SEN (OR-D) Jeff Merkley Avoids Military Families
Apr 7, 2024
Apr 19, 2024, 8:15 AM
Thank you for the request and apologies for the delayed response.
Could you share more regarding the issues you would like to discuss so I can better direct your request?
Apr 22, 2024, 10:00 AM
Yes, I would like to hear what Sen Merkley has done to make sure a bill he signed during his freshman term is being enforced. Namely, section 4712 of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act (HCPA), which has been 18 USC 1389 since its passage in 2009.
I want to speak with his office to 1) hear what Senator Merkley has done in the last decade and a half to protect military families from hate crimes and 2) what we can do to ensure the bill's intent "to put members of the US military on equal footing with other protected classes."
Apr 29, 2024, 8:50 AM
I am following up on this request to meet Sen Merkley. It's been a week since I sent the information requested; what is a typical timeframe for moving this kind of thing forward?
May 1, 2024, 2:14 PM
Dear Logan,
Thank you for contacting me to share your views about hate crimes and bias against servicemembers and their families in the United States.
As Oregonians, and as Americans, we must stand together against hate and show that compassion, courage, and respect will prevail. We need to keep fighting for our core American values of liberty and justice for all, and honestly investigate why these hateful ideologies are growing in America.
America has a troubled history of discrimination and violence but also a history of people coming together across racial, religious, and social differences to work together towards our founding ideal of equality for all. We need to acknowledge when we fall short and keep working towards that vision of justice and equal opportunity for every American.
For these reasons, I cosponsored the Khalid Jabra and Heather Heyer NO Hate Act, which provides grants to state hate crime reporting programs and enhances alternative sentencing plans for people convicted of federal hate crimes. I am also an original cosponsor of the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, which would dedicate an official at the Department of Justice to expedite the review of COVID-19-related hate crimes in light of the pandemic-related surge in violence toward the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, which included the NO Hate Act within its text, was signed into law on May 20, 2021.
Additionally, I cosponsored the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which provided grants to state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies for the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes based on perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or military status. President Obama signed this bill into law in 2009.
It is always helpful to be able to draw on the ideas and passions of Oregonians. Please know I will continue my work in the Senate with your perspectives in mind. I appreciate your input and will work to ensure that violence and the threat of violence have no place in our political discourse. I hope you will continue to lead your community with kindness, caring, and welcoming to all. Please keep in touch.
All my best,
Jeffrey A. Merkley
United States Senator
May 6, 2024, 10:17 AM
My two questions from my original email have not been answered. I would like to meet with my Senator in person, which is why I contacted your office in the first place.
On the morning of March 28, 2024, I used your website's Contact Page to request a meeting. I was added to Merkley's newsletter, but nobody followed up by email. Then, on April 7, 2024, Merkley came to my home county of Benton for a "town hall" on a military installation in Corvallis. Despite my bringing it to the attention of a district staffer Sophia Francia, Merkley failed to take a single question from the military community.
Back on July 20, 2009, Merkley was present to vote YEA on a bill whose explicit intent was to put "members of the U.S. military on equal footing with other protected classes." That intent has still not been realized, and Merkley has been in the Senate ever since.
As a member of the community paying for everyone else's rights and protections in our blood, sweat, and tears, I deserve Senator Merkley's answer in person.
I don't want emails from staffers too busy or disinterested to unify the font of a poorly edited form letter. I want to know why my rights aren't important enough to even dignify with a respectable response. The next email I get needs to be from the Scheduler asking what my availability is for a meeting with my elected representative. I don't need any more of the misdirection spin, I need representation.
May 7, 2024, 2:07 PM
Allison, I am responding to your invitation to meet with the State Director Jessica Stevens from this thread so that there is no confusion. I asked to meet with Senator Merkley "in person" since he refused to take a question from the military community when he used a military installation in Corvallis for his April 7th "town hall."
As you will see from my request, I did not ask to meet with a state director, nor did I ask to meet over the phone or via Zoom. Let me know when I can meet with Senator Merkley.
This morning, I sent the following to MidValley Media (Corvallis Gazette-Times and Albany Democrat-Herald); [“OpEd: Hope for Accountability”]
May 7, 2024, 2:57 PM
I hear your concerns, for this conversation, the appropriate person for you to speak with would be our State Director, Jessica.
Please let me know if you are interested in meeting with her in the coming weeks over a phone call or zoom meeting.
May 8, 2024, 9:51 AM
Unless you can explain how and/or why a State Director can answer questions at the federal level that stretch back 15 years, I have no interest in meeting with anyone but my elected representative.
I've CCed the Scheduler because I am still waiting on a date and time for me to speak with Senator Merkley.
