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Campaign to Keep Oregon's Guard in Oregon
c/o Peace and Justice Works
PO Box 42456
Portland, OR 97242
(503) 236-3065
campaign@pjw.info
MEDIA ADVISORY
For Immediate Release
January 15, 2009
Jan. 21: "Campaign to Keep Oregon's Guard in Oregon" Officially Kicks Off Delivering 7000+ Signatures in Salem
On Wednesday, January 21, 2009 at the State Capitol, the 8-month-long "Campaign to Keep Oregon's Guard in Oregon" will hold its official "launch event," Campaign organizers will deliver the signatures of over 7000 Oregonians to officials along with a demand that our state militia not be sent to Iraq or Afghanistan. The action will begin with a news conference in the Capitol press room at 12:00 noon PST, followed by delivery of the petitions. The Campaign, part of the national "Bring the Guard Home! It's the Law" campaign, seeks to prevent the upcoming deployment of roughly 3000 Oregon Guard members to Iraq because the terms of the Congresional authorization have expired.A bill has been drafted in order to enable the Governor to refuse a federal call up unless it is being done "pursuant to a constitutionally authorized federal directive." A companion resolution will declare that the Authorizations for Iraq an Afghanistan are not valid. The proposed measures, once combined, should empower Governor Kulongoski to prevent the Oregon Guard from the deployment planned for this spring.
After presentations from Veterans and military family members, they and other representatives from the 52 organizations involved in the campaign will deliver copies of the petitions to President of the Senate Peter Courtney, Speaker of the House Dave Hunt, and Governor Ted Kulongoski, and to each of the 88 other representatives and senators in the state capitol.
The National Campaign, active in nearly 25 states, is holding its own Launch Event news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, an hour and a half earlier on the same day. Representing Oregon at that event, Leah Bolger of Veterans for Peace Chapter 132 (Corvallis) hopes to tie the national message, which is the restoration of war making powers to the Congress and not the President, to the local event. Details on the DC event are below.
For more information on the Oregon Campaign, contact Peace and Justice Works in Portland at 503-236-3065. National contact information is below.
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Announcement: National Launch of the Bring the Guard Home! Campaign January 21, 2009 in Washington, DC
(Washington D.C.) - We are very pleased to invite you to the national launch of "Bring the Guard Home! It's the law." On Wednesday, January 21st, immediately following Inauguration Day, we will gather in Washington D.C. to begin a new era in American defense policy. After years of presidential misappropriation of power, state legislators across the country are preparing to end the abuse of our National Guard and restore the rule of law.
The "Bring the Guard Home! It's the Law." campaign has been building momentum over the course of 2008, as state after state have joined the effort. Vermonters initiated the campaign in January with the introduction of legislation ending future deployments of the Vermont Guard to Iraq. Legislators in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island followed with similar legislation in those states. Yet, lest we forget, 2008 was an election year, and advancing legislation of any kind in an election year is difficult. The focus in 2008 was on building support for bringing the Guard home in state after state, state legislature after state legislature. Now we are ready for our . . .
NATIONAL LAUNCH EVENT
1:30 pm EST, Wednesday, January 21st
National Press Club, Washington D.C.
The news conference will feature state legislative sponsors, veterans, military families, legal counsel, and key campaign coalition partners.
For more information on this campaign please see
http://www.BringtheGuardHome.org
Contact The Liberty Tree Foundation at 608-257-1606.
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