The “Special” Session
08.25.2025
Today, in preparation for the “special session,” scheduled to begin on Friday, the legislature is holding a public hearing on LC 2, the massive transportation tax increase.
The “special session” is likely to take several days since the Republicans (at least for now) have not agreed to grease the skids to speed the bill through by suspending the normal rules.
They have, however, agreed to show up and provide the quorum the Democrats need to pass whatever they want. While anything can happen, at least one Republican, Cyrus Javadi, has signaled his willingness to vote with the Democrats. Javadi recently, and comically, commented that he is quite confident that the millions and millions of dollars these new taxes will generate will be “spent wisely”. Which, of course, will be a first for the Oregon Department of Transportation.
While the tax and fee hike that Kotek is hoping to pass is not a firearms issue, this whole event is instructive for all of us. Now all Oregonians will be getting a taste of what the legislature dishes out to gun owners year after year.
Even the controlled left wing cartel media recognizes that this bill is primarily a way for Kotek to protect her donor base and is not about keeping our roads safe. The point being that, once again, as they do with gun bills every session, the legislature will be trying to pass bills that were never crafted for the benefit of the people, only the politicians and their donors.
For the last few weeks leading up to this session, we have received countless blast emails from Republican legislators urging people to make their voices heard in opposition to this latest rip off.
Many even provided a link for people to submit written testimony. (Of course virtually all of Jeff Helfrich’s messages link you directly to his fundraising page.)
And the people have responded. As of the time this alert was written almost 2000 Oregonians took the time to send in testimony. (You can upload testimony here.)
Oddly, while the page that displays all the uploaded public testimony normally lists the position of each person who submitted, making it quite easy to see the ratio of “for” and “against”, as of the time of this alert, that column listed all positions as “NA”. In our cursory sampling we could not find any testimony in support.
Republicans legislators have complained in the past that gun owners were not emailing Democrats. But if you have been watching the submitted testimony of gun owners for the last few years you know that they have been very responsive and very vocal and very opposed to the endless attacks on their rights. And yet over and over the Republicans have rolled over for the bulldozer of destructive legislation rammed down our throats by the Democrats and Republicans like Mannix and Javadi. And while they complain endlessly about being in the minority and send out hollow and meaningless promises to “fight” for you they just keep showing up guaranteeing that the Democrats will get whatever they want.
So now the rest of the population is getting to see what it’s like to be ignored by the people who are supposed to work for you and in fact work for themselves and their donors.
In courts across the country, judges keep reaching contradictory conclusions about what the clear and unambiguous language of the Second Amendment means. And while we have had some unexpected victories in California , other courts are reaching decisions that turn the Supreme Court’s rulings, and common sense, on its head.
Oregon courts have proven to be no different and while we are still awaiting the Oregon Supreme Court’s decision on the constitutionality of Ballot Measure 114, the ban on firearms sales and magazine possession, their history and make-up do not bode well.
This means, that like every other Oregonian, gun owners must look to their elected reps to stand in the way of the endless and insidious attacks from the left.
So far, almost no legislators have shown the willingness to do that. And one who did was attacked immediately.
The Republican caucus and the Republican Party are in serious need of new directions and leadership. Elections are coming up. There will be the usual suspects asking for your vote. Be prepared to ask some hard questions and demand real answers.