Walt Nichols and Alissa Keny-Guyer‏ have submitted their filings for the House District 46 Oregon State House seat. They add their names to an expanding list of candidates that includes Elizabeth Crane, Rob Milesnick, Trisha Parks, James Schwartz and Mary Volm.

A District Convention of HD 46 PCPs (Precinct Committee Persons) will be held on Sept. 21 to select nominees to forward to the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners. At the Convention, HD 46 PCPs will determine whether to forward 3, 4 or 5 names to the County Board, and whether they should be ranked. The County Board must select an appointee by Sept. 30. The appointee will serve the remainder of Rep. Ben Cannon's term, which expires in January, 2013.

The Convention, to be held at 7pm on the 21st at the Hollywood Sr. Center, will be preceded by a Candidate Forum sponsored by the Multnomah County Democratic Party at 5:45 pm.

The public is invited to both the forum and the Convention. New info will be posted regularly both here and on our Facebook Page (see left margin and "click")

The Nominating Convention for HD 46 has been set and scheduled for Wed. Sept. 21, 7pm at the Hollywood Sr. Center, home to regular Mult Dems meetings. The Center is located at 1820 NE 40th, just north of Sandy Blvd.

So far, 5 candidates have filed for nomination: James Schwartz, Rob Milesnick, Mary Volm, Trisha Parks and Elizabeth Crane. Candidates have until 24 hours prior to the Convention to file candidacy. SEL145a Forms are available st the Democratic Party of Oregon office and must be turned in there: 232 NE 9th, Portland.

Immediately prior to the Convention, there will be a candidate forum at 5:45p.m. at the Center.

Four candidate filings have already been submitted for Rep. Ben Cannon's seat in HD 46 as Ben moves into the Governor's offices as Education Policy Advisor. Rob Milesnick, James Schwartz, Trisha Parks and Mary Volm have submitted their paperwork to the Democratic Party.

Several other potential candidates have indicated an interest in the open seat. District 46 spans Portland's east side from roughly I-84 to SE Harold, and from Se 50th to I-205. It also includes the Laurelhurst Neighborhood, bordered by 84, Stark and 32nd.

By law, the Multnomah Democratic Party conducts a Nominating Convention within 20 days of the effective resignation date of Sept. 1. At the Convention, Precinct Committee Persons of HD 46 will choose nominees to move forward to the final stage of the selection process: review and selection by Multnomah County Board of Commissioners. A new representative will be selected to fill out the remainder of Ben's term by Sept. 30.

A date for the Convention will be determined when the County Party receives official notification of the resignation from the Secretary of State's office. As of this writing, that has not been received.

HD 46 is regarded as one of the most solidly Democratic Districts in the state with Democrats outnumbering the GOP by a better than 3 to 1 margin.

Rep. Ben Cannon has resigned his legislative seat to take an appointment with Gov. John Kitzhaber as his Education Poicy Advsor. While we'll miss Ben at the District level, this is a wonderful appointment and well deserved. We wish him the BEST!

With Ben's resignation effective Sept. 1, a process begins to rapidly select a replacement.

Filling the seat will require a nominating Convention of Democratic PCPs (Precinct Comm. Persons) in the District. The Convention must be held w/in 20 days of the effective resignation (9/1), so things will move rapidly, we hope to have a Convention date set within days.

At the Nominating Convention, PCPs may forward 3-5 names to the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, which then makes the final selection. The nominee will fill the District 46 seat until January 2013.

FAQs

CAN I BECOME PCP if I'm in HD 46. Yes, but only those PCPs who are on file as PCPs on the date of the resignation would be eligible to vote at the Convention. The next appointment process will happen at our Sept. Central Comm. Meeting, which occurs AFTER the resignation, hence newly appointed PCPs from the Sept. 8 meeting are not eligible to vote in the Convention.

WHO MAY RUN? Any Democrat who has lived in HD 46 for at least one year may file for the office.

HOW DO I FILE? A downloadable form is available via the SOS elections website. It’s the SEL 145a form.

http://www.sos.state.or.us/elections/doc/publications/forms/100_candidate_filing/SEL145a.pdf

The form should be turned into the Democratic Party of Oregon Offices, 232 NE 9th, Portland, no later than 24 hours prior to the start of the Convention.

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Some other items to note:

This is filling the Seat under the boundaries of OLD District lines, so the candidates must be eligible in the OLD District map. Here is the new map. which actually adds more territory to 46 than subtracts. But if the appointed rep. wishes to run for re-election in 2012, s/he must remain w/in the boundaries of the NEW 46.

http://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=404a5b1838b943108bf38755e0b699fa

Thanks for your interest and good luck!

Carla "KC" Hanson Multnomah Dems Chair