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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 4, 2011)
For 2011 legislative session AFL-CIO rates Oregon lawmakers Democratic State Rep. Val Hoyle of Eugene was named the Oregon AFL- CIO’s “Legislator of the Year.” The state labor federation released its rank- ing of all state lawmakers for the 2011 legislative session last month. Legislator of the Year is awarded to an Oregon lawmaker who has “gone above and beyond to stand up for Ore- gon’s middle class.” Hoyle was one of 13 lawmakers in the House and four in the Senate to receive “Gold Medal” status with the Oregon AFL-CIO’s Committee on Political Education. Hoyle was one of the top scoring legislators in the rankings. Outside of legislators who chaired key commit- tees, she was the only legislator in ei- ther chamber to score over 90 percent. First appointed to the Legislature in 2009, Hoyle was re-elected last No- vember to represent House District 14, which includes West Eugene, Junction City, Cheshire and Alvadore. She was an assistant House Democratic leader during the 2011 session and served on the Business and Labor Committee, and the Health Care Committee, and was co-vice chair of the Education Subcommittee on Higher Education. Shortly after the 2011 session ended she was elected deputy whip for the House Democrats. “She considered the effect of every bill on working people in her district, and was a true champion for Oregon’s middle class,” said Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain. The Ore- gon AFL- CIO’s top priority lead- ing into the 2011 session was job cre- ation legisla- tion. And while only a few direct job creation R EP . V AL H OYLE LEGISLATOR OF THE Y EAR bills were passed, many bills that will make it easier to bring good jobs to Oregon and strengthen the economy for the future were successful. Those bills — as well as bills to extend unemployment insur- ance, protect workers’ rights, and ad- dress other workplace and economic is- sues, were evaluated. Additionally, the rankings included votes on select bills the AFL-CIO sup- ported on behalf of affiliated unions and on bills championed by partner or- ganizations that were deemed impor- tant to union members. But floor votes weren’t the only cri- teria used. Many bills that were atop la- bor’s agenda didn’t make it out of com- mittee during the 2011 session. Many more bills were introduced that would have stripped workers of key collective bargaining rights, but did not have the votes to pass out of committee. “The rankings recognize that in a session where very few bills made it to the floor for a final vote, accessibility, being open to compromises, and will- ingness to take a strong stand were also important,” said AFL-CIO spokes- woman Elana Guiney. Legislators with the highest points were awarded gold, silver and bronze status. In the Senate, four Democrats re- ceived Gold Medal status: Senate Ma- jority Leader Diane Rosenbaum of Portland; Richard Devlin of Tualatin; Suzanne Bonamici of Beaverton; and Lee Beyer of Springfield. In the House, the top rankings went to Hoyle and fellow Democrats Dave Hunt of Portland; Mike Schaufler of Happy Valley; Margaret Doherty of Tigard; Paul Holvey of Eugene; Greg Matthews of Gresham; Peter Buckley of Ashland; Jeff Barker of Aloha; Jean Cowan of Newport; Tina Kotek of Portland; Tobias Read of Beaverton; Chris Garrett of Lake Oswego; Terry Beyer of Springfield; and Brad Witt of Clatskanie. Among the legislators with the high- est marks, six are union members. They are Sen. Rosenbaum of Communica- tions Workers of America Local 7901; and representatives Witt of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555; Barker, a retired president of the Port- land Police Association; Holvey of the Carpenters Union; Matthews of Gre- sham Fire Fighters Local 1062; and and Doherty, a former Oregon Educa- tion Assocation member. AFL-CIO O REGON S ENATE S CORECARD Legislators are listed in ranked order with medalists noted GOLD MEDAL Lee Beyer, D-6 Richard Devlin, D-19 Suzanne Bonamici, D-17 Diane Rosenbaum, D-21 BRONZE MEDAL Mark Hass, D-14 Jackie Dingfelder, D-23 Floyd Prozanski, D-4 Peter Courtney, D-11 Alan Bates, D-3 Betsy Johnson, D-16 NO MEDAL Alan Olsen, R-20 Frank Morse, R-8 Bruce Starr, R-15 SILVER MEDAL Chris Edwards, D-7 Rod Monroe, D-24 Ginny Burdick, D-18 Laurie Monnes-Anderson, D-25 Chip Shields, D-22 Joanne Verger, D-5 David Nelson, R-29 NO MEDAL Chuck Thomsen, R-26 Brian Boquist, R-12 Doug Whitsett, R-28 Jackie Winters, R-10 Chris Telfer, R-27 Jason Atkinson, R-2 Fred Girod, R-9 Jeff Kruse, R-1 Larry George, R-13 AFL-CIO O REGON H OUSE S CORECARD Legislators are listed in ranked order with medalists noted GOLD MEDAL SILVER MEDAL Dave Hunt, D-40 Mike Schaufler, D-48 Val Hoyle, D-14 Margaret Doherty, D-35 Paul Holvey, D-8 Greg Matthews, D-50 Peter Buckley, D-5 Jeff Barker, D-28 Jean Cowan, D-10 Tina Kotek, D-44 Tobias Read, D-27 Chris Garrett, D-38 Terry Beyer, D-12 Brad Witt, D-31 Bob Jenson, R-58 Nancy Nathanson, D-13 Vicki Berger, R-20 Bill Garrard, R-56 Debbie Boone, D-32 Brian Clem, D-21 Michael Dembrow, D-45 Greg Smith, R-57 BRONZE MEDAL Jules Bailey, D-42 Phil Barnhart, D-11 Lew Frederick, D-43 Sara Gelser, D-16 Arnie Roblan, D-9 Jefferson Smith, D-47 Betty Komp, D-22 Bill Kennemer, R-39 Mary Nolan, D-36 Vic Gilliam, R-18 Wayne Krieger, R-1 Carolyn Tomei, D-41 Gene Whisnant, R-53 Ben Cannon, D-46 NO MEDALS Patrick Sheehan, R-51 Katie Brewer, R-29 Andy Olson, R-15 Matt Wingard, R-26 Jason Conger, R-54 Bruce Hanna, R-7 Julie Parrish, R-37 Cliff Bentz, R-60 Kevin Cameron, R-19 John Huffman, R-59 Sherrie Sprenger, R-17 Mitch Greenlick, D-33 Sal Esquivel, R-6 Chris Harker, D-34 Shawn Lindsay, R-30 Jim Thompson, R-23 Matt Wand, R-49 Mike McLane, R-55 Jim Weidner, R-24 Tim Freeman, R-2 Mark Johnson, R-52 Dennis Richardson, R-4 Kim Thatcher, R-25 Wally Hicks, R-3 Broadway Floral for the BEST flowers call 503-288-5537 1638 NE Broadway, Portland PAGE 8 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS NOVEMBER 4, 2011
