It’s Over.
06.25.2023
Today is constitutional “sine die”. The official end of the legislative session.
Yesterday, thanks to the Senate Republicans who returned to the floor to grease the skids for the Democrats, the anti-gun “paramilitary” bill HB 2572 was passed and now heads off to Governor Tina for her signature.
On the floor for this one last humiliation were Senators Anderson, Bonham, Findley, Girod, Knopp, Robinson, DB Smith and Weber.
We have no idea why Robinson and Bonham came back for this as they were part of the walkout and are now victims of Ballot Measure 113.
As you know, Brock-Smith and Anderson have been there virtually every day to assure themselves the opportunity to run again, something that, barring a successful lawsuit, most Republican Senators won’t be able to do.
HB 2572 is an outrageous attack on gun rights and a gift to violent left wing extremists. That was never hidden as the bill moved through the legislature. The promoters of the bill noted in their comments that it was aimed at “III%ers” and “Proud Boys” while pointing out (to appease the ACLU) that it will not affect the favored tactics of Marxist rioters. The way the bill was crafted it was clear that antifa would not be targeted by this transparently ugly legislation.
Joining the far left to pass this bill were Republican House Reps Kevin Mannix and Charlie Conrad.
Republican Kim Wallan voted against it, but only because she did not think its penalties were harsh enough.
Mannix’s anti-gun record goes back decades. Conrad is new at this game.
It should be noted that when Conrad ran for office he defeated a rock solid conservative, Nicole DeGraff ,by less than 100 votes. It should also be noted that DeGraff was torpedoed by the House Republican “leader” (Vikki Iverson) and Iverson’s husband, who told DeGraff that she would never be supported because she accepted a donation from OFF’s Political Action Committee. Iverson’s PAC gave Conrad $10,000.00 to help defeat DeGraff.
(Conrad refused to respond to OFF’s candidate survey.)
So the House Republican “leader” help finance a candidate who not only supports more gun control but was the only Republican to vote for HB 2002, which the Republican Senators claimed was their main reason for their failed walkout.
There is no way the Democrats could have forged a better deal for themselves than Republican Senate Leader Tim Knopp forged for them. First, get the most conservative Senators to stay out long enough to become subject to the Measure 113 rules denying them a political future and then give away the store. It was brilliant. We hope the Democrats have prepared a proper reward for Knopp.
We have to admit, Tim had us going there for a while. After having proven himself to be a complete sell out in previous sessions, he appeared to have received a spine transplant and led what could have been an amazingly successful strategy to stop the Democrats demented agenda. And we encouraged people to thank him and the Senators who walked away from this sideshow.
Well, as George Bush once said “There’s an old saying in Tennessee—I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee—that says, fool me once, shame on—shame on you. Fool me—you can’t get fooled again.”
But it won’t matter. Wherever Tim winds up (and he will wind up somewhere) his chances of winning his own district again are pretty slim even in the event he’s allowed to run again. So really, why should he care if he shot down so many of his colleagues?
Have no fear however, two of the worst Republican Senators, Anderson and Brock Smith are safe. They dutifully showed up day after day. No doubt they are praying for short memory voters.
Meanwhile over at the House, while some House members stayed off the floor for the final concurrence vote on HB 2005, the criminalization of personally manufactured firearms, enough of them came to provide quorum and guarantee it would pass. And because of some confusion caused by a massive, hours long website crash, even the ones who didn’t come to the floor were given excused absences meaning that once again, they risked NOTHING. And of course, we…got nothing.
Now thanks to the almost incomprehensible cowardice of Republican House Members, Oregonians face 5 years in prison for each personally manufactured firearm in their possession. Never mind that courts have already found this kind of law to be unconstitutional, this is Oregon and we will find a way to prosecute you.
Apparently the official position of the Republican House Reps is that this is all no big deal. In fact, not only are they proud of the deal they cut, they want you to be proud of it too. You can hear a half hour of nausea inducing self congratulation in this meeting that the “leadership,” and Vikki Iverson’s husband, had with Republican precinct committee people. Why was Iverson’s husband on the call? Well he’s the guy who threatens candidates who accept our support. He’s also one of the geniuses behind the “Oregon 13” website where you could buy a tee shirt or coffee mug to celebrate the staggering failure of the Senate walkout. That site was not responding last time we checked it. But some folks did get tee shirts, and a least one of them registered their discontent thusly.
On at least one amusing note, the legislature also passed HB 3443. And this one did make us smile.
The summary of the bill says : “Prohibits landlords from terminating lease or taking other specified actions due to status of tenant as victim of bias crime.”
The oh-so-compassionate left demanded this bill to protect people who were victims of “bias crimes.”
But our favorite parts are Sections 8 and 16, which allow victims of bias crimes, and oddly, people who man bias crime “hotlines” to become part of Oregon’s “Address Confidentiality Program”. This program has historically protected people whose lives were in danger due to threats of domestic violence.
Well try as we may, the compassion Nazis just were not interested when we repeatedly pointed out to them that persons in this program are prohibited from purchasing firearms because they have no ID with their actual address on it.
So, yessireee, they can now break a lease but they can’t protect themselves. Another deal so brilliant you would think it was dreamed up by Republican leadership. It was no surprise that Senators Anderson, Knopp, and Findley and Weber voted for it.
On the House side it got the nod from (of course) Charlie Conrad, Helfrich, Owens and Greg Smith. James Heib voted yes but attempted to change his vote to “no.” The Democrats refused to allow him to change his vote. It would not have changed the outcome. It was just Democrats being the vindictive, petty, jerks they are. (Aided daily by Republican cowards.)
All in all, a long disgraceful display. But if if makes you feel better the budgets now include items to promote legalized sex trafficking and a “state run” bank. The committee studying a “state bank” must include someone experienced in the marijuana business. No, we are not making this up. May it only be as successful as the state’s efforts to mail unemployment checks during covid.
We will have more in the coming days, but we want to remind you that the very same Republicans House Reps who allowed HB 2005 to pass have promised to sue to stop it. Let us not let them forget that. Ever. This one is on them, period.
