WOW! I am impressed, you have the range and talent and energy to get to work and the smarts to know what to work on.

Multnomah County needs strong leadership who understand the issues our community is facing today and have the experience to navigate the system to fund the vital services that we are constantly in danger of losing.

Judy Shiprack strikes me as having that combination of experience and understanding. I am glad that she has stepped into this race.

As a 30+ year past resident of Multnomah County I spent a career representing people. Mrs. Shiprack's assistance in organizing our community development corporation was immeasurable. I have watched her development for over 2 decades. She will be an asset to the county and a valuable addition to this board.

Wally Mehrens

Judy, could you please share how you've advocated for the rights of disabled people? Thanks!

This past year, I spent a tremendous amount of time and energy working in the legislature to enhance affordable housing throughout Oregon. As a former State Representative, Judy Shiprack (then Bauman) helped create and supported many programs to keep housing within reach of Oregon’s working families. If that was her legacy within the legislature, we need her experience working for Multnomah County!

Judy is my mother-in-law, and who better to speak on her character than family? Her collaborative nature will make her an excellent addition to the board. Plus, I have seen how she lives and breathes issues facing the county. Her passion and commitment flows through her everyday life activities. She is a star!

Thanks for all of you who posted such kind responses. I am finding this to be a very different, and eerily disembodied, form of political discourse. But still, I wanted to comment on my advocacy for disabled people. Publicly and privately I support and have worked for equality of opportunity and a more generous, accepting community. Multnomah County's primary mission is to provide for the most vulnerable among us. I just want to comment that there is an entire community of workers within the County who are talented, caring, mission driven, and who share Mr. McDonald's interest in advocacy --for more housing, more health care, and more community-based services-- for elderly, physically disabled, mentally ill and developmentally disabled people. I look forward to working with them, and with Mr. McDonald, when I am on the County Commission

Chris-- Thanks for using the term "contribute", since this is a national issue and requires national leadership. The gap between the working insured and everyone else (i.e., the uninsured, some of them in Oregon(a shrinking number) eligible for Oregon Health Care Benefits) keeps growing. It is a national embarassment to tolerate.

There are a couple of ways the County could help protect local health care access. 1.)Support Unions. Unions advance health care for their members, and they have every good reason to do so. 2.)Support efforts to reduce teen parenthood, including improved access to birth control and abortion. 3.)Support our own health care clinics, which provide care to the most vulnerable (poor, homeless, mentally ill, disabled) by applying evidence based practices in our budget process...something the County is making great strides in doing currently and 4.)Be aware of what is going on in other communities, as well as in our own. The current system pays obscene salaries to a few insurance executives, pays for exorbitant advertising, supports politicians who pledge to stand by the status quo, engages in "log rolling" to topple public discussion of advancing universal healthcare (i.e., marginalization, pooh-poohing, "its too complicated", "its too expensive").

The public safety system intersects the health care system in numerous ways; these include paying more attention to early childhood, and the needs of parents --especially single parents--, access to mental health treatment (including creating a triage center), access to drug and alcohol treatment, culturally specific health care programs, school-based clinics, affordable housing. If we consider the costs of jail and prison and what the evidence says is the prognosis of that and compare to the benefits possible from beefing up the health care system. Where I just identified intersections are places we may be able to make progress through the County's budget priorities. And I plan on participating. Google the Archimedes Project in Oregon, or go to the websites of the Democratic presidential candidates for some of what is forming my thoughts on what Universal Healthcare means.

Judy,

Thanks for your reply to my question. I do admit that your use of the word "entire" makes me seriously nervous. Having dealt with Multnomah County Developmental Disabilities in many capacities over the years, I've found that the best interests of the people they serve are not always at the top of some employees priority list.

The system is screaming for reform. Last Sunday's article on the front page of the Oregonian makes this claim perfectly clear. Over 50% of the folks deinstitutionalized when Fairview was closed have had substantiated abuse and/or neglect charges filed for them. Of course the majority of these people live right here, in Multnomah County.

Judy,

thanks for your service to the community.

One item I didn't see was the things you've done to support the business community so that Portland business can expand and hire more people.

What have you done to lower the cost of doing business and make Portland more business friendly and welcomming to capitalist endeavors?

Thanks for your reply.

Judy,

You improperly used a comma in your introductory paragraph.
A copy editor may be of use to your campaign. I wish you the best of luck.

DanS-- Thanks for your question! My assignment will go beyond Portland to Multnomah County as a whole, but I think my priorities will help Portland businesses grow and hire more people.

Lowering costs: One of my priorities is to repair and maintain Multnomah County's roads and bridges, which will assist economic development, countywide.

Drug and alcohol treatment access, another one of my priorities, is vital to business, since clean, sober workers get their work done, pay taxes, and spend the money they earn in our community. Clean and sober people are less likely to commit crimes that victimize business and neighborhoods. They are able raise their children.

When I was in the Legislature I supported workers comp reforms which have taken Oregon from being one of the highest rate/lowest benefit States to one of the lowest rate/highest benefit States.

For ten years after leaving the Legislature I ran a small not-for-profit. We built over $30m worth of housing. I learned the difference between working with cooperative government and working with the other kind... Good government policies are conducive to healthy business, and I look forward to helping.

Judy

Chris-- Thanks for that constructive criticism. I took it as a very helpful comment. My copy editor, however, spent the day in tears. So I fired her. Are you available? Judy

Judy,

thanks for your reply.

I'm pleased to see you are addressing the need to maintain and improve roads.

Good luck on your candidacy!