A4
THE ASTORIAN • TuESdAy, NOvEmbER 9, 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
Progressive Democrats win big
P
rogressives rule Oregon’s Demo-
cratic Party, and they won big last
week.
In the courts, a judge’s initial report
indicates that Oregon Republicans stum-
bled badly in how they challenged the
new boundaries for congressional dis-
tricts, which were created by legislative
Democrats.
At the Oregon State
Capitol, moderate Dem-
ocratic state Sen. Betsy
Johnson, of Scappoose,
was bounced from her
role as co-chair of the
powerful Joint Ways and
DICK
Means Committee, which
HUGHES
handles money issues
and writes the state bud-
get. That move apparently was in response
to her announcing she would leave the
party next year to run for governor as an
independent.
Let’s start with the second item,
although it is not surprising that Johnson
would be removed – “canceled,” in her
words – as a co-chair. Johnson has been
a reliable Democratic vote on procedural
issues in the Senate. But she has remained
fiercely independent on policy legislation,
including firearms, natural resources and
environmental regulation – to the conster-
nation of progressive Democrats. At times,
that has publicly put Johnson at odds with
House Speaker Tina Kotek, of Portland,
who at this point arguably is the Demo-
crats’ leading contender for governor and
the most influential person in the Capitol.
Senate President Peter Courtney, of
Salem, announced the committee changes
Thursday afternoon. Himself a moder-
ate Democrat, Courtney first appointed
Johnson and progressive Sen. Elizabeth
Steiner Hayward, of Beaverton, in 2018 to
jointly serve as Senate co-chairs of Ways
and Means. The pair proved a good team.
Yet Courtney also later sidelined John-
son when she stood in the way of progres-
sives’ legislation to limit greenhouse gas
emissions.
As progressives have increased their
numbers in the Senate Democratic caucus,
they have pushed Courtney leftward. He
has not said whether he will seek reelec-
tion to the Senate next year. He already is
both the longest-serving legislator and the
longest-serving Senate president in Oregon
history. Once Courtney left the presidency,
whether by retiring or by being supplanted
Facebook
State Sen. Betsy Johnson, shown here at a #TimberUnity rally, was removed as co-chair
of the Joint Ways and Means Committee. The senator has announced she will leave the
Democratic Party and run for governor as an independent next year.
ALTHOuGH IT IS NOT SuRPRISING THAT bETSy
JOHNSON WOuLd bE REmOvEd – ‘CANCELEd,’
IN HER WORdS – AS A CO-CHAIR. JOHNSON
HAS bEEN A RELIAbLE dEmOCRATIC vOTE ON
PROCEduRAL ISSuES IN THE SENATE. buT SHE
HAS REmAINEd FIERCELy INdEPENdENT ON
POLICy LEGISLATION, INCLudING FIREARmS,
NATuRAL RESOuRCES ANd ENvIRONmENTAL
REGuLATION – TO THE CONSTERNATION OF
PROGRESSIvE dEmOCRATS.
by progressives, Johnson was unlikely to
retain her Ways and Means role.
Gallup recently reported that nationally,
“The Democratic rank and file has long
encompassed a wide diversity of perspec-
tives, but the power center has shifted from
moderates — who were the largest group
in the early 2000s — to liberals, who are
the largest group today.” That rings true in
Oregon.
Johnson, who brought a rural perspec-
tive and business sense to budgeting, will
remain on Ways and Means but not in
leadership. Steiner Hayward is the Sen-
ate co-chair. Progressive Rep. Dan Ray-
field, D-Corvallis, is the House co-chair.
Sen. Fred Girod, R-Lyons, who recently
stepped down as the Senate Republican
leader, remains the Senate co-vice chair.
Back to redistricting: Senior Judge
Henry Breithaupt is a retired Oregon Tax
Court judge acting in this case as a special
master. His report goes to the panel of five
retired judges whom Supreme Court Chief
Justice Martha Walters appointed to handle
the Republicans’ lawsuit.
Breithaupt’s tentative findings were that
the congressional districts, passed during
an acrimonious special legislative session
in September and signed by Gov. Kate
Brown, generally met legal criteria. He
could be right – I’m not a lawyer – but his
findings suggest that Republicans mounted
a weak challenge.
The state Department of Justice, in
defending the plan, brought in three expert
witnesses to one for the Republicans’
side, Dr. Thomas Brunell of the Univer-
sity of Texas at Dallas. Breithaupt was not
impressed with Brunell, writing:
“While I find Dr. Brunell generally to
be a credible witness, the methodology he
employs, and therefore the conclusions he
reached, lack credibility and are therefore
unreliable.
“Several of Dr. Brunell’s conclusions
lack even a minimum of academic or
methodological rigor. He was unprepared
to testify about several components of his
submissions.”
Breithaupt also said the Republican
petitioners provided insufficient evidence
that their alternative map complied with
statutory criteria.
State law states, “No district shall be
drawn for the purpose of favoring any
political party, incumbent legislator or
other person.” Independent analyses have
indicated that the new congressional
boundaries benefit Democrats to varying
degrees. However, Breithaupt accepted the
statistical argument from the state’s experts
that any Democratic advantage would not
be significant.
Hmm. Why then, was the state’s Dem-
ocratic congressional delegation — with
a vested interest in the new boundaries —
exerting so much pressure on Democratic
legislative leaders? The congressional
and legislative district maps were not put
together in public, so what was being said
behind closed doors?
We might never know. Apparently,
Democratic legislative leaders could not
be forced to testify in this case. A legis-
lative provision in the Oregon Constitu-
tion states, “Nor shall a member for words
uttered in debate in either house, be ques-
tioned in any other place.”
dick Hughes has been covering the
Oregon political scene since 1976.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Just a thought
I
just read in tonight’s paper that Har-
ney County now also wants to move to
Idaho. Wouldn’t it be a lot simpler to just
cede Washington, Multnomah and Clacka-
mas counties to Washington state?
That way Oregon could keep all of her
farm, ranch and recreational areas, while
at the same time redistributing her law-
making powers to better represent the rural
areas. Just a thought.
WILLIAM BELL
Astoria
Distrust
I
LETTERS WELCOME
Letters should be exclusive to The
Astorian. Letters should be fewer than
250 words and must include the writ-
er’s name, address and phone num-
ber. You will be contacted to confirm
authorship. All letters are subject to
editing for space, grammar and factual
accuracy. Only two letters per writer
are allowed each month. Letters writ-
ten in response to other letter writers
should address the issue at hand and
should refer to the headline and date the
letter was published. Discourse should
be civil. Send via email to editor@dai-
lyastorian.com, online at bit.ly/astorian-
letters, in person at 949 Exchange St. in
Astoria or mail to Letters to the Editor,
P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR., 97103.
t is sad to see that there are people who
seem to think that Fox News is engaging
in some kind of treason, as Troy Haskell
does in “Distrust is the goal” (The Asto-
rian, Nov. 2). The people who believe that
are deluded.
They listen to the drumbeat pounded
out by the Democrat media echo cham-
bers. I bet they do not actually listen to
arguments from the two sides. They just
hear the drumbeat.
Here is some advice. Try turning on that
program you claim is “spewing lies, hate
and discontent.” See if you can spot any
factual errors for yourself, before echo-
ing the blanket statement coming from the
likes of CNN.
Yes, Fox News commentators are par-
tisan, and sometimes strident. It is appar-
ent. And overtly stated. They believe in the
American dream.
Haskell has the wrong idea about who
is sowing the hate. I can point to so many
blatant lies told by the current administra-
tion that I cannot keep count.
Yet we, most of the people of the
United States of America, are not con-
fused. We are not racist, nor any of the epi-
thets used by the Democrat elite.
This is a republic, not a fascist state
that labels the loyal opposition as our own
worst enemy, and seeks to shut them up.
The current crop of Democrats should
not be telling you how to think. Think for
yourself.
ROBERT LIDDYCOAT
Seaside