In Oregon, I quickly became involved with the Multnomah County Democrats. It took me a couple months to locate the Party, as they weren't easy to find. Finally , I was able to get in touch with Democratic Party of Oregon Executive Director Neel Pender who helped me get involved with the county party. In December, 2000 I attended my first meeting.

Because of the difficulty I experienced in finding the county party, I immediately began work on a website, which has been responsible for hundreds of volunteers locating the Party.

The original site was a few pages hosted on Oregon Live's community area. Within a few months the Party has purchased a domain name and hosting, enabling them to have dozens of pages of information about the Party.

I spent the next two years working on the website, helping with events, and learning how politics in Oregon work. In Texas, being involved as a voting member within the Party was a simple has paying dues and attending a meeting a year. Here in Oregon, being a voting member of the Party carried responsibility with it, as you were a representative for your precinct.

In 2002, a pregnancy-related illness and c-section kept me out of politics for much of the year. During that time, I made phone calls from home for the Oregon Bus Project as well as the Multnomah County Party. That fall, I began attending meetings of the Bus Project and joined the Zephyr and Technology Committees.

Having being laid off in February, 2003, I began volunteering full time for the Multnomah County Democratic Party, Oregon Bus Project, Oregon for Dean, and various other campaigns.

Oregon Bus Project

For the Bus Project, I began by serving as co-chair of the Technology Committee and an editor for Zephyr. As co-chair of the Tech Committee, I served as webmaster for the website, working to keep it up to date with the Project's upcoming events and canvasses.

Throughout 2003, I helped make phone calls for a variety of trips, as well as the Engage Oregon Conference. I also attended several of the Conference planning meetings and was a speaker on technology and politics during the Conference.

I rode on the bus to the Oregon Summit in October and helped work a table for the Project.

Last summer, I attended the first three bus trips of the year-- Beaverton, Newport, and Gresham. I was one of the leaders for the Bus canvass on June 19 in Gresham, after which I received her white bus shirt. [If you didn't know, the white shirt is only given to volunteers for extraordinary service-- it cannot be bought.]

With the Bus Project, I was involved for the first time with a group of young Progressives who wanted to be involved and were appreciated for their work. I also learned how to canvass, having walked NE Portland in the snow for Jefferson Smith when he was considering running for the state house.

As of late, I have been unable to attend the tech meetings due to scheduling conflicts. However, I have been able to attend a few of their board meetings and helped to sell tickets to this year's May Gala.

Multnomah County Democrats

I was elected as district leader for House District 50 in December of 2003. Together with Jill Selman-Ringer, I reached out to Democrats in Gresham. On the 2002 primary ballot, there were 4 Dems listed in H.D. 50 for Precinct Committee Person slots. Two were lost between 2002 and 2004 due to personal reasons. This year the district had 13 people listed on the ballot, and several people elected by write-in.

In addition to serving as tech coordinator/webmaster and District Leader, I was also co-chair for the annual Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser and the Troutdale Parade & booth entry. I was also a member of the Multnomah County Democrat's Conservation Issue Group.

In 2002, I helped out with the annual Celsi Dinner, including check-in of registrants and building an online way for people to purchase tickets.

For the 2004 Celsi Dinner, I got more involved. When the original date of the dinner fell through, I helped Jenny Greenleaf in searching out possible locations for the dinner. Although I was unable to go to meetings because of other conflicts, I always submitted comments and suggestions to Jenny prior to the meetings as well as after reading each meeting's minutes. The night of the dinner, I worked the silent auction tables, which included going through all the forms and determining the winners, as well as handing out the items after they were paid for.

My involvement in the Celsi Dinner gave me the encouragement needed to sign up as the co-chair of the Spaghetti Dinner, the county party's second largest fundraiser. This fundraiser, scheduled for September 11, was a celebration of democracy. I had grown tired of the Republican Party using the day to instill fear into Americans. Instead, I wanted to use the day to celebrate what makes our country great.

The spaghetti dinner was a huge success, with more than 500 people in attendance. The dinner and silent auction brought in more than $6000.

That summer I was elected as the Communications Secretary for the Party as well as a delegate to the Third Congressional Delegation.

During my time as Communications Secretary, I began holding meetings to discuss moving the county party's website over to a PHP-based solution that would allow it to be more dynamic. We also started discussions on changing the monthly newsletter to a newspaper-type format and having it available around the county for people to pick up for free.

Upon running into numerous difficulties with the Party, I resigned my positions within the county party in early 2005. Since then, I have been working with the Democratic Party of Oregon on several tech projects.

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