SEASONAL FARM & FLORAL DESIGN
It’s powerfully symbolic that the recall election falls on the day after MLK Day. For many Newberg/Dundee BIPOC and LGBTQ+ residents, the past 6 months have been an onslaught of bigotry, homophobia, and intimidation that has been emboldened by an eerie silence from some important community leaders.
The onslaught came from elected officials, the local police departments, out of town hate groups, the local GOP, and dozens of community members. They showed their true colors in public comments, on social media discussion boards, with their associations to fringe ideologies, endless slander and repeated attempts to paint us as damaging to the community.
Our downtown shop has been targeted by protesters. Our home address has been published by a fake “news” blog in an anonymously written hit piece promoted by a county commissioner. Multiple local politicians donated money to those who wish to censor us. The mayor of Dundee canvassed in support of bigotry. We have been repeatedly gaslit by the Newberg Police Foundation President.
We have been harassed at the grocery store. Accused of grooming, exploiting, sexualizing and abusing children. And not just from conspiracy theorists and religious zealots on social media but even a McMinnville City Councilor publicly accused us of abusing children. The Newberg police chief refused to meet with us for over 4 months, ignoring multiple requests. He has refused requests for bias training and education for his department. He told a county commissioner that he “doesn’t have to do anything” to ensure a safe community for humans like us.
Oh yeah, and we run a flower business on the side. We have donated thousands of dollars of free flowers and services to the community. We are tired. Bigotry is a sickness in our society that must be addressed head on.
MLK warned our society of “moderates who are more devoted to “order” than justice, who prefer a negative peace to a positive peace, who feel they can set the timeline for other’s freedom, who constantly advise to wait until a “more convenient season””.
Tomorrow is an opportunity for Newberg/Dundee residents to reject bigotry. This is the season. Please vote yes on both recalls.
Jeremi encourages everyone in Newberg/Dundee to vote YES on both sides of their ballot and return them before 8pm this Tuesday! Your vote matters! 💯
@recalldavebrown @recallbshannon #thisiswhatdemocracylookslike #newbergoregon #dundeeoregon #newbergpublicschools #recalldavebrown #recallbrianshannon #vote #bettertogether #community #voteearly
I’m tired of hearing Dave Brown & Brian Shannon call Policy GBG a “flag ban”. The policy is not a ban on flags.
The current policy encompasses symbols of BLM and LGBTQ pride: flags, posters, stickers, magnets, pins, anything that may appear to be a supportive of those groups of students. The 4 majority directors enacted a ban on anything that represents inclusion, and safety to the students most vulnerable in our school district. How do I know what the symbols represent to these students? Because every student who spoke up in the public comments of the board meetings literally said so.
Now, I could sit here and call them racist or homophobic, but I don’t know them enough to do so. In fact they say repeatedly that they have no issues with BIPOC or LGBTQ, but they do have issues with BIPOC and LGBTQ publicly showing pride in their identities and therefore teaching their children it’s ok to celebrate our differences. Maybe, as a gay man, I’m more sensitive to it, but I’d like to think most people can understand how that comes across.
I also wish I could say their actions are just naive, that they didn’t know what they were doing. The truth is Dave Brown, Brian Shannon and their cohorts ignored every warning, every expert, and every human who is actually affected by Policy GBG. They knew exactly the damage they were causing to these kids and our community when they pushed the policy through, and they still chose to do it, despite pleas to compromise, and solely based on their personal ideologies and political agendas.
So yes. Let’s talk about only having the US and Oregon State flags in classrooms. As a patriotic American and proud Oregonian, I’m happy to compromise on that directive. But I will never compromise when it comes to an effort to totally erase the existence of entire segments of the population in NSD. This is a public school district, and all are welcome. However, Dave Brown and Brian Shannon, despite their words, had no intentions to actually represent all students. Their action speak louder.
It’s 2022. It’s time to move on. It’s time to do better. Voting yes on the recall is the first step in achieving just that.
@recalldavebrown @recallbshannon
We voted early and we encourage y’all to do the same! Get those ballots in Newberg/Dundee!! 🙌
Y’all these recalls are run by a small team and it’s all hands on deck in this final week of voting. The campaigns to Recall Dave Brown and Brian Shannon need your help canvassing in the community!!
At this stage, the most important way to encourage folks to return their ballots is to have those personal conversations with our neighbors. There are also phone/text banking opportunities that you can do from home!
Please consider volunteering a few hours as our community approaches Election Day. YOU CAN make a difference in our community!!! DM the campaigns directly on social media or visit their websites to sign up to help make this happen. ✔️
Stay strong and be bold Newberg/Dundee! 🇺🇸
@recalldavebrown @recallbshannon #thisiswhatdemocracylookslike #newbergoregon #dundeeoregon #newbergpublicschools #recalldavebrown #recallbrianshannon #vote #bettertogether #community #voteearly
The Yamhill Advocate, AKA Carey Martell, is a conspiracy theory based editorialist who masquerades as a “news outlet”, capitalizing on sowing division and causing deeper rifts in our town. I suggest you read the articles if you have the time. They are long, but they give deep insight to the hate and fear behind the anti-recall campaigns.
Mr. Martell prefaces his articles with a disclaimer explaining he is not legally responsible for the opinions he publishes. The problem is that Carey claims that these opinion pieces are “truth” supported by “facts”. In reality, his facts are often links to other articles he’s written on irrelevant topics, and his interpretations are literal conspiracy theories with little research extending much past Facebook.
Since his first post on 10/19/21, Carey has harassed students, berated teachers, attacked members of the recall team, and tried to intimidate members of the community he thought were running/supporting these recalls. He’s even contacted the FBI claiming that the recall team and an unaffiliated Facebook group, are a part of a Newberg mafia cult. The recalls are not run by NEEd… NEEdless to say. 😉
Slide 6 is a mass text Dave Brown sent out based on one of Carey’s article accusing my friend of being a child abuser and harassing a high school student for fearlessly pursuing his dreams. I did not include the picture Dave sent in the text as to keep the identity of the student private.
That’s right, Dave Brown sent out a mass text condemning an NSD student who ended up in the school’s resource officer’s office because adults in the community were calling the high school. A student never should have to endure that, but he handled it bravely and is a stronger human than Dave Brown could ever hope to be. 😡
Writing and publishing verifiable untruths should be concerning as is, but Carey’s slanderous words have become dangerous and are being directly echoed, promoted and praised by the “Vote No” campaign, the extreme right-wing organizations funding them, and Dave Brown himself.
This is not Newberg! This is not Dundee!
(Continued in Zach’s @zacharygoff comment below…)
“ I am American, American just like you too.”
-RuPaul Charles @rupaulofficial 💋
Vote YES on the recalls Newberg/Dundee! I mean read that statement from Dave Brown. Like…whaaatf is that? “Harmful flags and banners.” 🦄🦄🦄
@recalldavebrown @recallbshannon #thisiswhatdemocracylookslike #newbergoregon #dundeeoregon #newbergpublicschools #recalldavebrown #recallbrianshannon #vote #bettertogether #community
“Anyone think it’s weird that Free Oregon, a fringe, right-wing group just bragged about spending $7,500 in a school board election they have no connection to?
So did I…
Until I saw Ty Smith is the registered agent on their filing and has been paid almost $5,000 by the Free Oregon PAC in 2021.
That’s Ty Smith, the Canby lawyer who was illegally hired (taxpayer dollars) to represent the school board majority. I specifically say “majority” because his non-profit, Free Oregon, is funding the “Vote No” campaigns while simultaneously threatening to recall the other three board members he’s been “hired” to represent. #conflictofinterest
That’s also the same Ty Smith who costs the Newberg School district $300+ an hour (taxpayer dollars) and crafted the insanely broad, unconstitutional policy meant to ban BLM and LGBTQ symbols in NSD. The lawsuits over this policy could cost millions of…taxpayer dollars.
The connections are adding up about as much as Mr. Smith’s legal fees. 🤑
A couple more things about Mr. Smith… while I’m on the topic. 😜
Ty Smith seems to have a pattern of inserting himself into the drafting of policies that end up getting his clients sued.
He was hired (taxpayer dollars) recently to defend the Yamhill County 2nd Amendment Sanctuary ordinance …that he wrote and our county is currently being sued for by the Oregon Attorney General. Ty sure is costing the taxpayers of Yamhill County a lot of money. #shedoesntevengohere
Fun Fact 2: Mr. Smith is also THAT lawyer from the famous case of BOLI v. SweetCakes where he argued (and lost) that a homophobic bakery had the right to deny a wedding cake to a same-sex couple. #bias
Dave Brown and Brian Shannon hired a shady lawyer for their shady dealings, and it makes sense. They all have the same ethics. #none
So, I will repeat:
These recalls aren’t about political/ideological division.
However, the illegal hiring of Tyler Smith and the unconstitutional policy he drafted on behalf of the board have been two of the biggest driving factors behind the recalls from the beginning.”
-Zach Goff, Chief Petitioner @zacharygoff
#voteyes #restoreethics #restoreintegrity #saveourschools
Zach @zacharygoff has some important thoughts this morning so I am helping amplify his voice. Please read his statement:
Today is Friday, and the library is open.
When I signed on to be chief petitioner of @recallbshannon and @recalldavebrown I thought I was taking on the role of recalling two local, elected officials who’s illegal and divisive actions cause dysfunction and chaos in our school district and our town.
What I have come to learn is that I’m seemingly up against every conservative PAC in the state as well as our brand new state representative and our current state senator.
Those are some big hammers coming down on a team of 7 Newberg/Dundee volunteer parents and a gay farmer with a collective almost 0 experience in politics and campaigning.
#complimenttaken 😊
Also, these mailers are full of wild conspiracy theories and are laughably irrelevant to the recall election of these men.
No. I am not indoctrinating children.
No. I am not ANTIFA.
No. Abortions don’t belong in public schools. 🤦🏻♂️
Dave Brown and Brian Shannon wanted to keep politics out of schools?
One could speculate, based on the powers coming to their rescue, that we have inadvertently, and quite successfully, interfered with the extreme right wing political agenda that Brian Shannon and Dave Brown were trying to enact in our school district, and that includes the destruction of our public school system!
Don’t believe me? Ask Deb Fillman. (See previous post)
Vote YES on both sides of the ballot.
Last day to get ballot in the mail or the ballot drop box is January 18th. Don’t wait til then!
#voteyes #restoreintegrity #saveourschools #studentsfirst
The only thing that has kept us going so hard through this campaign is the opportunity to meet so many new folks in Newberg/Dundee. 🙌
This incredible human is Gail Grobey, an English teacher at Newberg High. Ms. Grobey is such an amazing personality that within minutes of meeting her I knew deep in my soul that this lady belongs teaching Newberg/Dundee students in a classroom. Her passion for learning, empowering, and discovering is undeniable. She cares so deeply about helping each student in her room. Any kid would be lucky to have Ms. Grobey as an educator. She is a true and powerful asset to our community. 🧡
Recall campaigns are a unique process where community members get together to hold elected officials accountable while they are serving a term. In the case of the school board, the elected official is supposed to be non-partisan and apolitical.
The difficult part of the campaign has been the personal attacks. In this recall, there are two school board members and the “opponent” is the group of residents working to remove them. There isn’t a replacement candidate, the board will appoint a replacement until the next regular election. The recall is not a referendum on the citizens of Newberg/Dundee. The group of residents are not seeking elected office themselves so one would think the focus would be solely on the elected officials - ya know, did they do a good job or not?
Instead, there have been many strange personal attacks on folks who are exercising their Constitutional rights. Take this mailer, sent out by Republican Jessica George of St. Paul, who now represents the Newberg area in the Oregon House. Ms. George was appointed *checks notes* LESS THAN ONE MONTH AGO to fill a seat vacated when Rep. Bill Post moved away.
Dave and Brian want politics out of school yet Rep. George is sending a mailer on their behalf that doesn’t defend them whatsoever but instead attacks a Newberg teacher and attempts to connect the recall campaigns to antifa. 🙄
Wouldn’t it have been nice if Rep. George would have come to Newberg to meet some of her new constituents before trashing them with political smears? Yikes.
VOTE YES on the recalls by January 18. 🇺🇸
Stop by our downtown Newberg shop for a fresh VOTE YES recall sign!!! Fresh like Reid’s new fade 💇🏼♂️
Help us spread the good word in your neighborhood! If someone steals your sign, come get another one. Signs are FREE! And as always, don’t steal from others. Open Wednesday-Sunday from 11am-6pm 🗳
@recalldavebrown @recallbshannon #thisiswhatdemocracylookslike #newbergoregon #dundeeoregon #newbergpublicschools #recalldavebrown #recallbrianshannon #vote #bettertogether #community
Dave Brown and Brian Shannon claim that they are “keeping politics out of schools”.
During this time we have learned a lot about local politics, including how campaigns are funded. Thankfully campaign finance reports are public record and folks can search these records on the Oregon Sec. of State website. I thought it would be interesting to “do my own research” and check out who is funding Dave & Brian.
Dave’s campaign has received exactly one cash donation of $100 with the remainder of his campaign being supported with in-kind contributions. The contributions are $645.65 from the Yamhill County Republican Party, $1,135 from the Community Oriented Public Servants (COPS PAC), and $836.50 from Raven Scroll Media LLC.
Brian’s campaign looks very similar: $100 cash with in-kind contributions funding everything else: $645.64 from the Yamhill County Republicans, $2,425 from COPS PAC, and $686.50 from Raven Scroll Media LLC.
The Yamhill County Republican Party’s filing shows that the contribution dollars they gave to Dave and Brian paid for signs and printing services ($1,170.64 total). The COPS PAC filing shows that their contribution dollars also went to signs and printing services ($3,560 total).
There have been several interesting cash contributions to the COPS PAC over the past month including $2,000 from the Oregon Firearms Federation & $1,000 from Newberg City Councilor Mike McBride, who demanded to go on public record as being against Pride Month last June.
Also, Michael Gunn, the man who filed the complaint about the rainbow heart poster at Dundee Elementary which eventually led to the firing of Superintendent Dr. Joe Morelock has donated $400. And of course, $100 from school board member Renee Powell.
Raven Scroll Media LLC is registered in the state of Oregon under the name Isaac Etherington who appears to be the McMinnville resident who flashed a white supremacy symbol at the Newberg School Board meeting on Sept. 22 (watch on YouTube, time stamp 1:24:56).
Keeping politics out of schools? Dave and Brian’s entire campaigns are funded by politics.
Education is not indoctrination. Education is freedom. Vote YES! to recall Dave and Brain by January 18.
Sorry, not sorry for all the election posts but BALLOTS ARE COMING THIS WEEK!!! 🇺🇸
Please get your black or blue pens ready to go and VOTE EARLY!! And consider making a post about it! Your posts, likes, and shares will inspire others to participate. Please reach out to all of your friends and family to remind them to send in their ballots. EVERY VOTE MATTERS! This ain’t the electoral college heennny. 🗳
And of course, we have FREE yard signs available at our downtown Newberg shop! Let’s do this Newberg/Dundee!!! 🙌🙌🙌
@recalldavebrown @recallbshannon #thisiswhatdemocracylookslike #newbergoregon #dundeeoregon #newbergpublicschools #recalldavebrown #recallbrianshannon #vote #bettertogether #community
