr 28, 2023)
- Fagan Spoke to Connecticut Lieutenant Governor About Cannabis (WWeek, May 1, 2023)*One of those $30,000 contracts…?
- Election SQL Database is Target of Trial (Northwest Observer, Sept 20, 2023)
