Eugene weekly., April 15, 2004, Page 13, Image 13

DAVE JOHNSON
DAVE JOHNSON
CHERYL CRUMBLEY
Jefferson Smith, founder of
the Bus Project
Kitty Piercy, candidate for Eugene mayor,
ushers volunteers onto the bus.
Erin Gray, a junior at Springfield H.S.,
at the door of Charles Wright, Jr.
It began when Smith, a graduate from the UO and Harvard
Law School, was schmoozing with cronies in the Rogue Pub, a
short distance from the campus of Portland State University.
They all shared a lament that there was a critical need to engage
disaffected youth in the political process. The stats were grim.
Those between 18 and 34 comprise 30 percent of the voter pop-
ulation, and only 20 percent of that group register to vote.
After a few schooners of microbrew, Smith came up with
the idea of acquiring a bus, loading it with youthful activists,
and touring Oregon to get out the vote and encourage progres-
sive thought. He kept his day job as a corporate lawyer for
Stoel Rives, but decided, in that saloon, to dedicate himself to
changing the legislative landscape.
More than one participant in the project has assured me
that their boyish, charismatic founder is definitely headed for
high office. Smith says he doesn’t have political aspirations
but rather suffers political trepidations. It’s an uplifting atti-
tude I find neither jaded nor naïve but rather well-timed.
“I believe we can create a constituency for the common
good,” he told Oregonian columnist S. Renee Mitchell.
“We’re trying to raise the level of debate. Government is either
evil or good depending on what we do.”
Smith has assembled a core group of volunteers for the Bus
Project who call what they do “a new kind of campaign: no tel-
evision, no radio, no big money, no single candidate or special
interest. Just people, issues they care about, a square coastal
state and a bus.”
crisis of volunteerism and closed by challenging the can-
vassers to “recapture the spirit of community” that led their
city to political prominence three decades ago.
The last speaker was the star of the show, Kitty Piercy, a
Planned Parenthood executive and former state representative,
who said she was excited about the busloads of supporters
who were about to head for the neighborhoods. She explained
that she has had a long history with the young people of
Oregon.
Continuing the theme that began with my wistful reverie
and Smith’s toss of the sociopolitical gauntlet, Piercy insisted
that we had to get beneath the glossy veneer of progressive
politics and make things happen.
Wow! I liked her for Eugene mayor. She is a no-nonsense
straight-shooter, gracious when talking about the guy she may
replace, yet firm in her vision of changes needed in the often-
stodgy Emerald Empire.
After an interview rehearsal held by coordinators Ethan
Firpo and Slade Leeson and Smith’s hilarious demonstration
on how to model Kitty Piercy’s lawn signs as sandwich
boards, the canvassers headed for their cars or boarded the bus
parked in the alley next to the warehouse turned staging
area.
Recalling Ken Kesey’s notorious assertion that, “You are
either on the bus or off the bus,” I clambered onto the 1980
GMC 14-seater adorned with a Kitty for Mayor banner.
It was a little squirt compared to the 1978 charter bus I rode
in last month on a Bus Project cruise to canvas Lincoln City
for Measure 30.
T
he project’s godfather is former Governor John
Kitzhaber who was taken with the bus concept and
lent his full support. He says that he was apolitical
for his first two decades and easily understands
why the political system is no longer relevant to
many young people. As a way to reconnect youthful voters, he
says we should create small, activist governments to replace
paternalistic administrations.
Kitzhaber was at the EcoTrust building in Portland in
Spring 2002 to officially christen the bus with a bottle of
champagne he smashed across its blunt bow. After the cere-
mony the 10-wheeler hit the road and an estimated 70,000
doors were knocked on during that year’s electoral cycle.
Most of the door-rappers were under 30.
Others who took a seat included Secretary of State Bill
Bradbury, Congressman Earl Blumenauer, and former Gov.
Barbara Roberts, who said it was “The most exciting thing in
Oregon politics in 20 years.”
Now, in this fiercely political year, the Oregon Bus Project
is all over the map with an office located in southeast Portland
and free beer and pizza rallies held on Third Thursdays at
Disjecta, a trendy watering hole in Northeast Portland.
At a Disjecta blowout, held Feb. 19, the bus brigade was
joined by PCUN (Northwest Treeplanters and farmworkers
United), OABA (Oregon Assembly for Black Affairs), BRO
(Basic Rights for Oregon), NARAL Pro-Choice, and Planned
Parenthood Advocates to collaborate and boogie all night
long. A poster for the shindig asked, “Who says the political
process can’t be sexy?”
Now it was Eugene’s turn. Smith bounded onstage to de-
liver a pep talk. He started with an historical note that the
Greeks had a word for citizens who refused to vote. They
called them idiots.
He added that this traditional apathy has led to the current
Bus on the Move
Here’s an itinerary of spring trips planned by the Lane
Branch of the Oregon Bus Project:
On Friday, April 16, founder Jefferson Smith will talk at
the Eugene City Club at noon and the bus will hit the road
for Don Hampton on Saturday, April 17.
On Saturday, May 1, campaign volunteers for Betty
Taylor will meet at Tsunami Books at 10 am for a rally be-
fore embarking in the bus. Contact volunteer coordinator
Kate O’Donnell at kato@efn.org or 344-1946.
A bus trek is planned for Andrea Ortiz on Saturday,
May 15. For more information, call her campaign man-
ager, Michael Carrigan at 342-1953. If your weekends are
jammed, ask the organizers about weekday bus outings.
For general information about the local activities of the
Bus Project, contact coordinator James Mattiace at 541-
914-0293 or jamesmattiace@yahoo.com. And for state-
wide bus action, contact Jennifer Yokum at
Jennifer@busproject.org, try bus@busproject.org or in-
vestigate the project’s websites: www.secretplan.org and
www.busproject.org.
The Oregon Bus Project is also affiliated with an in-
formative, sleek, punk-friendly ‘zine called The Zephyr,
(www.zephyrmagazine.com). This ‘zine will provide de-
tails on clumps of grassroots sprouting throughout the
Oregon Territory.
Donations may be mailed to:
Oregon Bus Project-Lane
P.O. Box 242
Eugene, OR 97440
W
e had meandered up and down hilly ’hoods,
chatting with Lincoln City coasties. Some
were friendly, others were tight-lipped or
non-responsive and a few of our inquiries
were met with no response other than a mov-
ing shadow or a ripple of a curtain.
I was curious to see how Eugeneans would respond but
first, I snapped my seatbelt and quizzed pilot Cary Thompson
about the bus. He said it was once used to transport seniors at
the Kaufman Center on Jefferson Street. Thompson said he
had participated in early discussions to start a Eugene political
action committee (PAC) with a progressive tilt. After the suc-
cess of the Portland bus, he decided to buy the rig he calls the
“bussette.” It’s too small for a cadre of politicos beating
bushes throughout the state, but it’s suitable for local cam-
paigns.
He laughed as he shared the news that insurance coverage
for the bus was nailed down at 8 pm last night. We might be
rag-tag radicals but we were street-legal!
On the way to assigned streets, Thompson staged a drive-
by of the Saturday Market. The bus gang hollered and waved
at the crowd of vendors and browsers, exhorting them to re-
member to vote.
As the bus entered the westside, Adrienne Stuart, a glib,
comedic cheerleader for the cause, fired one-liners at pedestri-
ans and folks gardening in their front yards. Her comment
about the bus was, well, it does lean a little to the left.
At 18th Avenue and Pierce, a trio of students from
Springfield High School disembarked to start their canvas.
Juniors Erin Gray and Tia Léon and sophomore Matt McCune
agreed to let me tag along.
As we hoofed south toward the foothills, working one side
of the street, we outdistanced a postal carrier who reflected that
he actually earned wages to go door-to-door. The novice can-
vassers’ first few encounters left them a bit edgy but they loos-
ened up as responses to their inquiries blended into a mixed bag
of rude dudes slamming doors, a few friendly “you betchas,” a
“come back later, give me some time to think,”
APRIL 15, 2004 13