OREGON
6A — THE OBSERVER
SATURDAY, JUNE 12, 2021
Oregon GOP legislator ousted over state Capitol breach
By ANDREW SELSKY
The Associated Press
SALEM — Repub-
lican lawmakers voted with
majority Democrats in the
Oregon House of Represen-
tatives to take the historic
step of expelling a Repub-
lican member who let vio-
lent, far-right protesters into
the state Capitol on Dec. 21.
Legislators said on the
House fl oor that this could
be the most important vote
they ever cast. They then
proceeded Thursday, June
10, to expel an unapologetic
Rep. Mike Nearman with a
59-1 vote, marking the fi rst
time a member has been
expelled by the House in its
160-year history. The only
vote against the resolution
for expulsion was Near-
man’s own.
Rep. Paul Holvey, a
Democrat who chaired a
committee that earlier in the
day unanimously recom-
mended Nearman’s expul-
sion, reminded lawmakers
of the events of Dec. 21,
which were an eerie fore-
shadowing of the much
more serious Jan. 6 assault
on the U.S. Capitol.
Kaylee Domzalski/Oregon Public Broadcasting, File
Rep Mike Nearman, R-Independence, chats with fellow representatives on the Oregon House fl oor on
April 11, 2019, at the Capitol in Salem. The House on Thursday, June 10, 2021, voted 59-1 to expel Nearman
after video emerged showing he helped plan an armed incursion in the state Capitol late last year. Near-
man was the lone vote against.
“On the morning of
Dec. 21st, a couple hun-
dred protesters — some of
them heavily armed and
wearing body armor —
arrived at the Capitol for a
protest, with the intent to
illegally enter and presum-
ably occupy the building
and interrupt the proceed-
ings of the Oregon Legis-
lature,” Holvey said. “Staff
and legislators were terri-
fi ed. We can only speculate
what would have happened
if they were able to get all
the way in.”
Nearman said he let
the protesters in because
he believes the Capitol,
which has been closed to
the public to protect against
spread of the coronavirus,
should have been open. The
assault happened during a
peak of the pandemic.
But even Republi-
cans, who are often bit-
terly opposed to Demo-
cratic initiatives on climate
change and some other
bills, said the crowd outside
the Capitol that day was
not made up of constituents
who wanted to peacefully
engage in the democratic
process.
Some were carrying
guns. Some shouted false
QAnon conspiracy theories
about Democrats kidnap-
ping babies. They carried
American fl ags, banners for
former President Donald
Trump and a sign calling
for the arrest of Demo-
cratic Gov. Kate Brown.
They broke windows and
assaulted journalists.
“Nobody should have
opened the door to the
people who were here that
day,” said Rep. Daniel
Bonham, a Republican and
a member Holvey’s special
committee.
The fi nal straw for
Republican House members
came on June 4, when video
emerged showing Nearman
choreographing how he
would let protesters into the
Capitol a few days before
it actually happened. For
his fellow lawmakers, that
was proof it was a premed-
itated act, which Nearman
acknowledged. All 22 of
his fellow House Republi-
cans wrote him on Monday,
strongly recommending he
resign.
As lawmakers gathered
to decide Nearman’s fate, a
few dozen people waving
American fl ags and one
carrying a sign saying “I
am Mike Nearman” gath-
ered outside the Capitol.
One repeatedly kicked a
metal door, sending booms
through a marble hallway of
the building.
Nearman was seen on
security video opening a
door to protesters on Dec.
21 as lawmakers met in
emergency session to deal
with economic fallout from
the coronavirus pandemic.
Protesters barged into the
building, which was closed
to the public because of
coronavirus safety pro-
tocols, got into shoving
matches with police and
sprayed offi cers with bear
spray.
Oregon might revamp vaccination lott ery to spur more vaccinations
By AIMEE GREEN
The Oregonian
SALEM — The number
of Oregonians getting vacci-
nated against COVID-19 has
nose-dived since Gov. Kate
Brown announced a $1 mil-
lion lottery for vaccinated
residents a few weeks ago.
The state says it’s now
looking at ways to spark
more enthusiasm — and
inoculations among those
still unvaccinated — in the
three weeks left before the
drawing is held.
Charles Boyle, a gover-
nor’s spokesman, said in an
email that the governor’s
offi ce is “exploring options
for drawings earlier in the
month to continue to gen-
erate excitement throughout
the next several weeks.”
Brown also hinted at a
news conference Friday,
June 4, that more prizes may
be added to the off erings in
coming days, though she
hasn’t yet shared any details.
“We have more surprises
in the works that you’ll hear
about soon,” Brown said.
“So if you haven’t yet been
vaccinated, now is the time.
You never know, you may
just walk into a vaccine
clinic or a pharmacy to get
your vaccine and fi nd out
you’re a winner.”
Oregon is among one
of at least nine states —
including Washington last
week — drumming up lot-
teries in hopes of elevating
immunization numbers that
have plummeted in the late
spring nationwide. Most are
off ering to make at least one
person in each of their bor-
ders a millionaire — but
only if they’re vaccinated
against COVID-19.
Brown announced May
21 that Oregon is off ering
a $1 million jackpot, three
dozen awards of $10,000
doled out to one person in
each of the state’s coun-
ties, and fi ve scholarships of
$100,000 for youth for col-
lege or vocational school.
SENATE BILL 819
Bill allowing prosecutors, prisoners to
ask for conviction reviews gets passed
By NOELLE CROMBIE
The Oregonian
SALEM — A bill that
would allow a district
attorney and a person con-
victed of a crime to ask a
judge to revisit a convic-
tion or reduce a prison sen-
tence has passed both cham-
bers of the Legislature and
now heads to the governor’s
desk.
Senate Bill 819 was
hailed Tuesday, June 8, by
advocates and supporters as
among the most signifi cant
changes to the criminal jus-
tice system to emerge from
the legislative session.
The bill gives prosecu-
tors and a person with a
conviction the chance to
jointly ask a judge to make
a change that could include
dropping a felony to a mis-
demeanor, erasing a convic-
tion altogether or reducing
the length of a person’s
sentence.
The district attorney
would have to agree to the
petition before it could be
heard by the court.
The bill was requested by
the Criminal Justice Reform
Clinic at Lewis & Clark
Law School. Aliza Kaplan,
a law school professor who
runs the clinic, said the
bill would be most useful
in cases where someone
was convicted of a crime
based on outdated forensic
science.
Kaplan said California
and Washington have sim-
ilar policies that are used
sparingly.
The bill would allow
petitions in other situa-
tions as well, such as in
cases when a Black defen-
dant received a signifi cantly
higher sentence than a white
person in a similar situation
or when a person who com-
mitted a crime long ago and
has been out of prison and
out of trouble cannot apply
for professional licenses
because of an old felony.
Kaplan said an incarcer-
ated person with terminal
illness and less than a year
to live also might be a can-
didate to have their sentence
revisited under the bill.
“It’s really up to the dis-
trict attorneys and what
their priorities are,” she
said. “It’s also up to them
whether they even use it.”
She called it “one of the
most important pieces of
criminal justice reform leg-
islation that Oregon” has
undertaken in a long time.
But unlike other states
that started their draw-
ings within a week or two
of their announcements
and that are holding draw-
ings weekly or even daily,
Oregon will draw all its
winners on one day, June
28, which is more than
fi ve weeks after Brown
announced the lottery’s
creation.
Offi cials estimate it could
be another week beyond that
date before they announce
the winners.
State offi cials seem to
have acknowledged that
delayed timeline might have
put a damper on the initial
zeal and urgency to go out
and get vaccinated as soon
as possible.
“The ‘Take Your Shot
Oregon’ campaign was
designed for simplicity, so
that there would be a signifi -
cant period of time to incen-
tivize vaccinations prior to
June 28,” said Boyle, before
adding that the state might
tweak that strategy to award
some new prizes soon.
The lottery, he cautioned,
is one of many strategies
the state is using to increase
inoculations.
“No individual strategy
is expected to have a sin-
gularly massive impact or
to wholly reverse vaccina-
tion rate trends,” Boyle said.
“Each strategy adds a little
energy to the overall eff ort.”
So far, the day-to-day
number of newly vaccinated
people in Oregon has been
disappointing.
While Oregon was
administering about 17,000
shots as of midweek last
week — about half of the
number it was administering
when Brown announced
the lottery — that includes
shots for people who already
opted to get vaccinated and
are receiving a second dose.
The key metric to watch
to gauge the lottery’s per-
formance is the number
of unvaccinated people
receiving their fi rst shots.