HOT AIR SOCIETY
BY TONY CORCOR AN
No Special Session!
REPUBLICANS ARE OBSESSED WITH THE GOVERNOR’S RACE
W
ho could have imagined that when Barnum and Bailey
closed their tents for good last month in New York that
they would ship their leftover elephant effluvia and don-
key dung to Oregon’s capitol! Circus Maximus! I say just
send ’em all home and save the per diem.
Oregon Republicans are obsessed with waging the 2018 governor’s race
right now during the regular legislative session. They’ve ceased all efforts to
negotiate with Kate Brown, or any damn Democrats for that matter. The $1.4
billion dollar budget hole, the transportation plan, and that annoying Public
Employees Retirement System (PERS) problem will remain unfixed when the
Legislature sine dies around July 10.
Democrats, unwilling to force the Republicans to vote on these hard issues,
are lamely suggesting a “special session.” Remember Gov. Barbara Roberts
opening a special session to discuss a sales tax in 1992 and Speaker Larry
Campbell shutting it down before the lights even got turned on? Or the five
special sessions that were held in 2003?
The point is you can’t have a special session without a plan. Republicans
don’t have a plan. Their allies, those supposedly “moderate” corporations who
defeated Measure 97 but promised to participate in a revenue discussion if it
failed, apparently don’t have a clue. The building is dead silent. Republicans
are still using the clean fuel issue from 2015 to dodge any meaningful nego-
tiation on the budget or transportation. And PERS is so impenetrable that the
business community now wants Republicans to focus on attacking public em-
ployee collective bargaining on health care benefits instead.
This 2017 session will be remembered as a governor’s race overwhelming
the legislative process to produce a stalemate. The 2018 Republican guber-
natorial candidate will then cite Kate Brown’s inability to lead based on her
failure to get anything done.
Bend Rep. Knute Buehler is already running against Brown and pissing on
Democrats at every opportunity. As Steve Duin recently pointed out, Buehler
has spent more time this session whining about life jackets on the Deschutes
than addressing the damage Greg Walden and congressional Republicans are
doing to deny Oregonians benefits under the Affordable Care Act. Odd behav-
ior from a physician.
Others believe Dennis Richardson will be in the governor’s race, and he
could probably beat Buehler in a primary. The crafty slimy secretary of state is
getting his headlines these days by — surprise, surprise — investigating Med-
icaid fraud! This from a former state rep who never once voted for adequate
funding for seniors and the disabled, and who wanted to eliminate pre-natal
care for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) mothers. Yeah, that
guy. Of course Dennis will find some evidence of fraud, because there are not
enough resources provided to Medicaid programs for adequate oversight. Duh!
Victimizing the poor is not exactly a new Republican strategy; just ask Paul
Ryan and Greg Walden.
I hope Democrat leaders, Speaker Tina Kotek and Sen. Peter Courtney, will
not resort to throwing in the towel, producing an unacceptable budget, refer-
ring a failed constitutional tax measure for a special election this September/
November, and leaving Salem. Get the Republican legislators on the record
now with their votes.
For example: Let’s get Ashland’s new state senator, Alan DeBoer, on re-
cord with some votes. He’s quoted as saying he might support a gross receipts
tax for education. Make him vote! If he votes yes; great. If he votes no; then he
can explain to all those fine constituents in Ashland why
he can’t support adequate funding for public edu-
cation or Southern Oregon University
or adequate medical benefits for
seniors and the disabled. This
Ashland seat was Democratic
before the legendary Doc
(Alan) Bates passed away.
Make DeBoer vote!
The only (dry) bright spot
in this circus are three stars
from Eugene: Reps. Nancy Nathan-
son and Phil Barnhart and Sen. Floyd
Prozanski. In my view they are the
unsung heroes of this otherwise truly
historic do-nothing 2017 session.
As Joint Ways and Means co-chair
and House Revenue chair respectively,
Nancy and Phil have done us proud. Un-
daunted by the dysfunctional politicians
surrounding them in Salem, and without
significant Republican cooperation,
they have fashioned a post-BM97 tax
plan for Oregon called the Oregon
Education Investment Initiative.
And Floyd just keeps plugging
patiently along as Senate Judiciary
chair. His work on advance direc-
tives, on grand jury improvements,
and on long-term disability and in-
jury tort reform continues amidst the
chaos.
I am enjoying life with my two
new knees and my new dog, Bernie.
I’d tell you about the rattlesnake we
met, but I just ran out of space …
stay tuned.
Former state Sen. Tony Corcoran of Cottage
Grove is a retired state employee.
S OUTHERN AND N ORTHERN I NDIAN C UISINE
EW'S BEST INDIAN CUISINE 2014-2015
L UNCH B UFFET
6 Days a Week 11:30am - 2:30pm * Dinner 5–9:30pm * Closed Tuesdays
E AT & P ARK
F REE P ARKING
FOR
E VENTS
AT
M ATT K NIGHT A RENA
WHEN YOU DINE WITH US
* 1525 Franklin Blvd. Eugene, OR
* 136 SW Third • Corvallis, OR *
541-343-7944
541-754-7944
evergreenindianrestaurant.com
6
June 8, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com