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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (March 23, 2021)
A4 THE ASTORIAN • TuESdAy, MARcH 23, 2021 OPINION editor@dailyastorian.com KARI BORGEN Publisher DERRICK DePLEDGE Editor Founded in 1873 SHANNON ARLINT circulation Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN Production Manager CARL EARL Systems Manager GUEST COLUMN Oregon partisan politics at play S hould Oregon legislators still get paid if they don’t show up for work (i.e., the minority Republicans)? Conversely, should legislators still get paid if they show up but merely go through the motions of collaboration and bipartisanship (i.e., the majority Democrats)? Which brings us to an excellent question from a Bend reader: How should success be mea- sured for a legislative session (i.e., success for Oregon as a whole)? These questions arise DICK because Friday was the HUGHES 60th day of this year’s 160-day session, and — no surprise — life is not particularly happy in the Capitol. This week, the House will resort to day and evening floor sessions — nearly 20 hours total — because House Repub- licans are effectively slowing the pro- cess. On the other side of the Capitol, the Senate is considering rule changes aimed at punishing Republican sena- tors if they walk out again. The House adopted such rules already. With a supermajority in each cham- ber, Democrats can rewrite the rules over Republican opposition. Mean- while, Republicans are asking why leg- islators get $151 per diem even on days when they work from home. Ah, partisanship. Depending on one’s point of view, each side is standing up for democracy and their constituents, or is being self-righteous and obstreperous. Things could come to a head when, or if, the Senate votes on Senate Bill 554, which would allow the Legislature and local governments to ban almost anyone, including holders of concealed weapon permits, from carrying fire- arms in public buildings. Two years ago, the Democrats’ gun control legislation contributed to the Senate Republicans’ walkout that blocked the Senate from passing bills. SB 554 is at the desk of state Sen- ate President Peter Courtney, D-Sa- lem, after being approved in February by a Senate committee on a 4-3 parti- san vote. Rumors are that it could go to a Senate vote this week. However, the Senate president’s communications director, Johnmartin Sherman-Lewis, told me that Courtney had no comment on when that might happen. On Thursday, U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley was among those who testified remotely to the state Senate Rules Committee, supporting Democrats’ proposed bal- Sarah Zimmerman/AP Photo Oregon’s minority Republicans have used walkouts as a political tool in Salem. AH, PARTISANSHIP. dEPENdING ON ONE’S POINT OF VIEW, EAcH SIdE IS STANdING uP FOR dEMOcRAcy ANd THEIR cONSTITuENTS, OR IS BEING SELF-RIGHTEOuS ANd OBSTREPEROuS. lot measure that would reduce the quo- rum requirement for conducting legisla- tive business. Oregon has an unusually high bar. Two-thirds of members must be present for the Senate or House to vote on bills. Senate Joint Resolution 4 would lower that threshold to a majority of members, thereby preventing the superminority Republicans from blocking business. The proposal resonates with die- hard Democrats. But most Oregonians, regardless of party affiliation or inde- pendence, pay little attention to the Leg- islature. House Majority Leader Bar- bara Smith Warner, D-Portland, told constituents last week that gaining voter approval of such a ballot measure would be difficult. Everyday Oregonians, who are not highly engaged in the political process, see the high quorum require- ment as protecting democracy. Reading, reading and more read- ing: Smith Warner and other Demo- crats have criticized the House Repub- licans for demanding that bills be read word-by-word on the House floor before being voted on. That takes up so much time that House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, has decided that the House will meet four days during the week. The House had been meeting only on Monday and Tuesday mornings, with the rest of the days reserved for commit- tee and caucus meetings. Little business is conducted on Fridays. Slowing the legislative process is how Republicans seek to block bad laws and instead gain greater compro- mise from Democrats. House Republi- can Leader Christine Drazan, in a recent floor speech, said Democrats were try- ing to marginalize Republicans’ partici- pation. “We are not here to facilitate the ease of the passage of someone else’s agenda that harms my community and my state long term,” Drazan said. Survey says: Oregonians may pay little attention to life at the Capitol, but they’re typically not hopeful about the outcomes. In November 2020, DHM Research and the Oregon Values and Beliefs Center reported: “A recent poll found 80% of Oregonians are ending the year worried about our state’s future and concerned about the continuing impacts of COVID-19, homelessness, racial injustice, riots, lawlessness, cli- mate change and more. “What’s even more disconcerting is only 33% of us feel we can come together next year as Oregonians — urban and rural, Republican and Dem- ocrat, whites and communities of color — to make progress addressing these challenges and resetting Oregon.” That “next year” is now, and DHM’s current survey found that Gov. Kate Brown’s favorability ratings among Oregonians had dropped further. As DHM’s John Horvick told Oregon Pub- lic Broadcasting: “She has never been particularly popular. … She has been polarizing. She is as disliked by Repub- licans as Democrats dislike Donald Trump.” In the survey this month, 11% of Oregonians held a very positive impres- sion of Brown. Overall, only 37% had a very or somewhat positive impression of the governor, compared with 53% for President Joe Biden. Balance in Congress: Oregon has five seats in the U.S. House, all but one held by Democrats. We are projected to gain a sixth seat because the 2020 cen- sus results are expected to show that Oregon has gained population relative to other states. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the latest DHM survey is that a plurality of respondents — 37% — said the most reasonable partisan makeup would be to have those Oregon congressional seats held by three Republicans and three Democrats. Meanwhile, the process of drawing new legislative and congressional dis- trict boundaries is in limbo while states await the delayed census results. In a complicated political and judicial pro- cess, the Legislature has sued Secretary of State Shemia Fagan, although the two sides say they’re actually cooperating. A court filing from the Oregon Attor- ney General’s Office, which represents the secretary of state, argues that the Legislature can go ahead without wait- ing on census data, such as by temporar- ily employing statistics from the Popu- lation Research Center at Portland State University. In contrast, We Draw Oregon, an organization involved in the process, last week asked the Legislature to slow down. In a letter to key legislators, the group wrote: “We Draw Oregon, the next phase of We Count Oregon, and communi- ty-based partners are concerned about how the redistricting process is unfold- ing. The hearing schedule appears to be politically motivated versus driven by a sincere interest in community insights. The schedule and potential use of alter- native data undermine the democratic process we urgently need to catalyze trust and civic engagement.” dick Hughes has been covering the Oregon political scene since 1976. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Lobbying transparency was surprised to read in the March 13 Astorian that the Clatsop County com- mission has hired a lobbying group “to help protect and advance policy inter- ests in Salem” — $45,000 of the peo- ple’s money that could be used directly on projects here in the county is nothing to sneeze at. As I read about Pac/West Communica- tions, I began to wonder exactly what pol- icy they are going to be advancing. In 2006, the lobbying group was hired to represent Alaska in their success- ful campaign to gain access to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil explora- tion. That was consistent with an earlier effort Pac/West made to reduce the protec- tions of the Endangered Species Act. Their current president, Mark Truax, has a “special interest” in oil and natural gas. He helped in the successful effort to defeat Proposition 112 in Colorado, which would have expanded setbacks from water sources and housing sites for oil and gas development. Pac/West’s website asserts that they “bring rural Oregonian voices to the cap- itol.” That resonates with the wishes of the #TimberUnity-leaning majority on the commission, for whom “rural representa- tion” is a mantra. Could defeating climate measures, like cap and trade, that #TimberUnity opposed, be a policy advanced by our lobbyists? This is a time for full transparency by the commission and thorough scrutiny by the public of how, and for whom, our money is being spent on a lobbyist. ROGER DORBAND Astoria I Awe I would like to acknowledge and thank the many volunteers that are helping to get Clatsop County vaccinated. The orga- nization was much improved for my sec- ond vaccination, and I am in awe at the massive effort that is going on all over the country. Thanks again for your service. DEBORAH ALBRECHT Gearhart No doubt have documented a number of reasons not to wear the required masks, how- ever I will try to explain but one. I No doubt masks do have a few posi- tive results, but they should be weighed against the detriments. Few enjoy the ben- efits, while all suffer from the negatives. In my youth, I had an acquaintance who was thinking about his dissertation. He started a preliminary study, with his own funds. He rounded up some subjects in mask-wearing populations. He tested them in ways several months apart, find- ing mental degeneration. I finished my work and moved away, losing contact. It is well documented that the brain is one of the most oxygen-hungry organs in the body. Wearing a mask interferes with the free exchange of the air we breathe. I suspect that, if one investigated this phe- nomenon they would find, in the long run, a steadily increasing percentage of car- bon dioxide, over that of oxygen, behind the mask. I think it is but logical that something as delicate as the brain might be damaged if forced to function in an atmosphere deficient in oxygen. BENJAMIN A. GREAVES Seaside