As you may have heard by now, our absentee Representative Cliff Bentz will be speaking at The Dalles Rotary Club's meeting this Wednesday, August 20, at noon. He will also be taking tour of a watershed project in The Dalles with the mayor. What Mr Bentz will NOT be doing is holding a public town hall to hear from his constituents.

We need everyone who is available to show up and let Cowardly Cliff know we're paying attention by partipating in one of three groups described below. Please know that we have listened to your suggestions and we have spoken to Rotary Club members in considering how to respond to Cliff's effort to sneak into our city, and then get a nice glowing article in the newspaper afterwards about his "recent visit to Wasco County." Let's change the narrative to something like, "On a recent visit to The Dalles, Cliff Bentz was met with frustrated constituents who are upset that he refuses to hold a public town hall to address their concerns." 

Here's how you can help, and please email us to let us know if you can be there and which group you prefer to be a part of. This will help us coordinate the three groups. 

Group 1 - Protesting with signs on the sidewalks in front of Spooky's, Bi-Mart, and west of Hostetler along 6th St. We know there is construction going on in front of Spooky's and we are monitoring the progress and checking with the construction crew on what will be happening Wednesday at noon. Currently, the sidewalks in front of Bi-Mart and to the east are finished and open, so if Bentz comes in from the east, he'll see us there. If he comes in from the West, we'll have people on the sidewalk west of Hostetler along W 6th St. We encourage signs targeting Bentz specifically (Bentz Betrayed Us, Bentz is Hiding from his Constituents, Bentz Chose Billionaires over Constituents, Bentz is Wasting Taxpayer Dollars on Luxury Travel, Hold a Town Hall, etc.), but any of your other protests signs will also do. Meet up on the sidewalk in front of Bi-Mart at 11:30 AM on Wednesday. 

Group 2 - Attend the Rotary meeting and be prepared to make a statement about how Bentz's votes/actions are impacting us. We have been told by Rotary member Dennis Morgan that Rotary meetings are open to the public, but they ask that we not turn this into a raucous town hall. So, we're looking for 6-8 people willing to politley make a pointed statement about how Bentz's actions and inaction are impacting his constituents. Please reply to this email if you'd like to be a part of this group. We'll have a meeting (for those who can maket it) at Debi's house at 3:30 PM on Tuesday August 19 to coordinate topics and help each other draft good statements / questions. Statements are often better than questions as we want him to hear from us, rather than giving him more opportunity to simply spew the Trump Talking Points.  Email debiferrer@gmail.com if you need directions to Debi's house. Please keep in mind that we will be guests of the Rotary Club in the Wednesday meeting, so we are asking that people who plan to attend be prepared to be polite, even if it's hard; listen quietly, even when you know Bentz is lying. Write down what he says and we'll use it later against him. Plan to arrive at Spooky's by 11:30 on Wednesday if you want to order food or a beverage, or by 11:45 if you just plan to attend the meeting. 

Group 3 - Enjoy Lunch at Spooky's with a chance to speak to Bentz briefly on his way in or out of the meeting. We'd really like to have some people inside Spooky's playing the role of ordinary citizen out for lunch, who just happens to recognize their congressman as he comes in and feels compelled to greet him with something like, "Hello Mr Bentz, we didn't know you were going to be in town. We'd sure appreciate if you'd hold a town hall in Wasco County soon as we have many concerns, and you've only held one town hall here in your 4 1/2 years in office."   As mad as you may feel, we ask that folks who choose this option, approach Bentz with politeness, not out of respect for him, but because we don't want to be the ones getting the bad publicity. Don't bring any signs inside Spooky's. We need any reporting that happens to be bad publicity for Bentz!  We can follow up our interactions with a Letter to the Editor about seeing Bentz in The Dalles for a private meeting with a few individuals and the mayor, but with no opportunity for his constituents to ask questions and express their concerns. We don't know if Cliff will come in the front door - he may be ushered in the back door of the meeting room. But if any of you are willing, it would be really nice to have a few "greeters" waiting in the main dining room in case he comes that way.  You should plan to be there by 11:30 to get a table in the front area.  

Again, if you possibly can participate in any of these three ways, please email us at protectoregonsprogress@gmail.com with your name and what group you can participate with, or if you have questions.

Telephone Town Hall with Dr. Maxine Dexter, Representative from Oregon District 3.

Sign up here or stream at Dexter.House.Gov/Live.

We learned last week that District 2 Representative Cliff Bentz LOVES to travel in style on the taxpayers' dime, just not in his own district to hear from his constituents. The month of August is a congressional recess, a time when Members of Congress are supposed to be in their home districts meeting with their constitents and hosting public events.  But Cliff Bentz has none scheduled on his website and a call to all three of his offices today provided no information about the possibility of any town halls. 

The Oregon Nurses' Association (ONA) invited Rep Bentz to a Town Hall in Madras this Thursday August 14 at 6 PM to discuss Medicaid Cuts and Hospital Closures in rural Oregon, but (unsurprisingly) he has not accepted the invitation. So they've also invited District 5 Representative Janelle Bynum, and she said YES!  The event will be at the Madras Performing Arts Center. This is a really important opportunity to hold Bentz accountable for refusing to face his constituents after voting for these and many other cuts. Rep Bynum is the first of our Democratic Members of Congress to hold a town hall in Bentz's district but we are asking the others to hold them, too.   

If you live anywhere near Madras, even if you don't live in District 2,  please try to attend this event to support Rep Bynum for showing up when Cliff Bentz won't, as well as to learn about how severely the Big Bad Budget Bill is going to impact healthcare in rural Oregon.  And share this information with others. Bentz has betrayed his constituents. Let's all help hold him accountable!

Across the country, authoritarian forces are getting bolder and more dangerous. Trump and his allies are not hiding their agenda: mass deportations, rollbacks of civil rights, weaponized courts, and full-scale attacks on our democracy. We don’t have to wait until it’s too late. We can stop this. But it’ll take all of us — not just on single days of mass action, but through sustained organizing in our communities.

That’s why this summer, we’re launching One Million Rising — a national effort to train one million people in the strategic logic and practice of non-cooperation, as well as the basics of community organizing and campaign design. This is how we build people power that can’t be ignored. You’re invited to join us — and lead.

Let’s build a force bigger than fear and louder than hate. Let’s get ready. Let’s get organized. Let’s stop Trump.

SIGN UP HERE

Session 1: The Moment & Your Mission - July 16 Get oriented to making meaning of this moment and the role you can play in coordinated strategic action.

Session 2: How to Make it Happen - July 30 This train-the-trainer session is how we get to one million. Learn not just our strategy, but how you can train others and get them on board. You'll host your first community resistance gathering after this session.

Session 3: What Now? - August 13 You'll be onboarded to basic campaign design and learn how to implement it locally as well as get plugged into our next national campaign work. Your second community resistance gathering will move this action forward.

Sign up for all 3 sessions to get the most out of this experience. Watch it live with a friend in person, and get ready now to host your own community resistance gatherings after the second and third sessions. This is how we get to 1 million!

Across the country, authoritarian forces are getting bolder and more dangerous. Trump and his allies are not hiding their agenda: mass deportations, rollbacks of civil rights, weaponized courts, and full-scale attacks on our democracy. We don’t have to wait until it’s too late. We can stop this. But it’ll take all of us — not just on single days of mass action, but through sustained organizing in our communities.

That’s why this summer, we’re launching One Million Rising — a national effort to train one million people in the strategic logic and practice of non-cooperation, as well as the basics of community organizing and campaign design. This is how we build people power that can’t be ignored. You’re invited to join us — and lead.

Let’s build a force bigger than fear and louder than hate. Let’s get ready. Let’s get organized. Let’s stop Trump.

SIGN UP HERE

Session 1: The Moment & Your Mission - July 16 Get oriented to making meaning of this moment and the role you can play in coordinated strategic action.

Session 2: How to Make it Happen - July 30 This train-the-trainer session is how we get to one million. Learn not just our strategy, but how you can train others and get them on board. You'll host your first community resistance gathering after this session.

Session 3: What Now? - August 13 You'll be onboarded to basic campaign design and learn how to implement it locally as well as get plugged into our next national campaign work. Your second community resistance gathering will move this action forward.

Sign up for all 3 sessions to get the most out of this experience. Watch it live with a friend in person, and get ready now to host your own community resistance gatherings after the second and third sessions. This is how we get to 1 million!

Representative Val Hoyle invites constituents from Oregon's 4th district to join her upcoming telephone townhall on Wednesday, July 23rd at 5:30 PM PST, where she will share updates with you about what's going on in Congress and how it's impacting communities in the district. You can also ask Congresswoman Hoyle questions and get answers directly from her. 

If you would like to be included, please fill out this survey in accordance with all posted instructions. This form will close for Wednesday's townhall at 10:00 AM PST on Wednesday, July 23rd. By responding "yes" to this survey, you are opting in to texts, emails, and phone calls from our office.

What is a tele-townhall?

A telephone townhall is a phone call with Rep. Hoyle and other constituents in your community. If you opt-in to be on our list, you'll get a call from us at the start of the tele-townhall and be invited to join it. Then you can hear updates, ask questions, or just listen in!

Sign up here.

Rep. Andrea Salinas of Oregon District 6 will be hosting a LIVE telephone town hall on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, at 5 PM PT.

Please RSVP with this Google Form link to receive a call at the event time.

Town Hall with Dr. Maxine Dexter, Representative from Oregon District 3.