BY KERA ABRAHAM
camp, called PolitiCorps, whose
instructors last summer included
former Oregon Govs. John
Kitzhaber and Barbara Roberts. The
to Lane County.
Lane Bus Project will offer intern-
ships to college and high school stu-
started selling a T-shirt that
dents beginning winter term.
whined, “Voting is for Old
Petkun said that the local pro-
People,” the Bus Project
gressive community has welcomed
retorted on a T-shirt of its
the Bus Project to Lane County.
own: “Vote, F*cker.”
Allied nonprofits include the
Sounds clowny, but the
Oregon League of Conservation
results are huge. In just
Voters, FOOD for Lane County,
four years, the Bus Project
Centro Latino, Sierra Club, 1000
may have tilted the bal-
Friends of Oregon, Stand for
ance of power in the state
Adam Petkun and Courtney Anglin outside the new
Children, NARAL Pro-Choice
Legislature; nine of the 10
Bus Project of Lane County office
America and several labor unions.
state Senate candidates
And while the Bus Project avoids
that the Bus Project sup-
identifying with any political party, the local
“There is no acid test for what we’re
ported in the last two elections won, result-
Dems are thrilled to have them around.
looking for,” Petkun said, deadpan. He may
ing in a solidly Democrat-controlled Senate.
“We’re really excited that they have an office
have meant “litmus test,” but the Kesey
Also victorious were six of the seven House
down here,” said Val Hoyle, chair of the
connection — freaky young people in a
candidates and nine of the 10 Lane County
Democratic Party of Lane County. “We think
bus, trying to engage a lethargic populace
candidates that the Bus Project supported
they do fantastic work.”
— is hard to avoid.
last election.
In the coming year, the local Bus Project
In a typical Bus Project canvass, about 100
The Lane County office has only two
will try to stir up sassy political dialogue
people work for four to five hours, knocking
paid staffers: UO student Courtney Anglin,
across the county. Organizers will host
on several thousand doors and asking resi-
23, and recent UO grad Adam Petkun, 22.
monthly live events, beginning with a “Ballot
dents what matters to them. According to local
But they don’t work alone — they are guid-
Measure Peep Show” at 8pm next Tuesday,
Bus Project board chair James Mattiace, can-
ed by a steering board of 16 and buttressed
Dec. 13 at Cozmic Pizza, where local political
vassing can increase voter turnout by up to 10
by a local volunteer base of more than
leaders will introduce a range of progressive
percent, whereas phone banking tends to have
1,000 people, about a third of them stu-
ballot measures for the November elections.
a minimal effect.
dents. Together, they run positive cam-
But wait — don’t yawn. This is the Bus
The Bus Project also aims to reach
paigns for candidates who value what they
Project. “We’re guaranteeing scandal and
beyond short-term elections by nurturing
call “the six e’s”: education, equal rights,
debauchery for that event,” Anglin said. “It’s
new leaders. Both Anglin and Petkun are
environment, electoral reform, economic
not your father’s politics.”
graduates of the Bus Project’s new training
fairness and ’ealth care.
ew
The Bus Project comes
F
orget the negative TV commercials,
bone-dry voters’ pamphlets and
shady corporate contributions. If you
want to get young people engaged in politics,
you gotta speak to them. You gotta be hip,
down, fun, weird.
That’s the message from the Oregon Bus
Project, arguably the hottest new political
engine in the state. The organization breaks
from traditional campaign activism, avoiding
a partisan label (though it has yet to support a
Republican candidate) and using slogans
such as “Not left, not right, but forward.” The
Bus Project works for progressive political
change over the long term, operating on the
notion that volunteerism is the most effective
way to battle big corporate money in elec-
tions. The movement started four years ago
in Portland, and this month the Bus Project
opened a permanent Lane County field office
on 6th Avenue and Lawrence.
While politics-as-usual sails over the
heads of many 18- to 35-year-olds, typically
the age group with the lowest voter turnout,
Bus Project volunteers seem to get it. They
registered more than 6,000 youth at Portland
hip hop shows last year, dared more than
30,000 candy-givers to “Trick or Vote” last
Halloween, and drew a crowd of more than
2,000 at their “Candidates Gone Wild”
debates in Portland. When Urban Outfitters
KERA ABRAHAM
Politics Gone Wild
DECEMBER 8, 2005 13