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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (July 18, 2020)
A3 THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2020 State budget writers unveil rebalancing plan Attempt to shield schools By PETER WONG Oregon Capital Bureau Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian Police stand as protesters gather during a demonstration on Thursday in Portland. Oregon offi cials call for investigation into federal response to Portland protests Homeland Security chief decries violence By NOELLE CROMBIE and EVERTON BAILEY JR. The Oregonian The U.S. attorney for Ore- gon said he wants an investi- gation into actions of federal offi cers who pulled Portland protesters off the street and into unmarked vehicles Thursday night. Federal offi cers also used gas, smoke and impact muni- tions to press protesters away from two federal buildings. The confrontation between federal offi cers and protesters came hours after interim U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf arrived in Portland to meet with federal law enforcement offi cials. “Based on news accounts circulating that allege fed- eral law enforcement detained two protestors without prob- able cause, I have requested the Department of Homeland Security Offi ce of the Inspec- tor General to open a sep- arate investigation directed specifi cally at the actions of DHS personnel,” U.S. Attor- ney Billy Williams said in a statement. Elected congressional leaders in Oregon, including U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer and U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, said they would call for an inves- tigation into “the unrequested presence and violent actions of federal forces in Portland.” Merkley and others sharply criticized federal authorities following reports that federal law enforcement was using unmarked vehicles to arrest and detain protesters. Oregon Public Broadcasting reports that federal offi cers were detaining people who weren’t near federal property. “Authoritarian govern- ments, not democratic repub- lics, send unmarked authori- ties after protesters,” Merkley, a Democrat, said on Twitter. Video showed many pro- testers leaving the area near the federal courthouse late Thursday as smoke fi lled the air. Protests have taken place for nearly two months in Port- land, since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May. Wolf issued a blister- ing public statement Thurs- day calling out “local politi- cal leaders” for their refusal “to restore order to protect their city.” He condemned “the rampant long-lasting vio- lence” in Portland. Wolf’s nearly 1,700-word statement refers to Portland’s demonstrators as both “vio- lent anarchists” and a “violent mob.” He said they have destroyed property, including at the Mark O. Hatfi eld Fed- eral Courthouse, and attacked “the brave law enforcement offi cers protecting it.” He blamed “local and state leaders” for failing to address “violent criminals in their communities” and said their inadequate response has “only emboldened the violent mob as it escalates violence day after day.” “This siege can end if state ‘AUTHORITARIAN GOVERNMENTS, NOT DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICS, SEND UNMARKED AUTHORITIES AFTER PROTESTERS.’ U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley and local offi cials decide to take appropriate action instead of refusing to enforce the law,” he said. He said his agency “will not abdicate its solemn duty to protect federal facili- ties and those within them.” Wolf went on to detail damage to federal property in Portland, ranging from graffi ti to other acts of vandalism. Wolf’s statement comes six days after a deputy U.S. Marshal fi red an impact munition at a 26-year-old man, seriously injuring him, and four days after President Donald Trump said “Portland was totally out of control” until federal law enforcement responded and “very much quelled it.” Mayor Ted Wheeler said he’s aware of Wolf’s visit and wishes the Trump offi cial hadn’t come to town. “We haven’t been invited to meet with them and if we were, we would decline,” Wheeler said. Earlier this week, Wheeler took to Twitter to recap a con- versation he had with Wolf. He said Wolf offered to help. “I told the Acting Secre- tary that my biggest imme- diate concern is the violence federal offi cers brought to our streets in recent days, and the life-threatening tactics his agents use,” Wheeler wrote Tuesday on Twitter. “We do not need or want their help.” “The best thing they can do is stay inside their building, or leave Portland altogether. Our goal is to end these vio- lent demonstrations quickly and safely. And in the mean- time, I asked him to clean up the graffi ti on local federal facilities.” Gov. Kate Brown on Thursday issued a statement calling the remarks “polit- ical theater from President Trump.” She accused Trump of seeking a confrontation in Oregon to win points in states like Ohio or Iowa. Brown said she told Wolf that the federal government should remove “all federal offi cers from our streets.” “His response showed me he is on a mission to pro- voke confrontation for politi- cal purposes,” she said. “He is putting both Oregonians and local law enforcement offi cers in harm’s way.” Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese said he was part of a “statewide law enforce- ment delegation” invited to meet with Wolf to discuss the recent responses to Portland demonstrations. But Reese said he declined the invite after Wolf’s statement Thurs- day morning. The sheriff said while he values his agency’s federal law enforcement partnerships, “the actions by out-of-state federal agents last weekend failed to display good deci- sion making and sound tacti- cal judgment.” “The use of force did not appear proportional to the actions of the demonstrators,” Reese said in a statement. “I look forward to the thorough investigation into the matter by the U.S. D.O.J. Inspector General. These actions caused a signifi cant setback in our local efforts to end the nightly violence around the Justice Center and in Portland.” Oregon Public Broadcast- ing and the Associated Press contributed to this report. SALEM — The Oregon Legislature’s chief budget writers have proposed to shield state aid to schools, but to cut almost $400 mil- lion in other spending and draw down reserves to off- set reduced tax collections during the coronavirus pandemic. Elements of their plan, which legislative leaders released Thursday, will undergo public hearings next week. Each of the six budget subcommittees has been assigned a target for spending cuts. Gov. Kate Brown and legislative leaders have said a second special ses- sion will be called later this summer — lawmak- ers already met in late June — to deal with a two-year budget that is projected to fall about $3 billion short in anticipated tax collections. The original budget from the tax-supported general fund and lottery proceeds, which consti- tute the state’s most fl ex- ible spending, topped $23 billion. Lottery proceeds are also projected to be down, largely because the Oregon Lottery’s chief moneymakers are video terminals in bars and restaurants, which have curtailed operations during the pandemic. The rebalancing plan does not take into account new federal aid to states that Congress may or may not include in a new coro- navirus recovery effort. The Democratic-led U.S. House already has passed a $3 trillion plan with aid to states included, but the The plan also proposes Republican majority in the Senate has balked at the an ending balance of a lit- tle over $200 million, the price tag. “The scale of this crisis bare minimum in recent highlights the critical need decades. The balance is for further federal action to usually carried over into support state investments the next cycle, which starts in essential services that in mid-2021. Among other programs provide safety and security for all Oregonians, includ- listed by the co-chairs as ing the state’s most vul- priorities for preservation nerable populations, ” leg- are state aid to commu- islative leaders said in a nity colleges and state uni- versities, Oregon Oppor- statement. tunity Grants for The co-chairs of college students, the Legislature’s housing stabiliza- budget committee tion, some health are state Sen . Betsy care and child wel- Johnson, of Scap- fare services, state poose; Sen. Eliza- prisons and com- beth Steiner Hay- munity correc- ward, of Beaverton; and Rep. Dan Ray- Betsy Johnson tions, residential treatment capac- fi eld, of Corvallis. ity for youths, Oregon All are Democrats. Their plan agrees with State Police trooper lev- Brown’s stated goal of a $9 els and labs and medical billion state school fund, examiners. Their plan also lists spe- which the Legislature set in its original 2019-21 cifi c programs within sev- budget approved last year. eral agencies: Agriculture, About half that money Forestry, Justice, Vet- already has been paid to erans Affairs and Water Oregon’s 190 school dis- Resources, plus tax admin- tricts; July 1 marked the istration in the Department start of the second year of of Revenue. But the plan calls for the the state’s two-year budget six budget subcommittees cycle. From the plan: “The to come up with $387 mil- fund remains at $9 billion, lion in other spending cuts. In addition to $350 mil- sparing students and teach- ers from devastating pro- lion from the Education gram cuts amid the uncer- Stability Fund, the plan tainty of the pandemic and proposes to channel back holding critical invest- into the general fund a total ments in public education of $213 million that the harmless at a time of great original budget earmarked for lessening the unfunded uncertainty.” To do so, the plan pro- liability of school districts poses to draw $350 million and other local govern- from the Education Stabil- ments for public pensions. ity Fund, the reserve law- However, the plan pro- makers created and vot- poses to leave untouched ers approved in 2002 from the state’s general reserve Oregon Lottery proceeds. fund, which is estimated at This amount will reduce $949 million. The Oregon Capital the fund by just under half; lawmakers cannot spend Bureau is a collaboration the entire fund in a single between EO Media Group and Pamplin Media Group. budget cycle. 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