Patient Power

I’m honored and thrilled that you’ve elected me to be your next City Councilor in District 5. We have big work to accomplish, and I’m ready to roll up my sleeves.

It has been an honor and a privilege to be one of the first candidates to run clean in Portland. I’ve talked with so many of you over the last six months about the value of our new Clean Elections program, and how it allows candidates to run competitive campaigns. As we’ve seen this cycle, Portland Clean Elections has already reduced the amount of campaign spending overall in Portland elections. I hope that other municipalities across Maine will adopt similar programs to make it possible for working-class people to enter politics and transform our communities.

I look forward to meeting many more of you as we do this work together. The message I want everyone to hear right now is that I care about you, I value your unique perspective, and I want to hear from you. I have a 90-day plan to build a stronger community and will share it with you soon. There will be a regular D5 Newsletter as well, so please hit the “follow” button and confirm your email address so you won’t miss any important news.

For now I want to send massive thanks out to the many campaign volunteers, Clean Elections donors, neighbors, friends, furry friends, and family members who made this campaign not just successful, but positively joyful. You never stopped believing, and that made all the difference. I’ve been so inspired by your talents, hard work, faith, humor, and love, and I’ll carry all of that forward with me into office. It takes patience, trust, and hard work to build a people-powered movement. If today’s results are any indication, we’re well on our way.

At a street fair recently, I met a sidewalk poet who spontaneously lent their energy to this campaign with a poem that still leaves me breathless with wonder. I think it says everything. Enjoy! -Kate

PATIENT POWER a poem for Kate, by Coelti

What we build is
up to us,
attention clarifying
what is expressed
& what is hidden.
We counter what might 
have been & what 
has been too long,
patient power presencing
in the relational process
of community. 

If we make it official,
through all the arenas 
available to cooperation,
it will be through our hands
that the work is done.

Minds can make much of a 
future unwritten, but
it is touch that makes 
the long haul wonderful,
a journey of belief
meeting the art
of the possible.