Legal Insurrection readers will note that in my coverage of California, virtue-signaling urban priorities routinely triumph over sensible and important rural ones.
The same is true in Oregon. However, the difference is that 11 of the Republican state senators representing the redder areas of that state are taking a stand.
There are still 11 Oregon Republican state senators missing, having fled Salem in protest of a greenhouse gas emissions cap-and-trade bill. The legislators say such a bill would harm Oregonians, especially those in industries such as logging.Gov. Kate Brown has authorized the Oregon State Police, whose jurisdiction ends at the state border, to locate the absent senators and return them to the Capitol building.It’s believed that most of the 11 Republicans have fled the state, possibly to Idaho.
Oregon Senate minority leader Herman Baertschiger sounds as if his caucus is prepared to outlast the progressives’ outrageous outrage at their protest.
The Democrat governor of Oregon ordered state troopers to find the 11 runaway senators and haul them back to the capitol.
Gov. Kate Brown authorized the state police to search for the senators and to bring them back. In a statement Thursday, she said that the missing Senators had decided to “abandon their duty.”“It is absolutely unacceptable that the senate Republicans would turn their back on their constituents who they are honor-bound to represent here in this building,” Brown said. “They need to return and do the jobs they were elected to do.”The state police said in a statement that Brown’s order was “consistent with the provisions in the Oregon constitution,” and that the police are “fully committed to executing” her order.
In a fascinating review of Brown’s political history, it turns out that she supported a walkout by Oregon Democrats in 2001.
At the time, Democrats in the state House staged a walkout to protest efforts by the then-majority House Republicans to redraw Oregon’s legislative districts.A copy of the article provided by Boquist quotes then-Senate Democratic Leader Kate Brown calling the actions of House Democrats “very appropriate under the circumstances.”
Baertschiger and his caucus are right in their worries about Cap and Trade if the California version is any indication. Monies from the Golden State’s program, which are supposed to be used to prevent “global warming,” are now being diverted to other projects.
The Oregon Senate Minority Leader indicated that their action was the last resort to get the Democrats to compromise on the green justice measure.
When Republicans voiced concerns to Democrats about the bill’s economic consequences, Baertschiger said Gov. Kate Brown and Democratic state legislators scoffed.”We can re-educate them. They can get new green jobs,” was the response from his Democratic colleagues to concerns workers may lose their jobs, according to Baertschiger.”You’re not going to take a logger or a rancher and say well you no longer can do your occupation anymore and give them a green new job,” Baertschiger said. “That’s not going to fly.”Baertschiger said he was not proud his caucus had to resort to fleeing the capitol to stop the bill, but he and the 11 other senators viewed it as the “nuclear option” after the governor and their Democratic colleagues proved unwilling to reform the legislation.
Because of the move by the Republicans, the state party’s leader has been receiving death threats.
The Benton County Sheriff is investigating threats made against Oregon Republican Party chairman Bill Currier, adding to the tension surrounding the standoff between the Democratic governor and runaway Republicans in the state Senate.Mr. Currier and Becky Currier, his wife, received a total of three messages Sunday morning on their cellphones from what sounded like the same unidentified man threatening their family, according to audio recordings provided to The Washington Times.“Bill, what if something bad happens to your family? What if somebody shoots them or something bad happens? I think you should be worried,” said one message.Another message said: “F– you. What if something happens to your family? What if somebody gets hurt? What are you going to do then?”
The Oregon Republicans would prefer that Cap and Trade rules be put in front of the state’s citizens in a vote, instead of thrust upon them by legislative action. If the 11 Republicans remain missing through the end of the week, it is likely a special summer session will be called to deal with the matter.
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