One Very Special Salem Candidate Hails From Special Needs Community

With Salem's legacy as the place where Jack Nicholson's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo' Nest" was centered, it seems only fitting that one of the people looking out for the needs of our most endangered residents would some day be allowed to represent them.

David Beem keeps doing a little better each time he runs for Salem's City Council's Ward 5 position. Photo by Tim King Salem-News.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - In Salem's Ward 5 Councilor race, Diana Dickey pulled just slightly more than twice the votes over the other contender in the race, David Beem.

Beem, like Kevin Mannix who just lost his bid for the U.S. Representative in the 5th District seat, knows what it is like to run for office and never see victory. But Beem has what some may consider a relevant reason; he is developmentally disabled.

Beem in fact is the only mentally and physically challenged political candidate in Oregon and I did two stories about him while working for KATU Channel-2 News in Portland, Oregon. Most other reporters ignored him and it is not uncommon for people to shy away from people with visible handicaps because their culture programmed them to. I always try to give David as much time as possible and time is telling me this has been wise.

In a prior City Council race Beem pulled one third of the votes against City Councilor Rick Stuckey. This time, running against Diana Dickey, he pulled close to half the number of votes.

Beem is more than significant in Salem, Oregon; a city that hosts a very large number of developmentally disabled people with conditions ranging from autism to mild to severe mental retardation, to Downs Syndrome and many other birth defects and disorders.

On Salem's Southeast side, rest the 58 empty buildings that once comprised the Fairview Training Center. It was a home for people with disabilities until funding dried up and the doors eventually closed in the 1980's. Today the land is being divided up and sold off and it is considered some of the nicest real estate in the city.

Today Beem and all the other special needs people who lived there under proper care and supervision and who worked and enjoyed their lives, are often seen walking down Center Street and State Street in Salem aimlessly, often unable to afford the meds they need to function at a much better level. This is our nation and these are their people and we treat them as though we have regressed into the 1800's.

Until the Presidency of Ronald Reagan, the U.S. had money allotted to care for the mentally and physically handicapped, but Reagan robbed the budgets from these silent victims and used it, along with other lines of revenue frequently called into question over the years, to create what is remembered as "Reaganomics."

Beem fights the biggest political uphill battle I have ever seen as a reporter, and his progress is noteworthy. Several months ago Beem was upset because the staff at the Salem Monthly did not allow him to participate in their Candidates Forum held at Willamette University.

Beem said at the time, "It is always like this for me, but what I have to say is important. The special needs people here have no representation. I need to get elected so I can change things and they won't even let me be in the political forum."

Dickey, much like the other people who spoke, has no disabilities. Diana Dickey was allowed to speak and address the crowd.

It is the story of his life, but if Beem keeps fighting as he has, and the political climate in our country changes as it appears to be so close to doing, then maybe people will open their minds all the more and Beem will eventually be given that microphone and maybe some day, even take his long hoped for seat on the Salem City Council.

With Salem's legacy as the place where Jack Nicholson's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo' Nest" was centered, it seems only fitting that one of the people looking out for the needs of our most endangered residents would some day be allowed to represent them.