Imaginary Money Beach
The Challengers were directly asking voters: how do we make the beach worth coming back to? And the entire political establishment dismissed that question as not mattering.
$20 Million to Lose: Where Oregon Democrats' Campaign Money Actually Goes
What if instead of sending $14.6 million to Virginia and DC, Oregon Democrats recruited one or two students from every high school in the state, paid them $25 an hour for a six-month campaign cycle, and deployed them in their own communities?
Oz Sighting #5: The $3,000 Paragraph (The Scarecrow’s Logic)
It costs $3,000 to appear in the Oregon Voters' Pamphlet.
I couldn't afford it. Seven people wanted to help me get there. Every single one of them was already stretched.
That's not a fundraising failure. That's the system working exactly as designed.
Retirement and Immigration Are Standing in for a Broken Labor System
What Is Law, Actually?
There’s a saying I come back to often: If the penalty for breaking a rule is a fine, then that rule only exists for people who can’t afford to pay it.
People understand that. They may not say it in policy language. But they feel it, and when that gap goes unaddressed for long enough, something shifts. Trust erodes, not all at once, but steadily.
Who Pays When Wall Street Miscalculates? Not Wall Street.
Oz Sighting #4: The Union That Stopped Listening
I believe in unions. I still do.
But belief isn't the same as silent support.
This is Oz Sighting #4 — what happens when any system stops listening to the people it's supposed to serve.
What Safeway Is Teaching Me About Work
A tribute to Jerry Weigler
My dad was my first experience of politics. He confidently advocated his beliefs and was always willing to take on bullies (mine and in the public sphere) on behalf of things he cared about. Many people in Oregon will remember him, often fondly, or still slightly salty about his many public battles and the friendly coalitions that somehow survived them. My dad didn't do politics for personal gain. I come by my earnestness honestly, even though not many people got to see that side of him.
Why DOGE Missed the Most Obvious Opportunity in Government
With genuine expertise in database management and UX design, DOGE could have approached tax filing the way a serious product team approaches a broken user experience: map the pain points, reduce unnecessary steps, build in real-time guidance, and design for the people who struggle most with the current system — not the ones with accountants and lawyers.
Oz Sighting #3: The Caucus That Wasn’t There
What Redesign Looks Like; Without Utopian Hand-Waving
The question isn’t whether redesign is possible.
It’s whether we are willing to stop protecting systems that benefit a few at the expense of everyone else — including the future.
We don’t need perfect answers.
We need leaders willing to redesign instead of retreat.
Attention Is Not a Personal Failure: ADHD and the Pathologizing of a Broken System
When attention failure is treated as a personal flaw, two things are quietly stolen; time, and dignity.
Candidate Statement
I’m running for Governor of Oregon because something is deeply broken in how we do politics — and most people can feel it, even if they don’t have words for it.
Why I’m Running Against Tina Kotek
Running Anyway
You don’t need to be fearless to reach your goals, you just need to be willing. Willing to try, willing to learn, and willing to believe that you’re capable of more than you know.
Regenerating Oregon’s Economy
Oregon has never won by copying other states.
We didn’t become known for our forests by clear-cutting them. We didn’t become known for innovation by racing to the bottom on taxes. We built a reputation for stewardship, creativity, and independence. It’s time to build again.
How To Talk About Politics Without Burning Relationships
The Founding Tension We Never Resolved
There is a contradiction at the heart of the American project that we have never fully faced.
On the one hand, we claim that all people possess inherent dignity—that worth is not something you earn, but something you are born with. On the other hand, we built our economic system around a very different assumption: that dignity must be proven through productivity, discipline, and success in the market.
Balancing Capitalism and Democracy has created benefits for us as a Nation, but the tension between the two can only stand so much inequality before something breaks.
Productivity Is a Story We Tell to Keep the Pyramid Standing
If we measured productivity from a human baseline starting with:
bodily limits
caregiving requirements
time to recover
the need for meaning and safety,
many of our “efficient” systems would look wildly irrational.