A3
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 2019
Democrats who voted for pension reform face angry unions
Some see vote as
‘a betrayal’
By AUBREY WIEBER,
CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
and MARK MILLER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Last week, 31
Democrats voted to cut into
benefi ts promised to pub-
lic employees in what was
likely their toughest vote
of the 2019 legislative ses-
sion, if not their careers. It
prompted 17 to fi le public
explanations for why they
voted.
In a political environ-
ment where public employee
unions give generously to
many Democrats’ cam-
paigns, cutting into pensions
is a line rarely crossed.
Public employee unions
have long been considered
as the puppet masters of the
Capitol, where Democrats
reign supreme.
They fund Democrats’
campaigns, and are increas-
ingly getting their own mem-
bers elected. Unions have
schools where they groom
potential candidates, and
oftentimes politicians have
to fi ll out a policy scorecard
before securing union money
for their race.
Rarely do they see Dem-
ocrats veer from a union pol-
icy agenda like they did last
week.
Because of that power,
lawmakers and lobbyists
were reluctant to speak pub-
licly. The Oregon Capital
Bureau allowed them to talk
on background.
“It’s the holy grail,” one
veteran lobbyist said of vot-
ing to cut benefi ts. “It’s
like a Republican voting to
increase taxes.”
Senate Bill 1049 was
introduced in May by state
Senate President Peter
Courtney, D-Salem, and
House Speaker Tina Kotek,
D-Portland, after a balloon-
ing unfunded liability on the
state’s pension plan mounted
pressure.
The pressure on leader-
ship to pass pension reform
increased in May when the
Senate passed the Student
Success Act, a large educa-
tion package including $1
billion a year in new busi-
ness taxes.
Democrats only passed
it with the deciding vote of
Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scap-
poose, who said if pension
reform didn’t follow, she
would lead an effort to refer
the education tax package to
the ballot, where she would
work to sink it.
The education package is
one of the crown jewels for
Democrats, including Gov.
Kate Brown. With its pas-
sage, it was clear to Demo-
crats pension reform was a
must.
Too big to ignore
Several lawmakers told
the Capital Bureau the pen-
sion defi cit was just too big
to ignore. In his vote expla-
nation, Rep. Marty Wilde,
D-Eugene, said not cutting
into benefi ts would lead to
public employees being laid
off in the coming years. It’s a
tough choice, but a necessary
one, he wrote.
Voting explanations are
voluntary statements law-
makers submit to the Legis-
lature for the public record,
and are sometimes used on
controversial votes, though
17 explanations stands out.
“The bill includes sys-
tem wide cost savings that
will protect critical services
and ensure long-term stabil-
ity in our retirement system,”
wrote Rep. Teresa Alonso
Leon, D-Woodburn, in her
vote explanation. “I believe
it will help head off corporate
efforts to make even deeper
cuts to employee benefi ts.”
Republicans have been
clamoring for reform to the
Public Employees Retire-
ment System, but said Court-
ney and Kotek’s plan didn’t
go far enough. Plus, they
have no interest in making
anything easier for Demo-
crats, who have dominated
the session with their super-
majority in both chambers.
SB 1049 nearly died until
Kotek got two Democrats to
change their votes at the last
minute.
After Kotek called a
recess , Rep. Andrea Sali-
nas, D-Lake Oswego, joined
longtime Portland Rep.
Mitch Greenlick in changing
her vote at Kotek’s request.
In 2018, public employee
unions spent $4.8 million on
candidates seeking legisla-
tive seats, according to the
Institute on Money in Poli-
tics. Trade unions chipped in
another $2.4 million.
Immediately, and as
expected, the unions voiced
their fury about the pension
vote.
Rumors started circulat-
ing that unions could fund
candidates to challenge some
politically weaker Demo-
crats who supported the bill.
Stronger politicians might
see their ambitions of state-
wide offi ce evaporate.
“We’re taking it really,
really serious,” said Joe
Baessler, the political direc-
tor for Oregon’s chapter of
the American Federation of
State, County and Munici-
pal Employees. “It was a big
blow.”
The unions made clear to
lawmakers how they should
vote — some more “strident”
than others, one lawmaker
said. But Baessler said the
rumors that they threatened
to fund challengers to force
lawmakers into voting with
the unions was untrue.
“We didn’t try and use
political threats to stop
them,” he said. “Maybe we
should have, but we didn’t.”
Baessler said he knew
how several would vote, but
there were fi ve or six Dem-
ocrats who kept their inten-
tions private.
Baessler said some union-
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backed representatives who
assured unions they wouldn’t
support benefi t cuts went
back on their word.
Not all did.
Five Democrats in the
Senate and seven in the
House voted against the bill
— a vote in favor of the
unions. Most got fairly mod-
est labor dollars — around
$20,000 or less — but a
couple got signifi cant labor
money for their campaigns
last year. Rep. Paul Evans,
D-Monmouth, got $253,455
and Rep. Rachel Prusak,
D-West Linn, got nearly
$500,000. Both were in tight
races, and Prusak unseated
incumbent Republican law-
maker Julie Parrish.
In her vote explanation,
Prusak said she liked some
parts of the bill, but as a
‘IT’S ALWAYS DIFFICULT
WHEN YOU BELIEVE IN
SOMETHING SO MUCH,
AND I AM STILL TO
THIS DAY A HUGE
SUPPORTER OF LABOR.’
Rep. Tiffi ny Mitchell, D-Astoria
whole it went against her
values as a working-class
person.
Freshman Rep. Tiffi ny
Mitchell, D-Astoria , got
several hundred thousand
dollars from labor, includ-
ing $138,000 from Ser-
vice Employees Interna-
tional Union , 35,000 from
AFSCME, nearly $34,000
from the Oregon Education
Association and $13,000
from nurses.
“It’s always diffi cult
when you believe in some-
thing so much, and I am still
to this day a huge supporter
of labor,” said Mitchell, who
quit her job as a state worker
to serve in the House . “I
understand this moment for
them and their members, but
at the end of the day, I like
to think that when you look
at the facts, and you realize,
‘I promised to protect these
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“That representative is
dumb,” Baessler said of the
logic.
Baessler reiterated that
it isn’t up to him or Stacy
Chamberlain, the union’s
executive
director,
on
whether to challenge a law-
maker the union previously
backed.
“It’s not my far-left pro-
gressives that are really
mad,” Baessler said. “It’s my
rank-and-fi le, moderate folks
who are the most mad.”
Baessler said his union
would decide in September
what course to take.
“If there’s a quality can-
didate that we trust, then
we might endorse them,”
he said, saying they could
potentially prop someone
up from the union training
grounds like Emerge Oregon
or the Oregon Labor Candi-
date School.
Rep.
Carla
Piluso,
D-Gresham, was a found-
ing member of the police
union in Gresham and later
became Gresham’s police
chief. She voted for the pen-
sion reforms, which she said
was “a diffi cult decision”
with her union background
and support base.
“There’s no doubt in my
mind when it comes for
re-election that there will be
some negative stuff,” she
said.
As to who will attack her
over her vote, Piluso mused:
“I wonder. I don’t know
if that’s going to be from
unions or just how others
will try to take over the seat,
whether it’s a Democrat or a
Republican.”
Brown hasn’t signed the
bill yet, but is expected to by
Tuesday, the last day she can.
RV
‘A betrayal’
Karl Koenig, president
of the Oregon State Fire-
fi ghters Council, said the bill
amounts to a “betrayal” after
Brown said she wouldn’t cut
pension benefi ts on the cam-
paign trail. Firefi ghters gave
Brown $116,150 in 2018,
according to the Institute on
Money in Politics.
“I’m not interested in cut-
ting fi refi ghter retirements or
salaries right now,” Brown
told The Oregonian in Octo-
ber 2018, weeks before she
won the election.
“She’s been on TV, she
said it to me directly,” Koe-
nig said.
“She’s been a long go-to
for the fi refi ghters as far as
political advocacy forever,
her entire career up until
this point,” Koenig said of
Brown.
The fi refi ghters’ council,
Koenig said, is focused on
fi ve priorities: wages, hours,
working conditions, retire-
ment security and safety.
“We support those who
support us,” Koenig said.
“So regardless of a let-
ter after their name, if you
sign on to be a supporter of
the fi refi ghters in those fi ve
areas, then we usually can
work out some sort of advo-
cacy, endorsement and that
sort of thing.”
“I would disagree with
the underlying characteriza-
tion,” Brown said in response
Thursday. “I’ve been really
clear on the campaign trail
and all along that I think it’s
critically important that we
ensure the fi nancial stabil-
ity of the system, and part of
that was ensuring that public
employees have more skin in
the game.”
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One potential target is
Rep. Rob Nosse. Although
he supported the benefi ts
rollback, the Portland Dem-
ocrat is considered one of the
most liberal lawmakers in
the state .
Baessler said some union
members, though not neces-
sarily AFSCME members,
are serious about revok-
ing support for Nosse, but
AFSCME so far hasn’t taken
a stance.
Several lawmakers said
they don’t believe unions
would act against Democrats.
“They will bark,” one
said. “They will not bite.”
Another argued that the
unions just paid to get them
elected. That would mean
unions would have to spend
more to back a challenger in
a primary and then promote
in the general election some-
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people’s retirement,’ if you
realize the only effective way
you can do that is by taking
a vote that might look bad
right now, but actually pre-
serves that retirement bene-
fi t for those members, that to
me was the end moment and
the greater good.”
Baessler said public
unions are under pressure
to listen to their members
most closely as a result of a
U.S. Supreme Court ruling
making it easier for public
employees to opt out of cer-
tain union dues.
And the message from
public employees is clear, he
said. They are “livid.”
Unions could challenge
the benefi t rollback in court,
but they also expect to assess
their political support of
some legislators.
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