STATE
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, May 12, 2021
A7
Biden and Brown shift vaccine doses to where demand is high
By Gary A. Warner
Oregon Capital Bureau
Hoping to pick up the pace
of vaccinations, state and fed-
eral health offi cials are ditching
their population-based distri-
bution game plans to get more
doses where they are wanted
and needed.
President Joe Biden wants
70% of American adults fully
vaccinated by July 4. The goal
translates to about 160 mil-
lion people. Currently, 105 mil-
lion American adults are fully
vaccinated.
To get there, Biden
announced last week that he
was ending the system that sent
weekly shipments of vaccine to
states in amounts based on their
population.
The move will send more
vaccine to places where
demand is high, with additional
supply drawn from areas where
vaccine sits unused in medical
refrigerators.
Allotments to states that do
not want or cannot use more
vaccine will go into a federal
“vaccine bank.” States where
shots are in demand will be able
to order up to 50% more than
their current allotments.
Oregon, California and
Michigan are among states say-
ing they still need more vaccine
to meet demand. On the fl ip
side, West Virginia has reported
a surplus of vaccine, and Arkan-
sas offi cials said the state no
longer wants weekly shipments.
With Oregon one of 12 states
currently seeing an increase
in COVID-19 cases, the state
plans to withdraw from the vac-
cine bank quickly.
“Oregon will ask for the
maximum allowed, which will
help us to get shots in arms
faster,” Gov. Kate Brown said
May 4.
Oregon is scheduled to
receive 848,840 doses of
Pfi zer and Moderna vaccines,
which requires two shots to
fully vaccinate. The state is
receiving an additional 7,300
Johnson & Johnson single-shot
doses. A 50% increase in total
doses would give the state
over 1.27 million doses in a
delivery.
On April 27, Oregon’s infec-
tion rate had grown by 53% over
the previous two weeks, the
highest mark in the nation.
COVID-19 infections are
still rising in Oregon, but more
slowly. Cases have risen only
12% over the past two weeks.
Oregon’s 33% increase in hos-
pitalizations over the same time
is the third highest in the nation,
behind only Alaska and Kansas.
Nationwide, the infection
Former Oregon House
Speaker Dave Hunt cited
in sex traffi cking sting
By Jim Redden
Oregon Capital Bureau
Former Oregon House
Speaker and current Clack-
amas Community College
board member Dave Hunt was
cited by Portland police in an
undercover sex traffi c sting
operation in April.
Contacted by the Portland
Tribune on Monday, May 3,
Hunt said, “I don’t think I
should talk about that.”
Clackamas Community
College announced several
hours later that Hunt was tak-
ing a leave from the board.
As a legislator, Hunt was
one of numerous sponsors of a
bill criminalizing sex traffi ck-
ing in 2007. In 2011, he also
voted for HB 2714, which cre-
ated the crime of commercial
sexual solicitation, the crime
for which he was arrested and
cited.
The Portland Police Bureau
issued a press release May 1,
saying its Human Traffi ck-
ing Unit had cited eight men
in an operation conducted in
April. Offi cers posted online
decoy ads on known human
traffi cking websites, and the
subjects who “contacted under-
cover police offi cers to arrange
payment for sexual acts” were
criminally cited on the charge of
commercial sexual solicitation.
The release did not name
those cited, but said the list
was available on request. The
Portland Tribune requested the
list and received it Monday
morning, May 3. It included
“53-year-old David Hunt of
Milwaukie.”
Reporters at the Portland
Tribune then requested and
received a portion of the police
report. The suspect has the
same full name, date of birth
and home address as the for-
mer speaker and current CCC
board member. It said he was
arrested and cited on April 28
by two Portland police offi cers
at a Ramada Inn in Southeast
Portland.
A Democrat, Hunt served
as state representative for Dis-
trict 40 of the Oregon House
of Representatives, represent-
ing Clackamas County from
2003 to 2013. He was elected
Oregon House majority leader
for the 2007-2009 session and
served as speaker during the
2009-11 session.
After leaving the Legisla-
ture, Hunt served as president
and CEO of the Pacifi c North-
west Defense Coalition for fi ve
years and as senior vice-presi-
dent of Strategies 360 for three
years. He currently serves as
president and CEO of Colum-
bia Public Aff airs, where he is
also a registered Oregon lob-
byist. According to the police
bureau, the Human Traffi cking
Unit is one of its oldest units.
It added two additional detec-
tives along with an additional
sergeant and four offi cers in
2020, giving it the investiga-
tive capacity to follow up on
felony-level Measure 11 crimes
while simultaneously conduct-
ing rescue missions for victims
of traffi cking and aff ecting the
demand side of traffi cking by
conducting periodic buyer sup-
pression missions.
Due to both COVID-19
restrictions and months of
nightly civil unrest, the unit’s
work was severely curtailed
for most of the year. Its opera-
tions included six surveillance
missions, 100 hours of remote
review surveillance, two buyer
suppression missions and four
rescue/traffi cker suppression
missions.
EOMG fi le photo
Kerry Gillette, a physician assistant with Mosaic Medical, fi lls sy-
ringes with the Moderna vaccine during a COVID-19 vaccination
clinic at Bethlehem Inn in Bend in February.
rate is down 26% in the past two
weeks.
A positive trend is a decline
in deaths from the virus. OHA
reported 55 COVID-19 fatalities
in April, the lowest total since
22 died in March 2020, early in
the pandemic. December 2020
was the worst month, with 597
deaths.
OHA data suggests that the
leading cause of the lower fatal-
ity rate was the number of older
people and those with under-
lying medical conditions who
have been vaccinated.
A key part was inoculations
of patients and staff in nursing
homes, which are tied to 53% of
all COVID-19 deaths in Oregon.
The nation average is 32%.
Oregon currently has the fi fth
lowest death rate per 100,000
people in the United States.
Alaska, Vermont, Hawaii and
Idaho have lower rates.
Biden’s vaccination goal
would require that 55 million
people get their fi rst shot by the
end of the fi rst week of June, just
four weeks from now.
The Oregon Health Author-
ity reported Thursday that just
under 37% of state residents age
16 and older were fully vacci-
nated. Another 15% have had
one shot and have scheduled
their second dose.
The one-shot Johnson &
Johnson vaccine could speed
up the eff ort, but manufacturing
issues and a review of safety
concerns have slowed distribu-
tion to a trickle.
Just as there are states that
eagerly desire the vaccine while
others shun it, counties in Ore-
gon show the same pattern.
The percentage of adults
who had received at least one
vaccine shot varied widely
across Oregon’s 36 counties,
from 64% in Benton and Hood
River counties, to just over 32%
in Lake, Umatilla and Malheur
counties.
That’s led to shifting more
vaccine to areas where it is in
demand, including Portland.
Umatilla County Commis-
sioner George Murdock told
EO Media Group that some of
the reasons for the low turnout
to get shots were political.
Though ex-President Don-
ald Trump was vaccinated,
some see vaccination refusal as
an extension of the opposition
to Brown’s orders closing busi-
nesses that angered many in the
area.
“The polling seems to show
older Republican men seem to
be the group who least likely
want to get the vaccination,”
Murdock said. “But I’m an abso-
lute contrast to that. I’m old, I’m
a Republican and I couldn’t wait
to get mine fast enough.”
Oregon has the highest rate
of “vaccine hesitancy” on the
West Coast, with 15% of res-
idents saying they are unsure
or don’t want to get the shots,
according to a report this week
from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
In contrast, California and
Washington are reporting about
11% of the population is unsure
or doesn’t want to be inocu-
lated. California offi cials said
the highest rates of negative
response were in the northern
tier of rural counties nearest the
Oregon border.
Oregon has also dealt with
what OHA Director Pat Allen
has called “vaccine belliger-
ency,” an active opposition to
not only being inoculated, but
at times protesting those who
choose to get the vaccine. Inci-
dents have included the heckling
by anti-vaccination hardliners of
Bend high school students at a
school-sponsored clinic.
Other steps are being taken
to get more “impulse vaccina-
tions” by off ering shots with-
out appointments. Many people
across the country and in Ore-
gon have expressed frustration
with multiple, sometimes clunky
websites required to make
appointments. Now, it’s possi-
ble to just show up and roll up
a sleeve.
State Rep. Nearman faces two criminal charges in Capitol breach
By Peter Wong
Oregon Capital Bureau
State Rep. Mike Nearman
faces two criminal charges in
connection with his opening of
a door that allowed anti-lock-
down protesters to enter a
closed Capitol building during
a Dec. 21 special session of
the Oregon Legislature.
According to fi lings in
Marion County Circuit Court,
Nearman, a Republican from
a Mid-Willamette Valley
district, faces one count of
fi rst-degree offi cial miscon-
duct and one count of sec-
ond-degree criminal trespass.
Both are misdemeanors; max-
imum punishments are one
year in jail and a $6,250 fi ne.
Nearman was indicted after
Oregon State Police turned
over the results of its inves-
tigation to the district attor-
ney in Marion County, where
Salem is.
Prosecutors said that Near-
man, “being a public servant,
did unlawfully and knowingly
perform an act which consti-
tuted an unauthorized exer-
cise of his offi cial duties, with
intent to obtain a benefi t or to
harm another.”
Nearman, 57, is a former
software engineer in his fourth
term from District 23, which
stretches over Yamhill, Polk,
Marion and Benton counties.
He lives outside of Indepen-
dence, although the city itself
is in District 20.
The Capitol has been
closed to the public since
March 18, 2020, at the onset
of the coronavirus pandemic.
The House and Senate have
limited access to fl oor sessions
to members and staff . All com-
mittee meetings, including
public testimony, have been
virtual.
Video surveillance foot-
age that went viral shows
Nearman opening a door that
allowed anti-lockdown pro-
Contributed photo
State Rep. Mike Nearman
testers to enter a Capitol ves-
tibule — police eventually
ejected them — and re-en-
tering the building from the
south side by using an access
card. He did walk by the west
entrance, but police were gath-
ered inside.
Police rebuff ed a second
attempt by protesters later
to breach the Capitol at the
west entrance. Five people
were arrested, at least one of
them for using a chemical irri-
tant against police, others for
shoving news reporters and
photographers covering the
protest.
A few days after House
Speaker Tina Kotek disclosed
Nearman’s identity — but not
the footage — based on infor-
mation from State Police,
Nearman said this in a state-
ment Jan. 12:
“I do think that when …
the Oregon Constitution says
that the legislative proceed-
ings shall be ‘open,’ it means
open,” he said in a statement.
“And as anyone who has spent
the last nine months staring at
a screen doing virtual meet-
ings will tell you, it’s not the
same thing as being open.”
Lawmakers did complete
action on the four bills put
before the Dec. 21 special ses-
sion, which ended in one day,
without further disruption.
The protesters did not reach
the House and Senate cham-
bers or the offi ce wings.
Republicans, who are the
minority party in both cham-
bers, have pressed for reopen-
ing the Capitol. But with at
least four people reporting
coronavirus infections in the
House during the 2021 ses-
sion — there have been no
such reports in the Senate — a
reopening appears unlikely in
the near future.
More actions pending
A conviction on either
misdemeanor count, or both,
would not result in Nearman’s
automatic expulsion from the
Oregon Legislature. Only fel-
ony convictions result in auto-
matic ousters from the Leg-
islature, as a result of a 1994
constitutional change.
However,
Nearman
already has faced actions by
Kotek, who stripped Nearman
of his committee assignments
and fi ned him $2,000 for the
cost of damage to west entry
doors by the protesters. Near-
man also agreed to surrender
the electronic access card that
allows him into the Capitol,
and must give 24-hour notice
before he enters the Capi-
tol. He cannot allow access to
unauthorized persons.
Kotek and others also
have fi led a complaint with
the Legislative Equity Offi ce
against Nearman. The com-
plaint is pending in the
House Committee on Con-
duct, which is divided equally
between majority Demo-
crats and minority Republi-
cans. The committee has not
started public proceedings
yet, choosing to wait until the
criminal investigation was
completed.
The committee can recom-
mend a range of penalties, the
ultimate one being expulsion
from the House, on constitu-
tional grounds of “disruptive
behavior.”
Kotek renewed her earlier
call for Nearman to resign his
seat.
“Rep. Nearman put every
person in the Capitol in seri-
ous danger and created fear
among Capitol staff and leg-
islators,” she said in a tweet.
“I called on him to resign in
January and renew my call in
light of today’s charges.”
The committee did call for
expulsion in the recent case
of Rep. Diego Hernandez, a
three-term Democrat from
Portland accused of creating
a hostile work environment
and sexual harassment. Of the
fi ve women who came for-
ward against Hernandez, the
committee concluded there
was substantial evidence in
three cases.
Hernandez announced his
resignation on Feb. 22, one
day before the House sched-
uled action on the commit-
tee recommendation, and it
took eff ect March 15. Nei-
ther chamber of the Oregon
Legislature has voted to expel
a member since statehood,
although it has happened in
other states.
The committee also has
a complaint pending against
Democratic Rep. Brad Witt
of Clatskanie. It was fi led by
Republican Rep. Vikki Bre-
ese-Iverson of Prineville,
who accused Witt of sexual
harassment in a series of text
messages.
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