STATE
6A — THE OBSERVER
SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2021
Redistricting compromise lifts
Oregon’s legislative logjam
By PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — The Oregon
House has broken its leg-
islative logjam with each
party making a concession.
Minority Republicans
gained a voice in shaping
the redrawing of legisla-
tive and congressional dis-
trict boundaries. The rel-
evant House committee
will have Democratic and
Republican co-leaders —
and the House Republican
leader was added to the
committee for an even
3-3 split.
In return, majority
Democrats can proceed
with more than 80 bills,
most of them noncontro-
versial, without having
to have them read aloud
before fi nal votes. Republi-
cans had refused to waive
the bill-reading require-
ment, which slowed the
House to voting on a
trickle of bills each day,
depending on the length of
their texts.
No one was talking
about the tacit agree-
ment, which came swiftly
Wednesday, April 14,
after the House convened
more than an hour late for
a scheduled evening ses-
sion. The public session
was delayed because of the
backstage talks between
the parties.
The House resumed its
session Thursday morning.
For Democrats, the
bipartisan agreement
allows the House to pro-
ceed with discussion and
votes on a backlog of
bills, most of them having
emerged from committees
without dissent.
For Republicans, the
agreement will result
in them and Democrats
having to agree on plans
that emerge from the House
Redistricting Committee
to redraw legislative and
congressional district lines
after the 2020 Census.
The deal does not apply
to the Senate, where the
counterpart committee has
three Democrats and two
Republicans.
It is similar to what hap-
pened in 2011, when the
House was tied at 30 Dem-
ocrats and 30 Republicans,
and the relevant committee
was similarly split. That
Legislature reached a com-
promise plan then, the fi rst
in a century, that was not
challenged in court.
Incentive to get along
As a result of an April
9 Oregon Supreme Court
decision, both parties —
and both chambers — have
an incentive not to stall.
Andrew Selsky/Associated Press, File
In this April 26, 2017, fi le photo, lawmakers in Oregon’s House of Repre-
sentatives sit in session in Salem. Reaching a surprise deal Wednesday,
April 14, 2021, legislative Democrats in Oregon have agreed to relinquish
a powerful advantage in redrawing the state’s political districts for the
next 10 years in exchange for a commitment from Republicans to stop
blocking bills with delay tactics.
The court laid out a new
timeline for lawmakers
to come up with a legis-
lative redistricting plan
because census-block data
from the federal govern-
ment will be unavailable
until late summer. If law-
makers fail to come up with
a plan by the new deadline
of Sept. 27, the task will fall
to Democratic Secretary of
State Shemia Fagan — and
she will not be bound by
what lawmakers have done.
Republicans would like
to avoid having this task
fall to a former Democratic
senator who has been in the
secretary of states’ offi ce
only a few months. And any
plan can be challenged in
the Supreme Court, which
is the fi nal arbiter.
So which communi-
ties might see the biggest
change after redistricting?
During briefi ngs in Feb-
ruary to House and Senate
redistricting committees, a
population expert at Port-
land State University said
legislative districts based
in Washington County,
Deschutes County and
those straddling the Mult-
nomah-Clackamas line will
have to shrink because their
populations have grown
beyond the average. Dis-
tricts based on the coast and
most areas east of the Cas-
cades will need to expand
boundaries.
That could result in
more urban lawmakers,
and fewer rural lawmakers,
across the state.
The court case last week
does not directly involve
congressional redistricting,
which will be done by a
special panel named by the
court if lawmakers fail to
reach agreement. Unlike
legislative redistricting,
congressional redistricting
is not mentioned in the
Oregon Constitution.
logjam came in the form
of one motion and one
announcement at the close
of a brief House session
Wednesday night.
Republican Rep. Duane
Stark of Grants Pass
moved to waive the con-
stitutional requirement for
all bills to be read in full
before a vote on fi nal pas-
sage. This motion is usu-
ally routine, but it requires
a two-thirds majority to
suspend the rule — and
the 23 Republicans had
opposed it on a couple of
previous Democratic-led
attempts to waive it.
After Stark’s motion
was approved on a voice
vote — it was not recorded
— the House moved to
adjourn the evening ses-
sion near its scheduled
time of 9 p.m.
Then Speaker Tina
Kotek, a Democrat from
Portland, announced
changes to the House Redis-
tricting Committee. Demo-
cratic Rep. Andrea Salinas
of Lake Oswego will be
joined as co-chairwoman
by Republican Rep. Shelly
Boshart Davis of Albany.
Also, House Republican
Leader Christine Drazan
of Canby was added as a
member, so there will be
three Democrats and three
Republicans.
Other members are
Democrats Wlnsvey
Campos of Aloha and
Khanh Pham of Portland,
and Republican Daniel
Bonham of The Dalles.
La GRANDE
AUTO REPAIR
975-2000
www.lagrandeautorepair.com
MOST
ADVANCED
TECHNOLOGY
AVAILABLE
Compromise agreement
The end of the House
Joe Horst
ACDelcoTSS
Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press, File
In this July 28, 2020, photo, a member of the “Wall of Moms” protest group marches with other demon-
strators during a Black Lives Matter protest at the Mark O. Hatfi eld United States Courthouse in Portland. A
woman who formed part of a “Wall of Moms” is suing federal authorities for allegedly using excessive force
and arresting her without probable cause.
Lawsuit describes night of fear
for ‘Wall of Moms’ protester
By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
SALEM — A lawyer
who formed part of a
“Wall of Moms” con-
fronting militarized
U.S. agents is suing fed-
eral authorities, claiming
excessive force was used
against her and she was
arrested without probable
cause.
In the lawsuit fi led in
federal court in Portland,
Jennifer Kristiansen also
accused an unnamed fed-
eral agent of groping her
breast and buttocks as he
trapped her against a wall,
leading her to fear she
would be raped.
Named as defen-
dants are Gabriel Russell,
regional director of the
Department of Homeland
Security’s Federal Protec-
tive Service, supervisors
and 29 ground-level agents
who are not named because
they wore no name tags.
Spokespersons for the
DHS did not immediately
respond to a request for
comment on the lawsuit,
fi led Monday, April 12.
The lawsuit details how,
for one woman seeking to
protect Black Lives Matter
protesters from milita-
rized agents, one night
turned into a traumatic
experience.
On July 20, Kris-
tiansen joined over 100
Wall of Moms protesters
and walked to the federal
courthouse in Portland. It
was the third night of Wall
of Moms protests, in which
women wearing yellow
T-shirts and clothing stood
in line, arms locked, to
support Black Lives Matter
protesters who were facing
off against federal agents
deployed by the Trump
administration.
Outside the courthouse,
federal offi cers sent chem-
ical agents and fl ash bangs
into the crowd, then pushed
them back with billy clubs.
One agent accused Kris-
tiansen, who is 5 feet tall
and weighs 100 pounds,
of hitting him, the law-
suit says. Kristiansen says
she has never struck a law
enforcement offi cer.
“After ascending the
courthouse steps but prior
to entering its doors,
Defendant John Doe 63
violated Ms. Kristiansen
by forcing her face fi rst
against the courthouse
wall. Ms. Kristiansen was
placed in fear for her safety
and believed she would
be raped when Defendant
John Doe 63 molested her
while blocking her vision
and trapping her against
the wall, using his left
hand to grab her breast and
his right hand to reach up
her skirt and grab her but-
tocks,” the lawsuit says.
Kristiansen was taken
into the courthouse,
searched, interrogated
and denied water, food
and a blanket while being
held overnight and most
of the following day in a
cell. She was charged with
assaulting a federal agent
and failing to obey orders.
After a review of video
evidence showing that
Kristiansen had neither
assaulted nor approached
an offi cer, a judge granted
a prosecutor’s motion to
dismiss the charges.