Re-elect Mayor Darby

11/09/2022

Today is a day for our small community to put the election behind us and focus on how much we can accomplish if we work together.

The Talent election results are still too close to call, and the next update from the county election office reflecting last-minute mailed ballots is not expected until the end of the day on Thursday.

But here’s what we do know: we all have more in common than what divides us.

Every Talent resident, no matter how they voted, wants to prevent and prepare for another fire.

Both slates said they were committed to affordable housing.

There should also be common ground on urban renewal. The current city council voted in August to scale back the original urban renewal proposal to reduce the impact on the Fire District, the city budget, and other agencies, and to ensure that Talent voters would have the final say on any new proposal. And Mark Anderson said in the Oct. 22 Mail Tribune that “urban renewal is a good idea,” and that he too would like to see the amount of money scaled back.

Talent residents have so much work to do to keep our community affordable and diverse, bring fire survivors home, support small business, prevent and prepare for future emergencies, and make Talent a place where everyone feels welcome.

No matter how the final election totals turn out, let’s pull together, treat others as we would want to be treated, and get to work.

Thank you!

11/04/2022

Vote Tina Kotek for Oregon

10/23/2022

Oregon State Representative Pam Marsh lays it out!

Former House Speaker Tina Kotek emerges as the best choice for governor among three very strong and qualified candidates, the editorial board writes.

10/18/2022

ELECTIONS DEPEND ON FACTUAL INFORMATION about the candidates – who they are and what they stand for.

You’ve seen what the current council members (Nicole Greider, Colette Pare-Miller, Dave Pastizzo, and Eleanor Ponomareff) and I published in the Voters’ Pamphlet and you will soon see the mailing we sent out.

Our messaging is consistently about our commitments to the residents so you know what we will do if reelected.

We will do everything possible to
* Keep Talent affordable and diverse
* Bring all families home after the Almeda fire
* Get small businesses back on their feet
* Work with the Fire District for fire prevention and resilience
* Improve emergency preparedness
* And maintain Talent as a welcoming place for all.

As volunteers, we have a track record of helping Talent residents make positive change,
whether it’s Bee City or solar energy or Talent Maker City or the Public Art Committee or all of the other projects and improvements I’ve had the privilege to support while I’ve been mayor.

We also have a track record of listening to input from residents and other agencies, problem solving, and compromise.

As a recent example, after a 45 day open record public hearings process, we listened to that input, asked the new director of the Talent Urban Renewal Agency to scale back any proposed urban renewal plan to ensure that it does not jeopardize other public services, and committed that no plan will be adopted without a vote of Talent residents.

Many of you have been contacting me or other city councilors to express your disappointment about the campaign being waged against us.

You all received a 4-page, unsigned diatribe full of falsehoods, including the false claim that the old urban renewal plan that your council has already voted not to approve is still on the table.

You’ve seen name calling directed at me and my running mates.

And now – now -- after all the mudslinging directed our way -- my opponent says in a Facebook video that “from this point forward” he and his slate intend to engage only in “positivity.” Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad they said they will stop, but it’s too late for a positive voters pamphlet for example. To quote one resident… “we are better than that”.

Thankfully, some of you who were concerned because all but one of their slate have no track record or history of involvement in our city decided to do your own research. And all of us have learned a lot from the factual, transparently signed, and sourced information you have provided to your community.

The research voters have shared is the only way that any of us found out, for example, that all but one of their slate changed their party affiliation from Republican within days of filing to run.

And the only way any of us learned that their candidate for mayor still provides sermons for a Calvary Chapel church whose websites call for deporting our undocumented neighbors, outlawing gay marriage, and erasing all the progress we have made toward equality for women.

As we have been doing from the start, your current councilors and I will continue to talk with voters about our commitments to address the challenges that our community faces, including affordable housing, bringing all our families home, getting our small businesses back on their feet, working with the Fire District to prevent and prepare for any future disaster, and keeping Talent as a welcoming place for all.

If you agree with those values and those priorities, I hope you’ll share this with your friends and neighbors.

The future of our community is at stake.

10/09/2022

WHY NO YARD SIGNS: The plastic waste is enormous for 10 candidates in Talent multipled by however many signs. They are too hard to get all retrieved and recycled (specialty). The forward together slate said no to the plastic waste. With so many great alternatives for easily getting our campaigns known, it just wasn’t an appropriate choice for us in this techy age of information. It doesn’t align with our stated values.

“Both the laminated cardboard and corrugated plastic are hard to recycle and will need to be dropped off at a specialty recycling drive for these materials.”

10/08/2022

Today I’m marching with friends, LGBTQ community. I’ll be marching with my wife. We married in 2017 with the most lovely meadow as a back drop surrounded by people we love very much, family and friends.

I’m running for Mayor as an out le***an. I promise to champion and defend our continued rights to marry with equality.

The party of Trump is actively seeking seats in small towns because they know that our values start here in our neighborhoods.

I ask for your vote in November because I’m the only candidate for Talent Mayor who will champion the right to marry who you love, when called upon to testify on behalf of Talent, in Salem or in DC!

https://www.ijpr.org/music-arts-and-culture/2022-10-07/southern-oregon-pride-festival-returns-after-two-years?fbclid=IwAR0Z9lU02yUGf_fov9XSCsil9Gz7AwsNLW5FfQTm1rRzM9Bgikn1i94Klf8 — with Heather Ayers-Flood.

One of Southern Oregon’s oldest LGBTQ Pride festivals returns in person this weekend after a two-year hiatus.

10/06/2022

One of the main backers of a slate for office trumped up an election-season stunt and I exposed it for what it is by challenging them to show the actual ethics authorities that this is anything but last-minute politicking. Like other stunts like this, it will be brought up until Nov. 8 which is its only real purpose to begin with.