05.11.2023
Today, after a brief poetry reading, Senate President Rob Wagner seemed to grasp the reality that sometimes it’s best not to be a jerk.
After once again noting that there was not a quorum, which meant the Democrats were, once again, prevented from shoving some truly awful legislation down the throats of Oregonians, Wagner adjourned until Monday.
You will recall that Wagner was having floor sessions every day, including unprecedented Sunday sessions, in an effort to speed up the process of punishing Republicans who don’t share his twisted world view.
As you know, as soon as any Republican had ten “unexcused absences” they were subject to the truly mindless rules imposed by Ballot Measure 113, which prohibits them from holding office in the next election cycle.
So Wagner’s decision to not hold floor sessions Friday, Saturday, and Sunday is a breakthrough.
Also, Republican Senator Cedric Hayden was officially “excused” today even though Wagner swore there would be no more excused absences. Hayden was one of four Senators who was dangerously close to the ten day mark.
It’s interesting to note that Hayden was also the Senator who filed an official complaint against Wagner for refusing to allow him to have an excused absence to attend church, something that, as far as we know, has never happened before.
In a press release today the Senate Republican leader said “Following Wednesday’s leadership meeting, at my request, President Wagner agreed not to hold floor sessions this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It is my hope that this will give us time to work out a legitimate agreement that will benefit all Oregonians. I have communicated that I will be available over the weekend to have these critical discussions.”
Meanwhile Senate President Wagner said: “I hope this agreement to pause Senate floor sessions will create room for progress. I will continue to engage in good faith conversations to move our state forward.”
The truth is Wagner wouldn’t know “good faith” if it fell from the sky and landed in his drum circle. He may just have had a sudden flash of cogent thought and realized that he has overplayed his hand.
Meanwhile, the House Republicans keep dutifully meeting and passing Democrat bills. In an email released by House Republican leader Vikki Iverson, she said, shamelessly : “Because the Senate and House leadership refused to follow the state constitution and statute, Senate Republicans, with the full support of House Republicans, walked out of the building to force Democrats to negotiate on the bills.”
Apparently to Iverson, “full support” from the House Republicans means passing as many Democrat bills as possible so they can save their jobs while expecting the Senate Republicans to take all the risks to protect our rights. Pray you never find yourself in a fox hole with Iverson.
Also today on a party line vote, the House Committee on Rules passed out the clearly unconstitutional HB 2572 which was drafted and promoted by radical anti-gun extremists and is designed to entrap law abiding gun owners. Weirdly, Republican House Rep Kim Wallan opposed the bill because it was not extreme enough!
Meanwhile, some excellent news. One of the main features of HB 2005, a bill the House Republicans allowed to pass, is a stripping of the Second Amendment rights of 18-20 year olds,
A federal court in Virginia just declared that to be unconstitutional. Another win for gun owners.
We are hoping the bill will never be heard on the Senate floor. But if it is, this is one more strike against it.