Two weeks ago, I got an email from a constituent. She confessed that she had signed the petition to put this recall election into motion. She went on to explain that she had been lied to by signature gatherers when she signed and was angry and upset. Along with her apologies, she also asked me to please fight the recall because she was grateful for what I had done for her and our community.

This email is one of many similar stories from our Eugene community. I am so unbelievably grateful for the outpouring of support and solidarity I have received in the course of this recall. 

Like all of you, I am also incredibly disappointed by the blatant misinformation and lying by a disgruntled lobbyist and United Food and Commercial Workers union leadership, who have abused our state’s recall system and wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars of their own members’ money that should be used to better their workers’ lives. These kinds of deceptive tactics have no place here in our community.

Here’s the truth: I’m so proud and honored to serve our community and to deliver for working Oregonians for nearly 20 years. Together with union partners and workers, I was there on the front lines helping to raise the minimum wage and craft a paid family leave program that was both effective for workers and fair for businesses. 

Environmental advocates like Oregon League of Conservation Voters and Sierra Club turned out hundreds of supporters to help me ban field burning in the Willamette Valley and push state policies to address climate change in our state. I have been honored to partner with farmworkers to help them to tell their story in the Legislature and ensure their right to be paid overtime, just like every other Oregon worker. Especially in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, I’m proud to work alongside Planned Parenthood to pass the most progressive reproductive health protections in the country. 

I’ve supported members of our community who have spent countless hours organizing community investments, raising private donations, and come to the state legislature to obtain public funds to complete those local projects in our community; projects like Kids Sports Civic Alliance, the YMCA, Ollie Court affordable housing, behavioral health stabilization center, University of Oregon and Lane Community College renovations, and many more.

All this is why every other union and progressive organization is standing with me and opposing this reckless recall.

Regardless of what happens on the Oct. 3 Election Day, I’m so proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish together, and with your “No” vote on the recall, I will continue to work for our community.

Paul Holvey represents House District 8 (south and central Eugene, including University of Oregon). He is the current speaker pro tempore in the Oregon Legislature, chairs the House Business and Labor Committee and co-chairs the Capital Construction Committee. Paul is a retired union carpenter. He worked on construction projects throughout Eugene, then became a union representative fighting for a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work!

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